And, here is something that is awful, horrible, embarassing, exploitative, and should be illegal:

Anyone want to step up and explain the difference to me?

People making guesses about Apple’s Intel strategy have focused on two possibilities for OS X on Intel:

One, that third-party application vendors would have to re-compile their code for the new architecture. Two, that Apple has developed or will develop a reasonably fast PPC emulation layer.

I think there’s a third possibility: that Apple has developed a layer which will, upon the first attempt to execute an incompatible application bundle, dis-assemble, roughly translate, re-assemble, and save the binary for the new architecture. Admittedly, I’m not really qualified to assess how impossible a task this is. Since we’re looking at a pretty constrained set of binaries, compiled for known APIs, and with known toolchains, it seems like writing a really smart disassembler wouldn’t be quite as difficult as writing a really fast emulator.

A fourth possibility: some kind of internet-based distribution mechanism for binaries. Vendors supply Apple with new binaries, or Apple builds new binaries itself, somehow. Since the binary itself makes up such a small chunk of the application bundle, why not a mechanism which checks for a simple hash in an online database, downloads, and updates the relevant bundle?

Just throwing it out there.

If this letter is yours, and you’d prefer that it be kept private, please let me know.

Mystery shoe saga stumps couple

Pairs of shoes are being left in mysterious circumstances outside a remote farmhouse in Lincolnshire.

Jason and Claire Foster, who live near Market Rasen, do not know who is doing it or why they have left as many as four pairs of shoes at one time.

The family have video footage, which shows an elderly couple driving by in a green vehicle depositing the shoes.

Mrs Foster said that although it was scary at first, she was rather hoping some of the pairs might fit.

Okay, this was weird, and about the entire content of the Boing Boing link/article. But the last half of the article is what really caught my eye:

East Lindsey District Council are investigating the incident as a case of fly tipping.

“Sometimes it’s odd ones, sometimes it’s a couple of pairs. But they’re of all shapes and sizes. There has even been pairs of roller blades,” a council environment official said.

“There must have been more than 30 pairs so far – it’s been going on for months.”

He said the maximum penalty for a first offence of fly-tipping was £20,000, but it depended on its severity.

Fly tipping — now there’s a usage you don’t see much in around these parts. It turns out that fly-tipping is what we would call “illegal dumping”. It’s a great little phrase: “fly” in this case is related to “flee”, and “tipping” is what dump trucks and wheelbarrows do. Maybe we’d call it “dump-and-dash”, or “chuck-and-run”. Not quite as English, though, is it?

The AFA Journal had an article in November/December about the movie Shark Tale, one of those “let’s see how many celebrity voices we can cram into an animated movie” movies. You know it’s a great flick when both Ziggy Marley and Peter Falk contribute voice work.

Anyway, some relevant quotes from the AFA review, headlined ‘Something’s Swishy About Shark Tale‘ . First the lede:

It is an axiom for many parents that, when it comes to teaching kids what they need to know, “It’s never too young to start.”

What happens when Hollywood applies the same axiom to teaching young people — even children — to accept homosexuality?

“What,” you’re saying? “This movie is about GAY FISH?” No, but it has “an undercurrent of approval for homosexuality.”

While it is difficult to prove intent when a film does not explicitly make a character “gay,” the story and dialogue demonstrate an implicit approval of homosexuality.

This we CANNOT HAVE!

Of course, when it comes to kids, this is tricky stuff. The film does not come right out and say that we should all accept homosexuality. And, naturally, children should be taught to be accepting of others.

But as Plugged In’s Steven Isaac notes, “Had this movie been released 20 years ago, nobody would have been calling attention to this subject.” Two decades ago, accepting differences meant accepting a person who might have a different skin color, or be from a different ethnic background.

Such differences are immutable characteristics, however, and not sexual choices. In this respect, Shark Tale comes far too close to taking a bite out of traditional moral and spiritual beliefs.

And that’s probably swimming a bit too close to shore for many parents.

So yeah, pretty awesome, huh! I know my day is brighter!

Giblets reports on Florida

Florida has been in the news lately – and for something other than election fraud! – where millions of residents are once again battling the elements for the right to continue living in an overheated swamp infested with blood-sucking insects and killer reptiles.

I don’t want to say that I don’t like Florida, but I will say that on my “Most Favorite American States and Commonwealths” list, it’s down in the bottom two percent.

I would love to have one of these buttons, because I am a straight-up thug. I probably shouldn’t link to the page that sells them, since I’m sure that money all gets funneled into buying bombs for abortion clinics.

But DAMN, who wouldn’t want a “Drug Abusers for Kerry” button?

Please, please, people. DO NOT buy any of these buttons for me, no matter how much I beg you. I can’t have that on my conscience.

So, what’s new with R. Kelly? Well, he performed here in Chicago last night, and the local papers had coverage. The Tribune even had a paragraph that seemed to speak right to me:

Kelly will go on trial here in Chicago for charges relating to child pornography, and as lamentable as the charges are, Kelly has put on a pair of blinders that have allowed him to become one of the premier songwriters and singers in all of pop music, let alone R&B. But the show nonetheless carried the air of an implicit defense. [emphasis mine -- tew.]

So the Trib’s got a theory about the mask thing, and there is someone out there on the internet who has made a life-size mannequin of R. Kelly. Scroll down a bit to find the pics. There’s also some sweet RoboCop content there for Phil’s Phanatics if you’ll scroll down even further.