paul schreiber

Don’t mess with old people

paul — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:54:31 +0000

A couple years ago I came across stories of a 72-year-old ex-boxer and an 84-year-old beating the crap out would-be robbers.

The trend continues.

In February, 70-year-old Ellen Basinski beat up some robbers with a saucepan:

The feisty Basinski was on the phone with her husband, a local judge, when the would-be robbers entered the house.

“I was angry,” she says.

As one of them started rummaging through her purse, she grabbed her favorite trademark Lagasse saucepan and, as the famous chef himself likes to say, BAM!

“He told the police it almost knocked him out,” Basinski says. “I gave it a good whack. I figured, ‘You might get only one swing, lady!’ So make it good!”

Last week, 69-year-old Dwayne Austgen shot a crack addict with a 22.

General Motors Commercial Spoof

paul — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:43:52 +0000

Awesome Ben & Jerry’s ad

paul — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:25:05 +0000

Avid reader Jeff Potter sends this in:

Frankenad?

paul — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:52:11 +0000

How’s that for juxtaposition?

Religious nutters ask for advice, don’t get what they expected

paul — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:08:39 +0000

Margo Howard, Ann Landers’ daughter, is also an advice columnist. Recently, she received a question from some religious fanatics:

Our daughter started college a year ago, and we’ve noticed during her visits home that she’s not the sweet, innocent girl we sent away for higher learning. We raised her with strong Christian beliefs, but lately she’s saying that she’s joined an atheist club on campus and is questioning everything we taught her. Now my husband refuses to let her in the house and is threatening to turn her in to the FBI.

Margo’s answer was spot-on.

Check out the question about the in-laws, too.

Classmates.com is phoning it in

paul — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:01:03 +0000

Good ol’ Fklsdjf Fldskf;!

The great Mac OS X Software Update chart

paul — Thu, 28 May 2009 07:44:01 +0000

Recently, my friend Rob posed a question to twitter:

Is Mac OS X 10.5.7 the single biggest patch Apple has ever released, or just one of the biggest?

I thought that was an easy question to anwser.

I was wrong.

I looked all over the web for this information, and no one seemed to have it in one place.

So, I present to you: the comprehensive Mac OS X software update chart, current as of May 28, 2009. When the downloads are still available, I’ve linked to them on Apple’s site.

	Delta	Combo	Server	Server Combo
10.5.1	110 MB	—	110 MB	—
10.5.2	337 MB	343 MB	376 MB	382 MB
10.5.3	420 MB	536 MB	489 MB	632 MB
10.5.4	88 MB	561 MB	133 MB	677 MB
10.5.5	316 MB	601 MB	341 MB	729 MB
10.5.6	372 MB	668 MB	469 MB	883 MB
10.5.7	442 MB	729 MB	452 MB	951 MB

Here are all of the Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) updates Apple has released. Leopard updates are all universal (four-way fat: ppc, ppc64, i386 and x86_64).

Answering Rob’s question

There are four different Mac OS X 10.5.7 updates: delta, combo, server and server combo. Each of the updates is the largest in its category.

The 10.5.7 delta update narrowly edges out the 10.5.3 update (by 22 MB). However, the 10.5.7 server update is actually 17 MB smaller than the 10.5.6 server update.

The combo update is 61 MB bigger than its nearest competitor; the server combo is 68 MB larger than its closest rival.

Update	PPC Delta	Combo	Intel Delta	Combo	PPC Server	PPC Server Combo	Universal Server	Universal Server Combo
10.4.1	37 MB	—	—	—	39 MB	—	—	—
10.4.2	44 MB	58 MB	—	—	44 MB	57 MB	—	—
10.4.3	97 MB	109 MB	—	—	118 MB	130 MB	—	—
10.4.4	55 MB	120 MB	—	—	83 MB	166 MB	—	—
10.4.5	16 MB	125 MB	98 MB	—	15 MB	—	—	—
10.4.6	65 MB	140 MB	163 MB	191 MB	92 MB	182 MB	—	—
10.4.7	64 MB	145 MB	133 MB	215 MB	95 MB	192 MB	—	—
10.4.8	31 MB	149 MB	206 MB	294 MB	62 MB	196 MB	202 MB	—
10.4.9	72 MB	163 MB	160 MB	310 MB	127 MB	216 MB	249 MB	—
10.4.10	25 MB	165 MB	72 MB	297 MB	58 MB	218 MB	—	391 MB
10.4.11	67 MB	181 MB	128 MB	322 MB	109 MB	242 MB	137 MB	425 MB

Next, the updates for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). The first four Tiger updates are PowerPC-only; after that, Apple released both PowerPC and Intel updates. Some of the later server updates were universal.

Update	Delta	Combo	Server	Server Combo
10.3.1	1.5 MB	—	1.5 MB	—
10.3.2	36 MB	—	54 MB	—
10.3.3	57 MB	70 MB	69 MB	89 MB
10.3.4	40 MB	79 MB	45 MB	102 MB
10.3.5	43 MB	88 MB	41 MB	107 MB
10.3.6	34 MB	92 MB	42 MB	118 MB
10.3.7	26 MB	97 MB	28 MB	119 MB
10.3.8	27 MB	99 MB	28 MB	125 MB
10.3.9	51 MB	117 MB	63 MB	143 MB

Back in Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther), the chart returns to simplicity. All of these updates are PowerPC-only.

Update	Delta	Combo	Server	Server Combo
10.2.1	17 MB	—	1.5 MB	—
10.2.2	23 MB	29 MB	40 MB	45 MB
10.2.3	50 MB	60 MB	59 MB	79 MB
10.2.4	41 MB	74 MB	46 MB	97 MB
10.2.5	38 MB	82 MB	42 MB	103 MB
10.2.6	6 MB	86 MB	6 MB	103 MB
10.2.7	—	—	—	—
10.2.8	40 MB	97 MB	36 MB	158 MB

Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) has one notable exception. Mac OS X 10.2.7 only shipped with some Power Mac G5s and was never available as as standalone software update.

Update	Delta	Combo	Server	Server Combo
10.1.1	14 MB	—		—
10.1.2	29 MB	34 MB
10.1.3	16 MB	38 MB	4 MB
10.1.4	2 MB		2 MB
10.1.5	21 MB	45 MB

Update	Delta	Combo	Server
10.0.1	4 MB	—
10.0.2	15 MB
10.0.3	15 MB
10.0.4	12 MB	19 MB	17 MB

At this point, things get difficult. The charts have some holes in them. I’m not sure if the updates never shipped, or have simply vanished. Searching Apple’s support site and Google failed to turn up any useful links. If you can help fill in the blanks, leave a comment.

Some good resources for Mac OS X update information:

Doctorow: reign in ISPs to foster innovation

paul — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:31:05 +0000

Writing for The Guardian, Cory Doctorow explains why net neutrality is essential and dispells myths about billing to show us we need a free and open Internet to allow for innovation:

Take filtering: by allowing ISPs to silently block access to sites that displease them, we invite all the ills that accompany censorship – Telus, a Canadian telcom that blocked access to a site established by its striking workers where they were airing their grievances. Around the world, ISPs co-operate with censorious governments in their mission to keep their citizens in the dark: for example, ISPs in the United Arab Emirates are blocking access to stories about a UAE royal family member who was video-recorded torturing a merchant with whom he had a business dispute. As a matter of policy, Transport for London isn’t allowed to block us from riding the tube to a rally in support of striking transit workers; British Gas doesn’t turn our heat off if they suspect we’re housing a benefits cheat; and BT doesn’t divert our phone calls if we’re ringing up a competitor to change carriers. Giving an ISP censorship powers — and then layering censorship in secrecy and arbitrariness — we make the internet a less trustworthy and less useful place to be.

More bike lanes for Toronto

paul — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:32:33 +0000

Via Andrea: the Toronto Star shares the good news that Toronto’s getting a bike lane on Jarvis Street:

Mayor David Miller: “The city needs a network so cyclists can travel their entire trip safely.”

Check out all these hlmets:

Hilarious FTC ads poke fun at Experian’s “free” reports

paul — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:33:25 +0000

Seen those annoying ads for freeCreditReport.com? Been, er, annoyed? Not only are they annoying (sense a theme here?), they’re also misleading. The FTC has their own ads, promoting AnnualCreditReport.com, which actually is free.