APPLE I
"The Apple I was Steven Wozniak's first contribution to the personal computer field. It was designed over a period of years, and was only built in printed circuit-board form when Steve Jobs insisted it could be sold. It debuted in April 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, but few took it seriously. The Apple I's initial cost was $666.66." (Photo credit: Barkley Anderson, Apple Computer)

CPU
CPU: MOS Technology 6502
CPU Speed: 1 MHz
FPU: none
Bus Speed: 1 MHz
Data Path: 8 bit
Onboard RAM: 8 kB
Maximum RAM: 32 kB

Video
VRAM: 1 kB
Max Resolution: 60.05 Hz, 40x24 char

Miscellaneous
Codename: ?
Power: 58 Watts
Introduced: April 1976
Terminated: 1977

This byte of Apple's history taken from Wired's "30 Years of Apple Products"

How positively handy! Thank you to Ninth Wave Designs for compiling a reference list of the 10 (count 'em - 10!) upcoming new offerings coming from Moleskine in the next month or 2... they call it their "Moleskine Planner Public Service Announcement." I'm way too excited now... it's like Christmas comin' early! The limited edition red is sooo... RED. I heart red! This requires very careful consideration, naturally. Which to choose, which to choose...?

Seriously, I should be in bed, but inspired by Apple's 30th Anniversary, and WIRED's "30 Years of Apple Products," I decided it might be just way too much fun to do "an apple a day" here on I HEART TO BLOG. Beginning April 1st, I'll feature an Apple product each day, complete with pic and informational blurb. If you want to jump ahead, visit WIRED's exhaustive gallery (an insanely impressive amassing of material!) But, for those who enjoy the idea of nibbling away day by day on a tiny bit of Apple history, stay tuned. Here's hoping these once-a-day supplements will make the extensive 30 year history of Apple a little more... er... digestible. Yay, Apple!

Apple founder Steve Jobs is a king among thinkers and an incredibly engaging speaker. I relish watching Quicktime re-runs of Apple's product launches almost as much as I love watching classic Buffy episodes. Naysayers may feel he's little more than an arrogant, full-of-air, money-grubbing salesman, but I believe his enthusiasm and passion for his products to be completely genuine -- and completely warranted! I get sucked in every time he appears on that stage, loving the sound of whatever he has to say. He could truly sell me anything. Thank goodness that what he's pushing is consistently innovative, attractive, and way, way cool. Thank goodness, too, that WIRED has very thoughtfully compiled some of Jobs' "Best Quotes Ever." Quips such as "We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them," and "I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.... it's very character-building," are among my favourites. I'm just sad there's only 3 pages worth...

Let me explain. I don't normally "observe" the Junos (the Great White North's version of the Grammy's), even though I'm a huge music fan. No legitimate reason why; it just never really piqued my attention. I even went to it a few years ago, and honestly can't recall a single artist in attendance. Oh, Canada, indeed! But that aside, since I am a patriotic Canuck, an ex-music-biz-gal, and an old friend is Universal's Juno Jam "blog-correspondent," then it only seems proper to give the event a nod, and show my support for a change. Besides, T-Cos (?!) is so cute, and I know she'll give this her all. She'll be reporting on all her antics at this year's festivities in Halifax -- from pre-parties, to awards, to after-parties -- to her fishnets (she's so punk rock). Go, T!

Ha! Look at the picture on Microsoft's "Software Piracy Protection (Partners)" webpage. Looks like an i-book, n'est pas?? When are they gonna notice that? Tee hee. I heart bloopers! Silly Microsoft - Macs are for cool kids.

Fonts! License-free! Thoughtfully collected by German freelance designer, Vitaly Friedman. She also generously includes further tasty links for even more free fonts. Tasteful fonts, that is. Fonts that, as she says, "are likely to be used rather for official, serious presentations... than a colourful teenager’s homepage." You're bound to find a few in here that catch your eye. Happy hunting.

I just heart stumbling across a site that's filled with so much lovliness. It gives me a reassuring, satisfied feeling to know that people are out there (in this case, in Blackpool) chasing and capturing beauty. Photographer and pscyhology prof, David J. Nightingale, posts a daily photo... gorgeoeous shots of the Flyde Coast (my personal faves), Blackpool's piers, compelling portraiture, and more. You can browse by gallery or by portfolio thumbnail, and you can even choose the background colour of the page (nice touch). Chromasia started out as an unassuming little blog for a photography enthusiast, but has evolved over the past few years, garnering lots of attention and acclaim for Prof. Nightingale. And rightly so. Enjoy!

This is what happens when humans spoil dogs. Sure, dogs may be cute, clever, and unfailingly loving, but when humans coddle them and give them whatever they want, events like these occur on a rather frustratingly frequent basis:

I recently came across a an article by Dave Simpson called, "I Have Seen The Future - And It's Goth," and it had me smiling and nodding my head and getting all nostalgic with warm, fuzzy remembrances of my teen years.

So, here it is. I was a goth kid in highschool. I know this conjures up some seriously bizarre and comical images for many, but right off, I want you to know that yesteryear's goths were very different from a lot of the "goths" that hang out at the malls these days.

For starters, I don't even recall referring to ourselves as "goth." We didn't hang out at malls or loiter in public places very much at all because a) the malls didn't carry the clothes we liked and b) because we simply didn't want the attention. We didn't want to be stared at, feared, misunderstood, or whatever. We wanted to just... be.

We were by no means a mafia, and especially not of the trenchcoat persuasion. We never once fantasized of who among the jocks, the cheerleaders and the preps we would dust if given the opportunity. In fact, we scarcely noticed the jocks and the cheerleaders and the preps, and aside from the occasional snicker or muttered "nice hair, freak," as we passed by them in the cafeteria, they more or less were unaware of us, too.

There was no white facepaint, no black lipstick nor black eyeliner crosses on our foreheads. We did however dye our hair all the colours of the rainbow, we did prefer skull rings over class rings, and we did wear the prettiest, pointiest, and priciest Fluevog's you ever did see (and paired with my favourite black pvc skirt... it was a look to die for).

We hung as a very small group (and by small I mean never less than 2 but rarely more than 5 or 6), and we sat in the alcoves by the drama classroom, or on the school lawns in good (but not too sunny) weather, reading classic literature or scribbling in our journals and sketchbooks.

Instead of talking about boys in the girls bathroom or doing doughnuts in the school parking lot during spares, we doubled-up on photography classes, coveting our darkroom time. (ok, I doubled-up on photography classes for a boy... but somehow managed to become a pretty good photographer anyway). We shared our headphones & mix tapes religiously with one another, listening to Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Ministry, NIN & Skinny Puppy, and spent every last dime on pricey import records, a non-stop flow of concert tickets, head-shop t-shirts and books of poetry.

Drugs? Well then how could we afford those pricey import records?

We did not discuss Satan, had no desire to worship Satan nor carry out the evil wishes of Satan. We were a kind, gentle, quiet bunch who revered the likes of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Baudelaire, and William Shakespeare (and the Queen of The Damned herself -- Ms. Anne Rice, but of course).

Allow me to pull some quotes from Simpson's article that ring true of my own experience:

"Most goths are well educated, however. They hardly ever drop out and are often the best pupils. The subculture encourages interest in classical education, especially the arts. I'd say goths are more likely to make careers in web design, computer programming... even journalism."

This is true. Intellectual pursuits were cool to us; important to us. We wanted to learn about different authors, composers, different languages. We couldn't wait for university. For as long as I can remember, I craved a career and a lifestyle that was slightly left of normal, or at least involved some level of personal creativity. The few fellow goths that I've kept in touch over the years have almost all pursued a career in some form or other of the arts. Myself included.

"I reached for the hair crimpers, painted my bedroom black and scrawled the name of gothy band the Birthday Party on the door so it looked like blood."

Mostly true. I crimped. A LOT. And I did briefly go through a Birthday Party phase, though I never would have scrawled their name, or any other band name, in letters resembling blood... it would have grossed me out. Seemed like something someone into Iron Maiden should do, not me.

"...goth is a non-violent subculture. They're like hippies. I don't know any goths who are into graveyard destruction or cat slaughtering. They like their graveyards and they love their cats."

TRUE. We photographed tombstones cast in shadows. A visit to Notre Dame in Paris was a dream come true and literally brought me to tears when I entered it's doors. We were completely anti-gun and anti-violence of any kind (though I did have a necklace with a gun hanging from it). We didn't torture or sacrifice animals in the names of our dark deities. Rather, we were concerned with animal rights and sustaining a cruelty-free lifestyle (outside of our leather Fluevogs of course), and strangely, cats always seemed to bite me, so my heart belonged to my Doberman instead. I think the most violent I ever got was writing a poem about crushed flower petals and the ache of a bruised soul after a break-up.

"It never entirely leaves you," says Unsworth. "I still look at the world of beer boys and Tories and feel a beating heart of darkness."

So very true. I still feel a twinge when I see pointy black shoes adorned with buckles, I was thoroughly appalled at Tom Cruise being cast as Lestat, and when Bauhaus toured a few years ago, I made sure I had tickets for both nights. I have not 1, but 2 Hot Topic Frequent Buyer cards on the go in my wallet, still favour t-shirts with skull designs, rushed to the theater to see Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, and were it not for my little white dog who sheds 24/7 (and twice on Sundays where possible), I would still induldge myself in a wardrobe rich in black content.

So, I think perhaps it's true: you can take the girl outta goth, but you can't take goth outta the girl. In fact at this very moment, I have the uncontollable urge for this first time in years (despite my Hello Kitty desktop and pink nailpolish), to play some Siouxsie whilst composing a poem involving ravens, goblets of blood-red wine, and silvery, moonlit garden paths.

Adieu.