apple juice

President Obama:

“We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this.

If there’s even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town from the grief that’s visited Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek and Newtown and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that, then surely we have an obligation to try.

In the coming weeks, I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement, to mental health professionals, to parents and educators, in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this, because what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine.

Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?”

(Via ThinkProgress.)

…a president typically does not start speaking about invoking his powers of office, or hint that political struggle is coming, or suggest that his own history of inaction was tragically mistaken, if he intends to do nothing in the face of an epidemic of murder. This is the kind of speech that suggests a major change in administration policy is on the horizon.

I sure hope so.

Do We Have the Courage to Stop This? – NYTimes.com

“Children ages 5 to 14 in America are 13 times as likely to be murdered with guns as children in other industrialized countries, according to David Hemenway, a public health specialist at Harvard who has written an excellent book on gun violence. “

We have the same video games, movies, television shows, media, music and books as every other industrialized country.

It’s the ease of access to guns.

This was on monday:

Jason Kottke has rounded up all the required reading

Listen. Today is the day for action. I don’t want this to be the country my kids grow up in.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I bought some PowerBall tickets.

I did not win.

At the lunch table we were discussing whether or not the lottery was an economic stimulus of sorts. This post sheds a little light on to that topic…

Why Powerball Is A Terrible Way For States To Raise Money

“About 35 percent of the money dedicated to lotteries eventually winds up back in state coffers.”

(Via ThinkProgress.)

iTunes 11 is out! Not following my own advice against waiting a day to install new software, I went right ahead and installed it.

I like it. The interface is intuitive. There are a few places where I was expecting something to happen as I hovered my mouse over an object, and I realized it’s waiting for me to click on everything. (They’re not really menus, more like iOS-style sheets).

The Up Next feature is cool, though more limited (at least at first glance) than the iTunes DJ feature which seems to be gone.

Time will tell if I like the new Artist and Album cover layout, or if I find myself back in the traditional column view, but on the whole – a nice upgrade. I’m glad they waited to release the new version and tweak whatever wasn’t finished!

My “magic” trackpad has been weird for the past week or so…

Portables and Magic Trackpad: Jumpy or erratic trackpad operation

“If you have sweaty hands or if moisture collects on the pad, this may also confuse the trackpad. Wiping off the trackpad with a cloth or tissue usually fixes this issue.”

Yep.. that seems to be the problem! This is my favorite pointing device ever, so I was a little bummed that it seemed to be losing its mind. I guess I just have greasy fingers or something.

Starting with some sick kids last Friday, we’ve spent way more time than usual in the house. As result, everything is out on the floor. Every large appliance is running. All of the dishes (except those in the dishwasher) are dirty. We’re starting to get a little stir-crazy. Time to go out for a walk.