Day: January 25, 2010

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What a Chuckle

What’s so humorous? Apple’s $80+ “Magic Mouse” (with prices all the way up to $130!). For $80+, IF you have a compatible Apple product to use it with (otherwise, you can shell out even more for a Bluetooth interface), it can almost duplicate–after making modifications to the way the OS normally uses a mouse (why! you can actually have it emulate a TWO-BUTTON MOUSE! *pfui*)–what my lil $30 Logitech wireless RF mouse can do. Oh, wait. That was $30 with the wireless keyboard as well… And with shipping.

*feh*

Well, I do have to admit that it will do a couple (but only a couple) of things my setup won’t, but since it’ll ONLY do them with compatible Apple products (and some very recent Apple products will need additional–can you say, “More $$”?–hardware just to use this “Magic Mouse”), and even then, are “features” more searching for users than features users search for. What? I need something that lets me, “swipe left and right along the Multi-Touch surface to advance through pages in Safari or browse photos in iPhoto”? First of all, I can do the mouse gesture forward/back in Opera now, and only use one finger, so why make things harder for myself? Second, iPhoto? Who wants to use iPhoto?

Wait. That two-finger gesture thingy doesn’t count, since I can do it with one finger, so that’s only ONE thing this over-priced dummy-catcher can do that my cheapo Logitech wireless mouse can’t. What’s the other thing? 360 degree “pan”. I’m still trying to imagine a use I might put that to. Sure, it’s a “gee-whiz” feature, but useful? I can scroll up n down (and left-right in most apps) with my lil cheapie Logitech mouse. Good enough. 360 degree “panning”? Sell me on it, if you can.(You can’t)

Apple’s Magic Mouse: just the thing for folks with more money than brains and worth a few chuckles for the rest of us.

N.B. Apple does make some very fine hardware. MacBook Pros, for example, can make very nice Windows machines. Well, apart from that quirky Mac keyboard. Which just highlights the main issue I still have with Macs. Why not just buy some very fine hardware (for less than equivalent Apple hardware) and if one wants a BSD-based OS (like OS X) just install PCBSD? A very nearly bulletproof OS with LOADS of free software, suitable for almost any user’s needs: what’s not to like. Heck, it can even be “skinned” to be more maclike, if one should desire such a thing.

And it works with real mice and keyboards. 🙂

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Winter’s Brew

What to do…

I love coffee,
I love beer,
I love cocoa when it’s cold around here.

I know! Make some semi-instant “2Xhot” cocoffee.

  1. Brew coffee.
  2. Add coffee to
  3. Hot cocoa mix* with
  4. a couple of drops of vanilla
  5. a pinch (or two) of cayenne pepper or a few drops of your fav hot sauce
  6. about 1/8-1/4 tsp freshly-ground cinnamon
  7. stir (I use a whisk) n sip
  8. sweeten to taste, if needed

Enjoy. The extra spiciness gives this a triple kick: the cocoa, the coffee and the cinnamon/cayenne really go well together! BTW, my first time, I had no cayenne handy, and I didn’t want to use the hot sauce I had available, so I used some chipotle chips, ground fine in a bladed coffee grinder I use for “hot” spices. The cinnamon was ground in a bladed coffee grinder I use for “sweet” spices, although given that I was using them together, I suppose I simply could have used the “hot” spices grinder.

Careful with the pepper, though. It’s easy to get too much for some “gringo” constitutions.

I suppose I really need to come up with a coffee-cocoa-pepper beer, though, cos 3 of 3 is bound to beat 2 of 3, right?

🙂

*Hot Cocoa Mix

Ingredients
10 cups dry milk powder
4 3/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (I used sucralose–“Splenda”–just not made by the company that makes Splenda)
1 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups powdered non-dairy creamer

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine milk powder, confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, and creamer. Stir till thoroughly combined. Store cocoa mixture in an airtight container. Makes about 15 cups mix, or enough for about 45 servings.

For 1 serving, place 1/3 cup cocoa mixture in a coffee cup or mug, and add 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir to dissolve. Top with dollop of whipped cream or a few marshmallows, if desired.

Note: I did the “stir thoroughly” bit, but I believe from now on I’ll do that, then put the mix through a small food processor to make it into a very fine powder, as I do with a chai mix I make.