“ For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…
Almost everything- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
— Steve Jobs, college dropout and CEO of Apple, Inc.
Why Mac
There was an article at Boston.com recently that rated Apple as #9 in the top 10 most overrated brands. It speculated that rather than product quality and design, consumers bought Apple products because they are “hooked on the hype.” A commenter left his thoughts on this theory:
I only use a Mac because I’m hooked on the hype.
That and it got old reinstalling Windows on my plastic molded hunk of crap every few months just to keep the dang thing working.
What they forget is that the hype exists for a reason: You don’t have to reinstall your operating system every 90 days. You don’t have to install 10 spyware/adware/virus scanning packages/firewalls before you dare plug in an ethernet cable. You don’t have to take tech support calls from your parents because their computer can’t find a USB printer. You don’t have to reboot every time you do almost anything. You don’t have to scour the Internet for tons of little apps and hacks just to get your operating system working like it should out of the box. You don’t have to download extra software to do basic stuff like mounting a disk image, unraring a file, viewing a PDF, or thousands of other tasks. You don’t have to click on a bunch of popups asking you if you’re really sure you want to do what you’re trying to do. You don’t have to update your virus definitions. You don’t have to defragment your hard drive. You don’t have to check several different software firewalls to open a port. You don’t have to scour the net for obscure DLL’s to run programs written for your operating system. You don’t have to clean your registry. You don’t have to close little popup windows in your task bar that keep getting in the way. You don’t have to prove you’re not a thief to download updates. You don’t have to pay extra to watch a DVD. You don’t have to be paranoid about what websites are going to hijack your computer and which ones are safe. You don’t have to use a web browser stuck in 1990. You don’t have to reboot daily. You don’t have to have blue screens. You don’t have to endure obscure error messages. You don’t have to run Windows.
Yea, I guess it’s the hype.
“ I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside. Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stumped by this for many years.
And then I realized, you just say, “Hi.” They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word.
— Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors
Swim to France
#24. Swim across Atlantic Ocean. 3,462 mi 
Do more with your Apple Remote
Ever wish you could do something besides control Front Row with your Apple Remote? Maybe control a PowerPoint presentation or other media program on your Mac?
Check out iRed Lite. It’s an application that will let you control just about anything you want on your Mac.
Plus, it’s free.
Link here
