Slim Chants

We all got together at my brother’s place for a party last weekend and I mentioned that I’d bought a mac. “What are you going to do about software?” my youngest brother asked. He knows that I’ve been a PC all my life. But the answer isn’t that difficult. Most of the applications I use everyday are available for the Mac, especially the Open Source apps, or else there are reasonable alternatives either included or available. No big stumbling blocks here.

I’ve just begun a paradigm shift. I bought a MacBook Pro, a used one that our co-op QA tech at work had for sale. It needed an OS upgrade and a new battery, and it had some cosmetic damage so I got it for a good price.

Those who know me are shocked, to say the least. I’ve been a PC all my life. (Not entirely true because I’ve been a Penguin for the past five years.) I develop software on a PC for a living. But I started looking at NetBooks, and as an alternative I decided to consider an upgrade to something more powerful than the Acer Aspire 5720Z that I’ve been running Ubuntu on since it was purchased new three years ago. The Acer has a 1.6GHz Dual Core processor and shared video, but the real downfall is the poor FireWire firmware. I am a musician and FireWire is the preferred interface for getting high-quality audio into a laptop. The MacBook Pro has a 2.16GHz Dual Core processor and 256Mb dedicated video. It also has both FireWire 400 and 800 ports. Macs are preferred for multimedia of all sorts and along with music I am also a photographer, so Apple seems to be a logical choice.

I’m really impressed. I can see why non-computer types gravitate to Macs. Buying a computer that is supported top-to-bottom by the manufacturer has tremendous appeal. Case-in-point: The Mac informed me of a software update this week. During the update the Mac performed an upgrade of the keyboard firmware in the laptop. Did I say I was impressed? If there is an upgrade to the firmware of my Acer I have to check the website to find out about it, download it, run a special program in Windows to apply it (or boot from a floppy image) and restart my OS. There is absolutely no link between the hardware vendor and the software vendor. And here is where the PC business model falls apart. A Mac is an integrated unit, not hardware from one source and an Operating System from another.

So far I’m a happy camper. Not everything is perfect. OS X cannot natively recognise Linux disk partitions, for one. But the computer is powerful and fast, even with only a gig of memory. We’ll see what happens when I load it up with four. Stay tuned …

Haydain Neale is gone. He passed away last Sunday at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, a victim of lung cancer. Reportedly, he did not smoke.

I can’t believe it. I heard the news last night and I’ve been in shock all day. Haydain kept his illness quiet. Who knew that a recent appearance in the audience at a CBC taped event would be the last time we’d see him alive.

Haydain had a gift in the sound of his voice. And we were blessed that he chose to share it with us. His gravelly tone oozed soul. CBC’s As It Happens just referred to it as “wild honey”. I’m sad that beyond the new Jacksoul record to be released in December we’ve heard the last of it.

Please buy the new CD. Proceeds go to Haydain’s family through a trust. I urge you to please buy a copy for each of the Christmas stockings you have to fill.

Rest in peace, Haydain. Your heavenly voice is at home now.

I’ve built another kayak. This one is a traditional construction, Greenland style, Skin-On-Frame qajaq.

The frame is made of western red cedar and pine longtitudinals with steam-bent ash ribs, pegged and lashed together. The deck beams were sawn from a pine bed frame that I recycled from the trash. (I try to use at least one recycled material in each boat I build.) The skin is 8.9 oz ballistic nylon, stretched and sewn around the frame. The coaming is also steam-bent ash, with a lip made from 3/8″ cotton rope. The coating is three coats of Colours In Plastic by Varathane in Forest Green. The first coat was thinned 10% with Tung Oil and Varsol (50::50). Deck fittings are made of 1/4″ diameter sewing machine treadle belt made of leather, with carved bone effigies and deer antler toggles and harpoon rest. Here are some photos of the build …

The migration is complete. I’ve moved the Blog and it’s contents to a new home. I’ve left the old WordPress site up as a reference but all the content has been migrated here and future posts will be from here.