The basic philosophy of Mac OS X, inherited from its underlying FreeBSD architecture, might be stated as “Small pieces loosely joined.” It seems to me, the contrasting philosophy of Microsoft Windows is “One ring to rule them all…” ‘Nuff said.

The only fast food I’ll admit to eating with any regularity is Subway. Their closest location to where I work recently moved from a strip mall storefront to a newly-constructed outbuilding — which is inconveniently located, smaller inside and has way less parking available BUT has the addition of a drive-thru window. It’s a sad day when a health-conscious restaurant like Subway sacrifices walk-in traffic for the ‘convenience’ of a drive-thru. A sad day, because they’ve lost me as a customer (at that location, anyway). Okay, I just had to get that off my chest.

Show the world you “ain’t afraid of no” genre-bending, boundary-crossing, tore-up-from-the-floor-up music by giving a listen to these recent and upcoming album releases:

• Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
• Fiery Furnaces - EP
• LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
• M.I.A. - Arular
• Daft Punk - Human After All
• Alog - Miniatures
• Keren Ann - Nolita

Up until it went dark at the end of February, 2005, NewsScan Daily, “a lively summary of information technology news,” was one of the few free email newsletters I read without fail. Since then, I’ve been receiving a free trial of Innovation Weekly, NewsScan’s “report on trends, strategies and innovations in business and technology.” Almost every summary they showcase is enjoyable, notable and linkworthy. Subscriptions are US$18 for a full year.

The hyperactive pace of internet life can sometimes get me down. Now that I have wireless access at home (thank you unidentified neighbor), I feel the impulse to check my regular list of sites and feeds. It’s funny they’re called ‘feeds’, because I never quite feel satiated afterwards, just overloaded. It’s nice to be able to look-up movie times from my couch, but the frantic onslaught of innumerable websites hurling all their news, gossip and rumors at me can be overwhelming. I’ve found it’s essential to have a buffer (such as the inability to even go online from home). When Spring rolls around, I often feel the urge to learn how to cook better, take long walks and just lounge around outside. To quote a marketing campaign I created several years ago, “Unplug.”