Happy New Year!

This world-famous song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to begin the new year.

An old Scottish tune, Auld Lang Syne, literally means “old long tune” or simply “the good old days.”

Though his name was not affixed to this world-reknown song, yet there can be no doubt that it is chiefly his own. The Auld Lang Syne was partially written by Robert Burns in the year 1788, and was first published in 1796 after Burn’s death. Early variations of the song was sung prior to 1700 and inspired Robert Burns to produce the modern rendition. A similar story is that Burns was the first to copy the lyrics on to paper.

We twa hae run aboot the braes
And pu’d the gowans fine.
We’ve wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin’ auld lang syne.
Sin’ auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin’ auld lang syne,

Sin’ auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin’ auld lang syne.
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin’ auld lang syne.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?
And days of auld lang syne, my dear,
And days of auld lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?

We’ve wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin’ auld ang syne.
We twa hae sported i’ the burn,
From morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin’ auld lang syne.

And ther’s a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine;
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

A Better Calendar?

Despite its widespread use, the Gregorian calendar has a number of weaknesses. It cannot be divided into equal halves or quarters; the number of days per month is haphazard; and months and years may begin on any day of the week. Holidays pegged to specific dates may also fall on any day of the week, and few Americans can predict when Thanksgiving will occur next year.

Since Gregory XIII, many other proposals for calendar reform have been made, but none has been permanently adopted. In the meantime, the Gregorian calendar keeps the calendar dates in reasonable unison with astronomical events.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas in Sweden (God Jul!)

The biggest and longest holiday of the year is the magical Christmas of Sweden. The excitement begins the first Sunday of Advent with the lighting of the first Advent candle. Each Sunday prior to Christmas, another candle is lit with growing anticipation.

Feasting and celebrating begin on December 13 with Lucia Day, which legend says is the longest night of the year and a time when man and beast need extra nourishment. In the home, Lucia (Queen of Light) is portrayed by the eldest daughter. She is dressed in a white gown with a crown of candles in her hair. She wakes her parents by singing the familiar Italian song “Santa Lucia” and brings them coffee, buns, cookies, and occasionally “glogg” (a mulled wine).
Continue reading

Sal’s Breakfast Sandwiches

I am torturing myself this morning with thoughts of a Sal’s breakfast sandwich. When I lived in Boulder there was this deli (which uses Boar’s Head meat if that says anything), and they made the greatest breakfast sandwiches of all time. They make their own bread and between the fluffy egg basted dough is a fried egg, prosciuto (or any meat of your choosing) and cheese. There is nothing like this anywhere else on the planet, I am sure. I am now 1200 miles away from the closest sandwich, would someone mind sending me a picture of one?

Ode to Sal

Against the FlatIrons I smell your bread
I order a prosciuto for breakfast
I order a hot cappi for lunch
I eat the other half for dinner
I look forward to the morning

http://www.allmenus.com/menus/40689

http://www.yelp.com/biz/salvaggios-italian-delicatessen-boulder#hrid:4n8TcYswk9hqiCBJ-eiU8A

Beware the SBC…

In a recent SF Gate article David Lazarus uncovers some more reasons to stay away from the SBC/Yahoo alliance for high speed. I am satisfied sticking with ATT for high speed, they leave me alone and I in turn pay my bill…that is the way a service should work. Here’s an excerpt from the excellent article:

According to Yahoo’s — not Pac Bell’s — privacy policy for DSL subscribers, the Sunnyvale Internet powerhouse will make use of “information about you that is personally identifiable like your name, address, e-mail address or phone number, and that is not otherwise publicly available.”

That’s not the half of it. For some services, Yahoo says it will request Pac Bell customers’ Social Security number “and information about your assets.”

Read More…

IP over Firewire

IP over FireWire
All Apple computers sold today include one or more FireWire ports. Because FireWire can transfer data at up to 400 megabits/second, it is suitable for networking and clustering solutions, as well as temporary connections to the internet using Internet Sharing.

Now the IP over FireWire Preview Release adds support for using the Internet Protocol – commonly known as TCP/IP – over FireWire. With this software installed, Macintosh computers and other devices can use existing IP protocols and services over FireWire, including AFP, HTTP, FTP, SSH, etc. In all cases, Rendezvous can be used if desired for configuration, name resolution, and discovery.

The preview release adds a new Kernel Extension that hooks into the existing network services architecture. Using the existing Network Preferences Pane, users can add FireWire as their IP network node to connect and communicate between two machines.

Now developers interested in using the Internet Protocol (IP) over FireWire may download the IP over FireWire Preview Release.

Swedish Meatballs (Kottbullar)

Meatballs – ‘Kottbullar’

1 dl (? cup) fine dry bread crumbs
1 dl (? cup) light cream
1 dl (? cup) water
200 g (7 oz.) ground beef
200 g (7 oz.) ground lean pork
1? tsp. salt
? tsp. ground allspice
2 tbl grated yellow onion
(and/or 2 crushed garlic cloves)
1 egg, beaten
3 tbl margarine or butter

Mix the bread crumbs, cream and water; set aside for 5 minutes. Work together the beef, pork, salt, allspice and onion. Gradually add the bread crumbs, then the egg. Blend well and fry a sample to test the seasoning. Shape into balls. Make large meatballs to be served for dinner or small meatballs for the sm?rg?sbord. Heat part of the margarine or butter in a skillet. Add 10 to 15 meatballs. Fry over moderate heat until the meatballs are beautifully brown and cooked through. Transfer to a serving dish and keep hot while frying the remaining meatballs. Serve with boiled potatoes, lingonberry preserve and a tossed salad.

Outlook2Mac

Little Machines has announced Outlook2Mac, an application designed to help Windows users move their Microsoft Outlook e-mail, contacts and calendar appointments to Mac OS X programs. It’s the second such program designed to aid “Switchers,” the first being Detto Technologies’ Move2Mac.

“Apple’s current Switch campaign is getting people to switch from Windows to OS X, but each time a person switches, their first question seems to be, ‘How can I move my Outlook folders to my new Mac?’ said Steven Taylor, Outlook2Mac’s director of Business Development.

To use Outlook2Mac on your Windows PC, pick the Outlook folders you want to export, choose the filtering options you want to use, and click Start. Outlook2Mac does the rest, automatically exporting your Outlook data into portable files you can import directly into your Apple Mail, Address Book, iCal, Microsoft Entourage or other Mac-compatible programs, Taylor said. It’s compatible with standalone PCs or PCs using Microsoft Exchange Server.

Outlook2Mac works with Microsoft Outlook 97, 98, 2000 and 2002 on most versions of Windows. Outlook2Mac includes a wizard menu and a variety of filters that can be used to select which Outlook folders to export — and how to export them. For instance, you can export all e-mail and calendar items or perform incremental exports by telling Outlook2Mac to only export recent items that fall within a date range. E-mail attachments can be stripped from e-mails, saved inside e-mails, or saved as detached, stand-alone files.

Outlook2Mac supports the industry-standard .mbox, vCard, and iCal file formats, which simplifies importing into third-party e-mail, contact, and calendar programs that support these standards. Trial and full-featured versions of Outlook2Mac via download from Little Machines’ Web site. Registration is US$10 for a limited time. The price includes free upgrades and limited technology support by e-mail.