Author Archives: Jeff Porten

An ode to Richard

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(Dedicated to and inspired by Dennis O’Leary)

Alas, poor Richard the Third,
Despite all his loins having gird,
Took his rest like a sot
In a mundane parking lot
Where both he and the cars hate the birds.

And now we’ve discovered his bones
With Tarmac and asphalt his stone.
“Gadzooks,” said the king,
“What a terrible thing.
This lot’s a long fall from my throne.”

“And to think, I’m still known to this day.
In so many movies I’m played
But it’s Robin whose arms
Hold Maid Marian’s charms…
I’ll ask if he’s willing to trade.”

Update: I am belatedly wondering if I have confused Richard I with Richard III. To which I will assert that as an American, this kind of confusion falls under artistic license. Iceberg, Goldberg, all the same to me.

SuperBowling in Vegas

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Unexpectedly still in Vegas for Superbowl weekend, which is a personal first. In between comps and just booked at the “Days Inn Las Vegas at the Wild Wild West Gambling Hall”, which promises to be so transcendently awful that I might get some excellent stories out of it.

Then again, can’t be worse than the Downtown Motel 6.

  • Rob Pegoraro:
    Fight coat-check chaos: Take one of your cards, write “Yes, this is my coat” on it, put it in your coat’s most obvious pocket.

Or buy your coat at Goodwill. Then it won’t look like anyone else’s, and you can abandon it in a pinch.

  • Josh Centers:
    Writing in Markdown? Great! Writing about Markdown? Headache.

Writing about Markdown IN Markdown: [eating][own dogfood].

  • Josh Centers:
    Don’t you meant \[eating\]\[own dogfood\]? I need to lay down.

Reminds me of the joys of writing AppleScripts in FileMaker Pro calculation fields.

  • Josh Centers:
    I’m being reminded why I’m not a coder.

It’s when you’re mixing \” & ” with \\ that your brain begins to melt. Escape the escape char so it escapes in the script, too.

  • Glenn Fleishman:
    What’s good about Logic? I just got Amadeus Pro, which is a big help over Fission & GarageBand & Audacity.

If you have a 4-minute podcast that you want to stretch to 12 minutes, try Rock Me Amadeus Pro.

Suddenly ‘s Letterpress skills make more sense.

  • Rob Pegoraro:
    I have OS X’s busy indicator–not the beachball, the spinning gear–in the middle of the screen. And I have no idea why or how to stop it.

Busy on a gray startup screen? Or superimposed on your Finder desktop?

  • Rob Pegoraro:
    On the regular desktop, regardless of what app I’m using.

Are you using Quicksilver or any other app that creates overlays? Could be running amuck.

I can’t think of a single reason why the OS X indicator would still be there; it’s not used after startup.

  • Rob Pegoraro:
    Nope. I try to keep this machine configured pretty clean.

Does the problem persist after reboot? Are apps functioning normally?

  • Literally Clint:
    The Apple Lisa was also released 30 yrs ago and to this day I have literally never seen one in person ;)

You’re not missing much. A Mac SE knocks it into a cocked hat.