There was a scene in a recent repeat of The Simpsons, the one where Homer runs for sanitation commissioner. The family sits around the table, and I forget what Homer said, but it was one of his remarkably dense gems. The camera pans to Lisa's head, and a voice whispers, "I know. I heard it too. Here's some music." Whereupon Ein Klein Nachtmusik starts playing and Lisa sighs in relief.

Withdrawing from the world like that is rarely healthy, but I agree with the sentiment completely. Sometimes idiocy hurts you.

Apple just upgraded the PowerBook line. The chief difference between the new 17" and my own Pallas Athena? A 33% speed boost, to 1.33 GHz. As this system already performs admirably when I ask it to do ten things at once, I really can't complain this time. For once, their upgrad strategy has not piked me in the arse, although if the new 15" had been out at the same time as Pallas, I might have gone for that option. But lo! This machine is still remarkable, and stable and useful and fun and a head-turner. Wheelah.