The day June 3rd, 2005 marked the 10th anniversary of my wife’s and my marriage. Love at first sight it was (in 1984 … freshman year at college) … the bond remains solid and I’ve always been happy with her. I married for love and never regretted it.
No, we did not go modern and get the diamonds for our present. We went traditional and purchased some aluminum. (Here’s a list of mod/trad anniversary gifts.) We kept it reasonably priced (out of necessity). We bought a couple pieces of aluminum -alloy Nambé. It’s become a fairly common wedding gift option, but still somehow rare enough to be special. The company states: “Nambé is an eight-metal, aluminum-based alloy created at Los Alamos National Labs in the 1940s. Nambé does not contain silver or lead and therefore does not tarnish. Because Nambé’s alloy is a trade secret, we cannot divulge the rest of the formula. The FDA has declared Nambé safe for cooking and serving.” Anyway, we bought the Spiral Wine Server, which I find is one of the most beautiful and useful objects that we’ve ever possessed. It REALLY does keep the wine chilled as long as needed. (Put it in the freezer. Just use some mitts when you grab and remove the thing from said freezer … extreme cold can destroy just as many skin cells as extreme heat, so I’ve heard.)
The Spiral Wine Server looks truly fab sitting on any table. I’m not sure who the Nambé people really are and how they got the alloy formula out of the Los Alamos lab, but I like what they do. It’s wonderful. And the artist’s name is on it.
I woke up anniversary day reminded of David Bowie’s song Heroes for some reason (I have his old BowieChanges greatest hit compilation which is excellent, but the newer one is likely more complete). It must be a take-it-one-day-at-a-time, make-it-through-the-next-24-hours kind of thing. It might be a transcend-the-difficulties-of-the-day thing, too.
Old OS still working amazingly well … the old Volvo, too
The good news (at last for us) is our blue-and-white 400 MHz PowerMac G3 and Powerbook Firewire (both circa 1999-2000) are still working excellent running OS 9 and talking to each like best friends (the simple Ethernet crossover connection trick works just fine). Sure, they’re old old and a bit tired, but my wife and I can still get done on these machines what is necessary for now and, knock on wood, I do not expect to upgrade until they just stop filling our need. The apps are all working amazingly well still and our needs are basically met. Obsolescence is on the horizon but it’s not here today, thankfully.
OS 9 feels sort of like our ’85 Volvo 240 DL burgundy-colored wagon.
Volvo had nearly perfected the design of the 240s by ’93 when they scrapped it. And ours is pretty good given the situation: excellent turning radius, perfect vision, great heat and defrost, and cassette player still works. And those Volvo 240s look good in the movies. The post 240-series Volvo models mostly don’t do it for me. These days I’d go for a Subaru Forester (or the best medium-sized American station wagon on the market with optimal field of vision, cargo space and fuel economy — just like my Volvo 240! Does an American competitor to the Subaru Forester or Volvo 240 wagon exist?)
So … OS X. Well, I feel like I’d need a lengthy, rigorous course in Unix and how Apple’s latest OS works with it. It seems the OS has its shortcomings and the Windows comparison has been made repeatedly. I’d want to be able to tweak it to simplify it. I’d want some tome like MacWorld Mac Secrets by David Pogue & Joseph Shorr (I was a beta-reader for the Mac Secrets 6th Edition!) covering everything about OS X. (David Pogue is the greatest how-to writer the Mac-platform user has ever known. Who else?)
It’s going to take time and funds and expensive software upgrades to go to OS X, but if I’m to stay with Apple computers this is my lot: I would have to do plenty of work to be my own tech support maven in OS X. One thing for sure is Apple’s new hardware designs are aesthetically sublime. I just hope they and the OS work as good as it looks.
I’ll never forget the greatness of the classic Mac OS, though. It has been a friend indeed. The Volvo is most praiseworthy, too.
More on the Liberal Arts
My little rant the other day and later discussion with Mr. David Every about the Liberal Arts was a good mind workout. And David made valid points. But really I only touched the surface of why a good liberal arts learning background is so crucial to fathoming current reality.
We need in our leadership many more linguists, general-knowledge thinkers, people who can string the vital issues of the day into a coherent and well-prioritized list, without so many silly prejudices and senseless, fruitless financial interests that are often so bad for the environment. Such good ethical leaders we may become or, if not, we may learn from them how to better use our resources for the improvement of the whole in America.
Our Think Tanks should be filled with more broad-minded people. There is no problem with “the specialist” for me really. I know they are absolutely necessary for certain jobs, but even some of them could be better served (and could better serve others) had they a strong foundation of Liberal Arts training. It just enables a thinker/worker to better link ideas together for constructive, creative development. It’s time to get serious about the Liberal Arts in American education in my not-so-humble opinion.
We do not need to get “mean” with it, I’m not saying that. We just need to get good and smart. I think all high schools should require proof of reading and writing FLUENCY in a second language before handing out a high school degree. History, Literature, writing, the natural sciences — they should must be pursued by students with vigor and full attention if we are to begin to solve our country’s problems. I took German language three years but never mastered it — I can blame myself but the laxness of our educational institutions did not help matters. Teachers must be inspired and inspiring if they are to be truly effective.
All students should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their ability. That’s the American way to me. I’m still in favor of Affirmative Action. But we must find a way to advance and not overlook those young people (and their excellent minds) who can reach greater heights of learning. We must not limit the advancement of the most capable.
As for me, these days I’ve been hitting the history books and learning many things about America that I missed in my youth, when I mostly avoided studying. Certainly, debate and dissent and the good contributions of people who “Think Different” have had a huge and important part in making this country what it is (that’s an understatement!). I pray this flourishes, grows … and tyranny will all but come to an end here (and perhaps elsewhere), I believe. And we Americans can truly become leaders and models of freedom again in the world. I have hope.
One last thing
This is the work of some real thinkers: The Einstein Manifesto. The “… Manifesto” is about thinkers of all stripes working together to inform the common (and not-so-common) man and woman about absolutely vital issues.
May it be so with our thinkers today, too.
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