Alas, all continues to be not entirely well in PowerBook-land. Yes, last month’s catastrophic system failure mysteriously fixed itself, and yes, some of the problems I initially complained about in early June have been solved… but some are back, and there are some new ones as well. In particular, ever since I got the computer back, it’s been experiencing a rather annoying glitch whereby Mail isn’t saving my outgoing messages properly. Not to mention continuing core-app crashes, UI glitches, and erratic sleep behavior.

I’ve been planning for a while now to take my computer back to the Apple Store, but today I finally wrote up my latest manifesto listing and explaining the problems — and demanding a real solution this time — so I’ll be taking it, and the letter, in tomorrow morning. Here’s the money quote:

Although the problems appear software-related, I believe they are caused by some physical defect of the computer, not the operating system or software, and I do NOT believe they can be solved by simply erasing the hard drive, reinstalling the OS, and/or otherwise tinkering with software settings. I say this for a couple of reasons. First and most obviously, the problems picked up right where they left off after the hard drive was erased and the OS reinstalled last month. Given how stable Mac OS X normally is, it seems highly unlikely that a freshly installed copy of the OS would develop such severe problems so quickly. Nor did I install any unusual applications that would be likely to “poison” the OS in some way. Secondly, during the times when my computer was in repair, I used a bootable clone of my hard drive to run my system on another computer (my wife’s old iBook), and although it was slow (it’s a G3 with 500 MHz), none of these problems occurred when I was using the same OS, and the same set of programs, on a different physical machine. So I think something is wrong with the machine itself, and unless we can pinpoint what’s wrong and fix it, I think the time has come—this being the fourth repair in 12 months, and the third in less than six weeks—to consider replacing the unit. …

I don’t meant to be picky or rude, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a professional computer of the PowerBook’s caliber, with a world-class operating system like OS X, to perform without these sorts of frequent, Windows-like glitches. I bought the AppleCare warranty so that I could depend on the functionality of this computer for at least three years, and yet here I am, halfway through the life of the warranty, bringing it in for the fourth time—and several of the very same problems remain unresolved from the first of those four repairs, back when the computer was barely six months old. (And in several cases, the problems actually started when it was only two or three months old, in March or April 2006.)

The full text of my letter, detailing all the problems, is here. A couple of them may seem like small potatoes, but remember the big picture: this computer hasn’t been working right — I mean really, entirely right — since, well, ever, or at least since around March 2006. (I bought it in January 2006.) And I’m sick of having it be gone for a week-and-a-half, only to come back half-fixed, if that. So I don’t think I’m being unreasonable here. I didn’t pay $2,500 for a top-of-the-line PowerBook that’s as buggy as a crap-ass Dell or Gateway, and I didn’t pay $350 for a warranty so they could not fix the bugs and glitches. If they can’t actually get my damn computer working properly, then I want a new one.

Anyway, suggestions are welcome.

P.S. If anyone reading this blog has any pull with Apple, and wants me to send them the referenced video clips and additional files, as well as the original version of the letter (with my address and phone number not redacted), just shoot me an e-mail at brendanloy [at] alumni.usc.edu. :)

Al Qaeda is stepping up efforts to sneak terrorists into the U.S. and has rebuilt most of its capability to strike here, an intelligence estimate states, according to The Associated Press.

Visit CNN for the latest.

I haven’t been paying attention to baseball lately, but as the second half of the season begins, Barry Bonds is four home runs away from tying Hank Aaron’s career record of 755. And there are a bunch of other milestones in the cards as well. Oh yeah, and the Red Sox have the best record in baseball, and a 10-game lead in the AL East. Nice.

&otStewart Mandel asks the question.

I’ve expressed my opinion about retroactive forfeits before, and that applies to the Sooners as well:

I hate the idea of retroactive forfeits. I think they’re dumb, dumb, dumb. We all know that UMass was in the 1996 Final Four; we all know that the Fab Five played in two national championship games. Removing the banners and altering the record books doesn’t change history, and pretending it does has always seemed rather Orwellian to me. … [A]ltering the results of games that were played three years ago flies in the face of common sense, doesn’t it?

As I clarified in a later post:

I’ve already expressed my opinion about the Orwellian absurdism of these retroactive forfeits. I suppose I can see the logic behind it if the team knew at the time that it was using an ineligible player… but to declare a player ineligible long after the fact, because of conduct that the team knew nothing about, and then to change the results of the team’s games on that basis? That strikes me as totally ridiculous and lame. It would be a different situation if the allegations involved something that changed the competitive balance of the game(s) in question (e.g., performance-enhancing drugs, gambling on the outcome, etc.)… but if not, and if the team was itself innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing (or willful blindness), then I’d say the punishment doesn’t fit the crime… especially given that the punishment does violence to common sense by literally rewriting history. (And for the record: ;Well, what else can we do?” is not a valid reason to impose an otherwise unsupportable punishment.)

Beyond that, I’m not sure what else there is to say, except to remind Trojan-haters that the apparent unfairness and hypocrisy in the NCAA’s actions (and inactions) isn’t the result of some grand pro-USC conspiracy — it’s quite obviously the result of the different circumstances of the two cases, specifically relating to the fact that the NCAA lacks the power to force Reggie Bush to talk, now that he’s in the NFL. Stewart Mandel explained this well back in May:

It’s not that the NCAA is stalling — it’s that it’s flailing. Through this case, we’re seeing first-hand just how limited the organization’s enforcement powers really are. If Bush were a current student-athlete, the NCAA could hold him out of competition until the matter was resolved. It could also sanction him if he failed to cooperate with investigators (much like it did Maurice Clarett for lying to investigators). With Bush being a professional football player, however, the NCAA holds no more authority over him than it does over you or I. The same goes for other, non-university parties.

Not only are Bush and his family declining to speak with investigators, but, according to reports, they also recently reached a settlement with Michael Michaels — the man whose house the Bush clan supposedly lived in rent-free — that specifically prohibits him from talking to investigators. In other words, they bought him off. And Ornstein, obviously, has no motivation to cooperate — he’s going to do whatever it takes to protect his client’s name.

If you look back, nearly every major NCAA infractions case over the past decade — from the Alabama/Albert Means saga in football to the basketball scandals at Michigan (Ed Martin), Ohio State (Jim O’Brien), Minnesota (an academic advisor writing papers) and Georgia (Jim Harrick/Tony Cole) — has included the presence of at least one voluntary whistle-blower. More often than not, they’ve also involved local or federal litigation that produced subpoenaed testimony. The NCAA is almost entirely dependent on others to do its dirty work, and so far, no one has stepped forward to help them on this one.

Earlier this month, Pac-10 enforcement chief Ron Barker told SI.com’s Michael Silver, “This is the first time I’ve encountered anything like this, where all parties — even those who’ve turned against each other — have not cooperated with an investigation.” Translation: They talked to Yahoo!, but they won’t talk to us.

(Long-delayed hat tip: BK.)

P.S. How must Oregon feel about all this? The Ducks, 10-1 and ranked #5 in the final BCS standings in 2005, lost 17-14 to Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl after being denied a BCS bid which they felt they deserved ahead of #4 Ohio State and #6 Notre Dame, both of whom had two losses. Losing to a 7-4 team in the Holiday Bowl after making that argument was embarrassing enough, but now it turns out the Ducks’ Holiday Bowl loss was to nobody, since Oklahoma’s win has been nullified. Oh yeah, and who was Oregon’s only regular-season loss to? The possibly-ineligble USC Trojans! Oregon finished the 2005 season 10-2, and it may end up that both of their losses were to teams who’ll have to forfeit the victories! Heh. If I were a Ducks fan, I’d be barking quacking mad.

Studying for Secured Transactions while listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack on my iPod just now, I came across a line in the BarBri outline that begins, “The Code provides special rules concerning…” and it occurred to me: How much more fun would it be to study for the bar exam if, instead of needing to know about the Uniform Commercial Code, we instead needed to know about the Pirates Code?

I finally broke down and did it.

I bought into the hype, the slick advertising, and the amazing fervor that is the Apple Macintosh community.

Today, I went to the Knoxville Apple Store and picked up my brand new Apple MacBook Pro, 17″, 2.4GHz variety. I decided to go with the old style anti-glare finish on the screen, in lieu of the glossy (which is really pretty), and picked up a pile of software apps to run on this bad boy once I get a second to actually play around.

Right now, I’m feeling a bit lost with the controls, but I think it’ll be pretty smooth sailing for the most part. I don’t feel lost because anything is difficult to understand or hard to use, it’s just a new interface to which I’m not yet accustomed.

So, for you long time Mac users, what’s a good estimate of time for how long it will take me to feel completely at ease with the computer and all its differences from the Windows world?

Any killer apps that I simply can’t live without? I really like everything so far, and I suspect as soon as I get my AirPort Extreme hooked up and going, all will be awesomely wireless and fast.

The computer itself seems really speedy and slick. I like the size (considering it’s a 17 inch) and the weight isn’t at all as much as I had anticipated.

The guys at the Apple Store were excellent to work with, very helpful, and since I had well more equipment than I could reasonably navigate through the mall on my own accord, they grabbed a flat dolly and hauled everything to my truck for me.

Anyway, here I am, Mac. Impress me like you’re supposed to.

On the twelfth of July as it yearly did come
Bob played on the flute to the sound of the drum
You can talk of your fiddles, your harp or your lute
But there’s nothing could sound like the Old Orange Flute.

Yes, it’s time again for good Orangemen everywhere to celebrate the bloody coup by King Billy glorious victory of Prince William of Orange over James II & his forces of Popish Jacobite tyranny at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. ;> (Seems like Only yesterday… :)

But today, a mere 317 years On ;>, there seems to be Real reason for hope that at last ~ at long last! ~ the ancient animosities are Finally beginning to fade (and God send that this hope be Realized). From the BBC, a short Two months ago (emphases added):

…There was talk of sunshine and showers - a forecast that does us perfectly well on nine days out of 10 in Ireland - but no mention, as there surely should have been, of hell freezing over.

For this was the day when Ian Paisley - custodian for 50 years or more of the loudhailer of Northern Irish Unionism - came to the site of the Battle of the Boyne as a guest of the Irish government.

…[Republic of Ireland Prime Minister Bertie Ahern] told the DUP leader: “As we work to build a shared future we are all coming to acknowledge that we have a shared and complex past… We owe it to the generations that preceded us, but most of all, we owe it to those who will follow.”

…[newly-inaugurated UK Province of Nothern Ireland First Minister Paisley] was in reflective mood himself - poetically evoking the manner in which the gentle countryside of [the Irishrepublican county] Meath has reclaimed the battleground.

As he put it: “Instead of reverberating to the roar of cannon fire and the charge of men, the shot of musket or the clash of sword steel, today we have the tranquillity of still water where we can contemplate the past and look forward to the future.”

Amen, amen, to both the Taoiseach and the First Minister. / And, God send that it be a future of Peace ~ spiced with a dash of peace’s flavourful companion, good Humour :) ~

There is still a touch of devilment about Ian Paisley though - even as an 80-year-old head of government.

He chose to present Mr Ahern with a musket as a gift - a rather handsome 350-year-old relic of the fighting - taking care to remind him that it had been recovered from the losing side.

And he even managed a jocular reference to the issue of disarmament which held up Ireland’s peace process for so long saying: “If you ever want to use it, remember you’ll have to see the decommissioning organisation.“

Now the Old Flute was doomed, and its fate was pathetic:
‘Twas fastened and burnt at the stake as heretic.
As the flames rose around it, you could hear a strange noise
‘Twas the Old Flute still a-whistlin’ “The Protestant Boys”.

A truly Happy Twelfth to one & All. :)