Weekender #13

• Myna birb update: There seems to be a lot of myna bird fighting going on in the neighborhood. I can’t be sure, but I can only assume that the two new myna who took over this territory have been fighting with others all week long.

• A rare sighting! Ever since Handsome and Shpeedy were evicted from their nook next door, I’ve hardly seen Shpeedy come around. She came by one night as the sun was going down with two baby mynas in two. She stopped for a drink of water and quickly flew off when she saw me come outside.

• The next day, Handsome brought one of the babies to get some Pringles chips before heading home! Baby myna are so cute!

Shooper cute!

• Apple held their late Spring event this past week and here’s how I did on my predictions. I think it’s safe to say that Apple is trying to under promise and over deliver when it comes to M1 Macs. While their initial statement was to transition the Mac to Apple Silicon over two years, there are very few Macs left to transition after this event.

  • Some thoughts on M1 coming to the iPad Pro: Ever since the arrival of macOS Big Sur, I’ve seen many Mac fans hypothesize that Apple will eventually merge macOS and iPadOS. Now, with the latest iteration of the iPad Pro getting the M1, those same fans are hedging their bets that this will come to fruition at WWDC this summer. Apple has always stated that merging of macOS and iPadOS would be a flawed concept, instead preferring to let macOS and iPadOS be their own thing. I think I’ll take them at their word.

  • My hope is that both macOS and iPadOS will eventually get features that make each of them better. I know many are hoping that touch comes to macOS, and that windowing comes to iPadOS. I don’t necessarily think that either are a bad idea, but it will be how it’s implemented and how Apple explains the story behind these changes that will be important.

  • I do feel that there is still tons of improvements that need to happen with iPadOS, especially in the realm of multi-tasking, app switching and home screen/file management.

• This week I learned that sleeping less than 6 hours a night in midlife raises risk of dementia 30%. It’s not that I don’t wish to sleep longer, it’s more that my body just won’t sleep anymore.

• After waiting 16 weeks, the parts for my special guitar project finally arrived. Van Halen fans will recognize these parts as the neck and body of the Kramer 5150 used by Eddie Van Halen in the late 80’s. I don’t plan on doing a red, white and black striped version, as there are so many out there already. While I like the stripes and think it’s really cool, that was Eddie’s trademark. Just want a simple single humbucker, Floyd Rose type guitar. I started work on it this weekend, we’ll see how it goes.

• It’s hard to believe that Norah Jones has never released a live album, until “‘Til We Meet Again (Live)”, but it’s true. I’m still hoping that she and Danger Mouse collaborate again in the future. Listen: Apple Music | Spotify.