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As an antidote to all the ranting I’ve done this week, here’s something to laugh at/with.

I blogged earlier about the new iPod developments, and I was most excited about the new search feature, thinking that since this is all software it would be trivial to deploy it on all iPods, not just the new ones. Well, I am sure I am not wrong, I get new firmware pushed to my player all the time but Apple, in their finest capitalist moment, aren’t going to do it – only the brand new models will have the feature. Presumably they think I’m going to rush out and drop $300 on a new player but instead it has me more inclined to look elsewhere when my current battery dies.

Its one year from my mother’s death; sometimes it feels like yesterday, sometimes it feels like a long time ago, yet other times I don’t actually believe any of it happened. But, without reason or justice, it did and our lives are the poorer for it. I don’t know how the rest of my family will choose to recognise the date, but I know I’ll be raising a glass in her memory, and to the celebration of being her son.

I suppose that if CostCo has Christmas decorations for sale in September, I should not be surprised that the local stores have switched to “winter fashion” and its now impossible to buy a short-sleeved shirt anywhere. Only long sleeve lumberjack shirts and nice wool-knit sweaters for sale now. Don’t worry that the temps are still in the high 90s and, lets face it, aren’t going much below 90 even in the “winter”. This is Southern California and, dammit, we’ll wear scarves and down jackets even if its still 75F out, even if we do look stupid.

So… the Pope makes a remark in where he quotes a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only “evil and inhuman” things, and Muslims get a little pissed. The Pope says he’s sorry they took it that way but doesn’t say he’s sorry he said it, and Muslims get a bit more pissed and start killing nuns, burning churches, the usual stuff. No “evil and inhuman” in that response, then.

As somebody put it on the BBC News website, if I was to go stand outside a Mosque shouting for the clerics to renounce the violence I’d probably be put in jail. But when its the other way around, its called exercising their right to free speech (and free hatred). Its a lot like immigration these days. The only people with rights are those who seek to change the way of life of everyone around them rather than fit in themselves: criticise and you’re an anti-fill in the blank, and intolerant. Surely, if you don’t like the (ahem) “white christian oppression” then go somewhere else. It really does seem pretty simple.

Anway, props to the Pope for sticking to his guns (and the way its going, he may need them for real).

Last night was the start of the third season of Dancing With the Stars. Despite some problems with the show, I was a big fan of the previous two seasons but last night’s show was just so boring. I think perhaps it just went on too long, or maybe the stars just weren’t very interesting or recognisable. The football star was better than last year’s but didn’t deserve any standing ovations; its only one show and already everyone is showing the same old biases. The judges are already bickering and, like with American Idol, it isn’t entertaining any more. There were some highlights: I loved the foxtrot by Vivica A. Fox and the ex-Miss USA contestant. Jerry Springer was fun to watch, and any time Karina Smirnoff is on screen is a good time by anyone’s standards.

Today, Apple announced a whole slew of improvements to the ipod lineup. Just a few of interest:

• New 80Gb model, 30GB now $50 cheaper
• The new shuffle is so small its almost invisible
• iTunes will download the cover art for every album you own, no matter how you obtained it
• Movies now available for download
• and coming Q1…. iTV….

This past weekend I flew Teri to Camarillo for a surprise trip to Santa Rosa Island. The island lies 40 miles off the coast of Ventura and I had signed us up for a tour with Channel Islands Aviation who would fly us there, and arrange for a guide.

The self-flying was fun, including a return trip with only one working brake, and you can read about it on my flying blog if you wish.

I can heartily recommend the tour. The island feels quite isolated and is beautiful with untouched beaches and rolling hills, just beware the high winds and the hunters (though hopefully they will be gone in 2011). We had a great guide, Inge, a volunteer with the National Park service who had a great passion and knowledge for the island. The trip across the sea to the island was also fun, our pilot Curtis skilfully brought the plane down on the dirt strip in very high winds and thanks to several people not showing up he was able to join us for the tour.

To the pictures I took, click on the photo above or go to this link to my flickr photoset.

Sad news today of the death of Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter.