http://www.haroldbakker.com/ PHP, Cocoa, Mac OS X, Webdevelopment, dreamweaver extensions, movies, sillyness. en-us Harold Bakker Copyright 1999 - 2004 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:21:41 +0200 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:21:41 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=634 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=634
Soon we were copying games on cassettes from her colleagues and kids in the neighbourhood, we had a flourishing illegal trade in games going on. At that time a popular childrens' scientific magazine called Kijk (it still exists) published small BASIC programs that I would laboriously copy out line by line. I was learning the basics of BASIC. With for while loops, if then statements, and of course the ever popular go to command. I never got really far with BASIC as my interests shifted to biology and I spent a lot of time on a farm in the neighbourhood (we lived at the edge of town), I was learning about cows and crops and the cycle of life.

I finished secondary education without ever touching a computer for school work, I typed up my serious papers on my parents' orange manual typewriter. When I went to the teachers' academy in 1989 to learn Biology and Chemistry the mix of computers I saw there was eclectic. One of the Chemistry teachers used C64 machines to read in and plot solution gradients or something. We had a few dozen DOS + WordPerfect machines in the library. They were a bitch to work with. In later years Windows 3.11 (I think) came out. It had graphical programs that allowed you to adorn your papers with clipart and graphical crap. Yet the best they seemed to be able to do was make butt ugly extruded faux-3D letters with added geometrical shapes filled with nauseating colours.

After I quit my studies I started doing volunteer work in cultural center EKKO, which programs bands, disco nights, film, video, dance, classes etc. It was there that I first met Macintosh computers. I didn't really know anything about them but I'd used several different types of computer with several different types of operating system so after some initial trepidation I delved into the Mac. I haven't looked back since. I started writing nonsensical short stories for the internal magazine, distribution about 100. The ease of use of a Mac made me realise computer could be intuitive and not stand in the way of the creative process. Apple's operating system made computing effortless.
Soon I applied for the position of editor of the internal mag as the previous editor wanted to quit. It was then that I truly realised what a Mac could do. I worked with Photoshop, QuarkExpress and numerous other programs, all at the same time. I would shuffle files around on the internal AppleTalk network. I would hook up scanners and optical drives and download pictures from the early internet using sites found with AltaVista. I was completely hooked on the Mac and I bugged my good friends Jurjan and Jeroen, who I met at EKKO, endlessly about Macs and what made them tick. How they could be made faster by restarting and selectively enabling or disabling certain extensions, depending on what resources you needed for a particular job.

In 1996 (I think) I got my first Mac. Both Jeroen and Jurjan had bought new machines and they had combined their old computers into one super monster. An Apple Macintosh LC 475 with FPU (floating point unit). It had a hard drive measured in Megabytes, a speed of about 25 MHz and a small 13" colour screen. I used that computer with immense pleasure for a few years until I got a job and saved up so I could afford a new computer. I bought a Umax C500, a clone, one of the reasons Apple seemed to be going under at the time.

Shortly after I bought that machine Steve Jobs came back to Apple and killed the clones. He also killed off almost the entire line of Apple's computers, radically simplifying the business. When the iMac came out I knew Apple would get on top, the things were popping up everywhere in pop-culture, from Ikea catalogs (where every third page seemed to feature some lickable semi-transparant computer to tv shows where, inevitably, good guys used macs and bad guys used wintel (it was a shock to see Mr Glass' setup in Unbreakable).

Since that time in EKKO I don't think it's ever been a question that I was a Mac man. I would never voluntarily use anything else. The ease of use of the Mac was only reinforced by working with PCs at my job. When my Umax became too old and slow for me I bought a new middle of the range PowerMac as the MacPros were then called. I gave my old clone to my mom, who used it for years to play Snood and browse the web and do her email.

When Apple introduced the iPod I didn't jump on the bandwagon immediately. I calculated how much room I would need to store my entire collection of metal, I would have to wait until such a time as when Apple came out with one that was more my size. The 3rd generation provided this with a 30Gb iPod. I also bought a 60 Gb version a few years later. I still have both of them around, they hold an extra backup of some video files created between 1998-2000 when I was doing VJ stuff with Jurjan and Jeroen, all created on Macs of course.

In the early years of the new millennium I held out on getting a mobile phone. They seemed unnecessary and clunky. I relished not being in touch all the time. When asked whether I would ever get one I joked that I might if Apple came out with one. Over the years this joke turned more and more into reality as rumours started to come out that Apple was really working on a phone. When the first iPhone came out I saw the presentation and knew that I would probably get one as soon as they were released in the Netherlands. The iPhone 3G was the first model officially available and I got my name on the waiting list on the second day. It transformed my life, not because I could give up my landline and call mobile, I have never phoned much and I hardly do so now. No, the biggest part for me was being able to browse the internet while on the go. I could travel to my parents in the train and look at my shifting position on Google maps, switching to my RSS feeds to read up on the latest on ScienceBlogs.com. I could check my email when sitting in the bus to go to a meeting. I could take notes during meetings and send them via email straight away. In short: I had bought myself a very tiny yet fully workable Apple computer, which also happened to make calls.

During the early years of 2000 I bought another new Mac. This time I bought a G4 with Mac OS X. The ability to run Apache, MySQL and PHP transformed my working life as I was suddenly able to create scripts on my home machine, test them locally and then send to a server at work. I started to learn SQL, scripting and the arcana of CHRON. I put the Terminal app as my second in line right after the Finder, where it remains to this day, even though I don't poke around in the Unix parts much anymore as my job and interests have shifted somewhat.

The last Apple machine I bought was the first generation iPad, which it seems I mostly like to use when the days get shorter. I used it hardly at all in summer but as the days shorten I find myself more on the couch with my iPad, browsing the news or checking out videos, and less on the desktop machine.

Over the years I have used many Apple products, from computers to mobile devices to printers to monitors. And they all, still, invoke this wonder: how can something this complicated and technologically advanced be so much fun to use?
Apple has generally been criticised for not giving people enough choice, not giving them enough "openness", whatever that is. What Apple realised is that choice is confusing. Taking choice away leads to quicker decisions and that, ultimately, leads to more productivity and less frustration.
Apple has always balanced on the edge of what's possible. What can we eliminate in order to make the experience more friendly? What can we do to make things easier, less confusing, more pleasing to look at and more consistent?
The iPhone's one Home button on the front is apparently a design compromise Steve Jobs had to accept. He wanted a phone with zero buttons. But he also realised that you can't always take everything away, and that products are built by a team. He challenged his teams to come up with the best, which is why I have every confidence Apple will continue to be a market leader for some time to come. Will Apple fade? Undoubtedly, nothing lasts forever. Even the greatest empires fall, they did so in ancient times and there's no reason to think they won't do so now.

But in the mean time we'll live in a world shaped by Apple's products. Even if you've never used a single Apple product, the machine you are now using is most likely beholden to Apple and Steve Jobs' vision of a simpler future, where technology is created to serve man and not the other way around.
Make no mistake, now that the singular vision of Jobs has gone from the industry we might see stagnation for years to come as competitors for the last decade have shown themselves completely (I would almost say pathologically) incapable of designing anything new or groundbreaking themselves. Here's hoping Apple still has loads of stuff on the shelf, things that might not even be feasible for the next ten years.

I am sad that Steve passed away so young, but his legacy cannot be underestimated. I wonder what future historians will make of his idiosyncratic style and the impact of this one man on an entire world at the dawn of the electronic age.

RIP Steve. May your atoms be scattered to the corners of the earth and hang around for trillions of years.]]> Apple http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=634#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:18:02 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=633 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=633 http://www.annals.org/content/151/2/110. She's listed as the second author also, which is pretty cool next to all those MD/PHDs (RN = Registered Nurse).
She's also mentioned as an author in a second paper, but neither are available for free it seems. Ebsco Academic Search has both if you have access to that.]]> Personal http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=633#comments Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:05:51 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=632 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=632 lot of time. In 2003 the program stopped being free but despite my not upgrading since then it continued to work, how's that for value?
Unfortunately lately it seemed to be spewing out loads of error messages in the Console because it used frameworks deprecated by Apple. These frameworks are set to disappear completely in the next OS X version so the time had come to do something.

Almost 10 years of use from a free program isn't bad so I tried out the new version, now called iKey. After the trial ended I bought the program because it's saved me about a zillion lifetimes typing already so I guess I owe the programmer a bit.

Besides typing you can also use it to execute applescripts so you can control programs in the background (like iTunes, or manipulate the system sound level) as well. You can also limit keybindings to specific applications and do lots of more stuff I don't use.

Recommended if you have a Mac. Even if you wind up using only 10% of the possibilities, like I do.]]> Apple http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=632#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:44:35 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=631 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=631 INTJ and frankly some parts of that description are somewhat disturbing.

INTJs are known as the "Systems Builders" of the types, perhaps in part because they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability. Whatever system an INTJ happens to be working on is for them the equivalent of a moral cause to an INFJ; both perfectionism and disregard for authority may come into play, as INTJs can be unsparing of both themselves and the others on the project. Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect -- and will generally be made aware of this; INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers. On the other hand, they do tend to be scrupulous and even-handed about recognizing the individual contributions that have gone into a project, and have a gift for seizing opportunities which others might not even notice.

I finished a big project a few weeks ago and the description above is eerily familiar.

Ok, that's enough of that.]]> Biology http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=631#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:31:50 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=630 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=630
10 Myths About Introverts is something you should read if you ever plan to interact with me.
For a long time I thought I was actually borderline autistic, I don't connect easily to other people and I become actually almost physically uncomfortable when people I don't know that well engage me in chit-chat.
It's not that I don't have an opinion on the weather (everyone in the Netherlands does, it's our favourite topic!) or don't want to talk about my weekend/interests. I also don't mind if people tell me about their holiday/weekend/whatever. But I probably won't be the first to enthusiastically ask you what it was like. I figure that you'll tell me if something interesting happened.
This probably comes across as my being terribly uninterested, aloof and maybe ever at times arrogant. This isn't true, it's just that myths number 1 though 3 are playing their cards, and they're all face cards.

If I have one issue with the list it's that I don't really agree with the tenor of item 10. Especially the link to higher IQ, while maybe true, sounds like a rather weak self-satisfying argument and to my mind fails to adequately express the fact that we're all different and we all have character traits that range across the spectrum of human behaviour.
Of course no one is just an introvert or just an extrovert. Nothing in Biology is ever purely black and white, there's always a sliding scale. And there are many confounding factors at play in social interactions that make someone more or less introverted depending on the social situation.

In any case, you should read that list.

Via Kottke, who you should read as well.]]> Biology http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=630#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:06:01 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=629 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=629
Here's some clips I put together of a young sea lion playing in tidal pools. First it's in a small pool alone looking to see if it can catch a fish (there's at least 3 in there but they're hidden in cracks). After a while the pup gets bored as all it manages to catch is a stick so it sets of for another pool where a friend joins in for some mad rushing about.

]]> Biology http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=629#comments Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:47:05 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=628 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=628 Balvenie Peated Cask 17yo Tasting Notes.

I have the Balvenie Islay cask referred to in the blog as well (it took me ages to find) and frankly I find it better than the new Peated cask though the new one is still very interesting and worth it's money.

I had a discussion with the liquor store vendor when I bought this whisky and he couldn't tell me where the casks for this whisky came from. Happily now we know: "It transpired that Balvenie Peated Cask is a strange hybrid, being comprised of a mix of 17yo Balvenie finished in New Wood blended with 17yo Balvenie finished in casks that had previously held a so-far-unreleased experimental heavily-peated Balvenie distilled in 2001."

Very interesting stuff if you like that sort of thing.

I like the description of the brine on the aftertaste, I hadn't noticed that before and if you know it's there you actually notice a very clear salty aftertaste that comes quite late after swallowing and then slowly fades. There's a wonderful world hidden in tasting notes from people who really know about that stuff, personally I only pick up half the things mentioned if I'm lucky and having a good day.]]> Food and drink http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=628#comments Mon, 23 May 2011 14:26:44 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=627 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=627 a single volcano blowing it's top off I guess it's time to get things together, start rationalising and get on with the order of the day.

The Guardian has a good piece on the media's hypocrisy when a top politician gets accused of rape. While the piece is on France's media frankly I've seen the exact same attitude in most of Dutch and English media. "We have to presume someone's innocence at all times until proven guilty," the interviewed politicians and the media in Europe keep telling us. They tell us this so much that we forget about the alleged victim in this case. She doesn't matter, the presumption of innocence of a top politician takes precedence over the rape of a mere woman. So much so that we are supposed to be angered by the indignity of an unwashed alleged rapist standing in court but we also have to question the motives of the raped woman. The presumption of innocence doesn't extend to the victim it seems.]]> Ramblings http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=627#comments Sun, 22 May 2011 11:28:29 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=626 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=626 It seems the rapture isn't today after all as the world is still here and no people have been spotted floating into the clouds. This is kind of a bummer. Maybe the calculations were off or something. Or maybe some bastard prayed really hard for it not to happen. I guess we'll know soon enough as christian scientists the world all over will scrabble to make sense of this.

13:15
It appears that so far no one in New Zealand, Australia or China has been raptured. This is not very surprising really.

12:39
The folks at rapturefail seem to think the rapture won't be coming today. Surely that can't be right?

12:33
10 things IT groups need to know about The Rapture includes the following: "2. Hit upper management for expanded IT funding.
Explain The Rapture to them as the ultimate cloud initiative. They won't know what you're talking about, but they know the cloud is cool and important. They'll just keep nodding as they sign the checks." This is so true it's scary.

11:42
Fear not. I wasn't raptured overnight. According to the Guardian the whole thing starts off at 6 PM local time anyway.

1:05
Some fireworks outside a few blocks away just now. I presume someone's celebrating their relatives being raptured. These are the first clear and unambiguous signs we've had people. This is the day!

00:30
So far rapture day is a bit of a bummer. Think I'll go to bed but I'll close my window so I don't float out half-way through the night.

21-05-2011 00:05
I gave it a few minutes but nothing so far. I have no idea what time this starts but I'm sure we'll see signs and portents soon.

20-05-2011 23:54
The night before rapture day.
So far scenes are calm all over the city but I expect that will soon end.]]> Atheism http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=626#comments Fri, 20 May 2011 23:56:40 +0200 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=625 http://www.haroldbakker.com/?article=625 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Gwn4UnaPM.

I found this lovely stash of video's about biking in the Netherlands, many of them featuring my own place of residence, Utrecht. It seems I live in a Utopia :).

I live about 500 meters away from where the video ends and I've cycled the same path many many many times, including the extremely bumpy bits where the tree roots break the asphalt; which is why I prefer the parallel route myself.]]> Personal http://www.haroldbakker.com/?action=comment&article=625#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:30:11 +0200