The blooms keep coming.

As do the spell-binding products of Apple.

This new iPad (finally, have gotten used to that name, as forecast), called number two, wow!

So, opinions—black or white? I go back and forth….

I’m still (ha! always?) catching up with old New Yorkers, so forgive me that this statistic is from the Dec 20/27 2010 issue: prediction—by 2014, the computer network in the USA will require the amount of energy used by the whole country of Australia (now? author David Owen isn’t clear) to power it.

Add to that the power it takes the rechargers, and, whew, how efficient Wal-Mart makes its buildings and delivery trucks pales.

The article is called “The Efficiency Dilemma,” and starts here. Owen gets the statistic from Stan Cox, I think from his book Losing Our Cool.

JCB and I have different zones of awareness. Of course, I almost walked by this, but he probably spotted it as we started down the block!

I was focused on a crocus or two, I think.

I like that all you can see of the technician is the top of his hardhat.

We took a fast-paced stroll to the library this afternoon under bleak skies. The Guru, whose eyes are tuned to such things, noticed some major high-altitude wiring underway, probably associated with an upgrade in communications technology*. (Me, you know me, I’m most often keeping track of what’s underfoot—even if it isn’t icy!) Anyway, if those big black covers appear on the wires in your neighborhood, a barrage of advertising about bundling options may follow.

Ah, speaking of technology…yesterday began Year Six of this blog!!!

* U-verse, or something like it….

With all the typographic doodads, the official name is Logitech Revue™ with Google TV™.

The box arrived with a keyboard (and, I think, other hardware) to facilitate the computer-television content interface, the result of a Logitech-Google collaboration.

Somehow, the Guru wrangled it from Logitech without paying a cent.

Of course, one of the Guru’s first checks to see if the setup was working…showed that it was on the Internet, but, um-hem, Google’s own page…um, didn’t appear.

Needless to say, this made a very poor impression….

At least I didn’t think that Google has a new web address….

Just what do you think the world-wide annual sales are of horsefly earbuds?

Yick.

Oh, wait, “Play. Listen. Love.” is on the lips earbuds package….

And, my dictionary has earbud as a compound word….

BTW, horseflies: family Tabanidae. FYI.

UPS brought us a treat today! Clues: two users (both admin accounts), very light.

The deadline we’ve been operating under around here eased today, and we escaped for a mid-day around-town wander. Of course, high on the list was a visit to the Apple Store to check out the new thin thin thin MacBook Air. Thin and light. The screen has seductive clarity. Flash drive, so quiet—I found it difficult to believe that they have the storage they do when you don’t hear the drive winding up.

No purchase today, but the appetite is whetted.

As a kid, I was a bicycle rider. I still remember my dad repeatedly running down the driveway with me (downslope) holding the back of my seat to keep me upright until I learned to balance and ride alone. No training wheels at our household!

Somewhat later, we combed the nearby roads searching the ditches for returnable bottles, since we had no other income sources. These were organized expeditions, requiring care in wrangling the bottles once you picked them up, so they didn’t rattle together and break.

I also rode in college, when I couldn’t walk to class, but just around campus. (No money for a bus pass.)

Sometime after that, I quit riding. I think whenever I was on for a while, my tail hurt, so I moved on. I understand there are fancy ergo-dyamical seats nowdays, and probably other improvements that make riding far more comfortable than the ride my ca. 1968 Raleigh three-speed offered.

Anyway, here’s a door decoration on the door of a nearby bike shop. Also, visit the Marquis’s RegenAxe to read a real (bi)cyclist’s blog (and bird and flower pictures, and more!)….

I’m not big on Honda bikes, particularly, but this logo with the extra outlines (or whatever they’re called) caught my eye. And, so, I pass it along to you!

Photographer in sun-walking togs reflected above the “R.”

Reading Ivan Doig, this time Work Song (2010).