Being Saturday night, there were a lot of people! The food was similar, but different, from the Greek food. I liked the cheese pie, but the Spinach in the Spinach pie was too sour/vinegary/bitter for my taste. The hummus was good. I never made it back around for sweets, even though I intended to.
St Anthony's has a lot more parking than Sts. Constantine and Helen has.
I really liked the little garden out front of the church devoted to Mary. Lots of roses (which I liked), some of which I recognized. Nice fountain in the middle and assorted other plants, like salvia and peonies.
I noticed that the wine I was drinking during dinner was in French as well as English -- I hadn't realized there was a tie between Lebanon and France, but according to the Wikipedia, France took control of Lebanon (Le Liban) after World War I.
- Music:Butterfly Lovers (Lei Qiang)
Velvet Fragrance also has a nice bloom. It's big and very nice smelling. The bush itself gets a lot of black spot though.
Tuscan Sun --
The bees were out. I've decided that a bee and flower stamens and pistols are not very attractive close up!
Poppies continue to bloom --
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-b
The betas have been quite stable for me, so I would imagine that the RC is as well.
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And I see that Thunderbird 3 is (finally) in development. It's been a long time in coming. I'm not sure that you really need local e-mail clients anymore -- web versions of mail are pretty usable now. In any event, the codestream for the alphas of Thunderbird is codenamed "Shredder" which should be a warning that alpha versions of the software could be pretty unstable.
Download here --> http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/th
The UI is pretty much the same at this point (although a bit nicer looking on the Mac). The first alpha's purpose was just to change the backend rendering engine while keeping the functionality and UI the same.
On the Mac, Shredder is now a Cocoa app. And it can use the system's address book.
Also on the Mac, Tbird 3 now seems to use the system clipboard -- so I can copy and paste from other applications. That has been a pain for me.
I've been using it a few hours now with no ill effects (although I did save a copy of my profile and mail in a separate directory...just in case!).
- Music:Puer Natus Est Nobis [Indroit (Modo VII)] (Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo)
- Music:Jolene (Rhonda Vincent)
- Music:Red Carpet Massacre (Duran Duran)
Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation — like a person's race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.
....
A number of factors lead us to this conclusion. First, the exclusion of same-sex couples from the designation of marriage clearly is not necessary in order to afford full protection to all of the rights and benefits that currently are enjoyed by married opposite-sex couples; permitting same-sex couples access to the designation of marriage will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage, because same-sex couples who choose to marry will be subject to the same obligations and duties that currently are imposed on married opposite-sex couples. Second, retaining the traditional definition of marriage and affording same-sex couples only a separate and differently named family relationship will, as a realistic matter, impose appreciable harm on same-sex couples and their children, because denying such couples access to the familiar and highly favored designation of marriage is likely to cast doubt on whether the official family relationship of same-sex couples enjoys dignity equal to that of opposite-sex couples. Third, because of the widespread disparagement that gay individuals historically have faced, it is all the more probable that excluding same-sex couples from the legal institution of marriage is likely to be viewed as reflecting an official view that their committed relationships are of lesser stature than the comparable relationships of opposite-sex couples. Finally, retaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise — now emphatically rejected by this state — that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects "second-class citizens" who may, under the law, be treated differently from, and less favorably than, heterosexual individuals or opposite-sex couples. Under these circumstances, we cannot find that retention of the traditional definition of marriage constitutes a compelling state interest. Accordingly, we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional.
- Change yourself.
- You are in control.
- Forgive and let it go.
- Without action you aren't going anywhere.
- Take care of this moment.
- Everyone is human.
- Persist.
- See the good in people and help them.
- Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.
- Continue to grow and evolve.
- Music:Bajo la Lune Mexicana (Concrete Blonde)
The air traffic controllers' "Report of Unusual Aerial Phenomenon" was filed from an unspecified small airport near the eastern coast of England.
The men, each with more than eight years on the job, described how they were helping guide a small plane to a landing on runway 22 when they were distracted by a brightly lit object approaching a different runway without clearance.
"Everyone became aware that the object was unidentified," their report said. "SATCO (code name for a controller with 14 years experience) reports that the object came in 'at speed,' made a touch and go on runway 27, then departed at 'terrific speed' in a 'near vertical' climb."
The incident is one of the more credible in the newly public files because it was reported by air traffic controllers, said David Clarke, a UFO expert who worked with the National Archives on the document release.
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/B/BRITAIN_UFO_FILES?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-05-13-19-58-08
The Catholic Church’s top astronomer has said there is no contradiction between the one true faith and believing in aliens.
....
José Gabriel Funes, the director of the Vatican Observatory, admitted the possibility of extra-terrestrial life in an interview with the Papacy’s inhouse daily L'Osservatore Romano, titled “The Alien is my Brother”.
The paper quoted him saying: "It is possible, even if until now, we have no proof. But certainly in such a big universe this hypothesis cannot be excluded."
“This is not in contradiction with our faith, because we cannot establish limits to God's creative freedom,” Funes continued. “To say it with St Francis, if we can consider some earthly creatures as 'brothers' or 'sisters', why could we not speak of a 'brother alien'? He would also belong to the creation."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/14/vatican_aliens/
- Music:Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: II. Allemande (Yo-Yo Ma)
These are pictures of the rose garden in the back --
Artistry --
- Music:God Shiva (Me'Shell NdegéOcello)
The Fusion settings dialog looks more Mac-like.
Evidently, it handles multiple displays, the unity window works better, better DirectX 9 support, imports Parallels desktops, etc., etc.
I also upgraded Windows under VWMare to XP Service Pack 3. Crossing my fingers that the Fusion beta plays well with SP3. Release Notes here.
- Music:String Theory (Matthew Shipp)
Yesterday, I was using Picasa, which is Windows-only, to generate a collage of pictures (the collage in yesterday's post). Because Picasa is Windows-only, I was using it under VMWare Fusion.
I wanted to remove some pictures from the current view, and so I hit the delete key. Of course, Picasa warned me that I was deleting pictures, and it would move the deleted pictures into the Recycle Bin. No prob…just delete the pictures, I say.
Then, I think…oops, I deleted some pictures I really wanted to keep (deleter's remorse). First, I looked in the Windows Recycle Bin. Nada. Then, I looked in Finder’s Trash. Again, nada.
I was beginning to feel S-O-L.
I guess Picasa under a virtual machine doesn’t really use the Windows Recycle Bin the way it promises. Or maybe it’s Windows or VMWare that causes this issue. Who knows? Whatever the case, I was thinking I had completely lost those pics!
Until I remembered Time Machine. I was able to open Time Machine, get the pictures I wanted, and restore them. No muss, no fuss.
That's probably one of the best pieces of functionality that got added to the MAC OS.
- Music:Born Slippy/Right Here Right Now [Nuxx] (Fatboy Slim / Underworld)
I joked that the phone was permanently attached to my niece's hand. She said something shocking -- last year, she sent eight THOUSAND text messages! OMG!
After lunch, my parents and I walked around the yard, so they could show me the new things they had planted.
Then, my Dad and I drove up to the old buildings on the farm, so that he could show me where they had worked on the floor of the "pack house" -- this is the building used to store the tobacco after it had been cured, but before it was taken to market.
Looking at the pit under the pack house, and then some of the other buildings (stable, orchard, barns, etc.) brought back some memories from when I was a little boy, and this had all still been a working farm.
- Music:Seven Days In Sunny June (Jamiroquai)
I surfed the web a while, of course. I found out that you can go onto your wish list on Amazon, type in someone else's e-mail address and see their wish list. I had never given any thought to that! I knew the wish list was "public" -- I just hadn't thought of what that meant.
Otherwise, I haven't done much today!
Here's some eye candy for a rainy day :)
- Music:Cold Shoulder (Adele)
Circuit City is ready to be bought. I worked at Circuit City years ago, and I remember thinking that it wasn't quick enough on its feet to make some of the changes that even I (as not-so-humble programmer) thought they needed to make.
Circuit City is finally throwing in the towel. Confronted with weak sales, impatient shareholders, and a U.S. consumer pummeled by recession, the electronics chain capitulated on May 9 and retained Goldman Sachs to help negotiate a deal.
****
A far bigger problem for Circuit City? Its moribund prospects are likely to turn even gloomier, with U.S. consumer spending in the doldrums and unlikely to recover in the near term. In March, the Commerce Dept. reported that spending grew just 0.1% and much of that was for necessities such as medical care and haircuts, not the electronics gear found at Circuit City and rivals.
Indeed, the competitive pressures are currently so high that even the leader in the business, Best Buy (BBY), is looking to diversify overseas....
****
....investors don't necessarily view the Blockbuster-Circuit City combination as a winning one either. That's because Blockbuster has its own litany of troubles. Blockbuster has been forced to reckon with a shift from on-site movie rentals to new venues, with increased competition from video rental models like the one from Netflix (NFLX) and downloads from Apple (AAPL). "The question is will the combination of two crippled companies end up crippling both even further," says Burt Flickin
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/may2008/db2008059_133176.ht m
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