Hello 
I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.
Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...
A New Dawn
(via flickr.com/people/si08han) 
I am going to start blogging just by using the handwriting recognition of a Newton...
...
IRCmembw when newton s first came out I was like I cod > I'd lon one of mose .-I could Organise wy atin life wim OM of them Now I'M actua lly got TWO of m l~ings I'm St arting la Malise why my did it cc Itch on
Having said (Nut, I believe there is a big community of people who do lhing s wit h them 1 so I'll have LO do so me research
And do you know what? If I 'M mon care ful about my hand writing, it's not too bad
...
Note to self: Stick to the keyboard hon
I g6t then fon a temmer
Exposure
Apparently, I'm currently on the back of Repartee Magazine.
Has anyone seen it? Why am I on it? Do I look OK? 
Yikes — if it's something to do with that party back in September, I bet I look wasted.
Um. This might be a Bad Idea.
Really, stick to the keyboard.
"Yikes — if it's something to do with that party back in September, I bet I look wasted."
To be fair, take a picture of you at any time at random... about a 50/50 chance? 
Here's betting I look worse than you though! 
I was angling for a free copy, seeing as I'm "in it", but then again if Repartee gave a free copy to every tranny who contributed or featured, they wouldn't actually sell many. 
A bit like when I used to write on my Palm Tungsten. I had to write so slowly and carefully it was far quicker to type it on the mini display KB.
jenna
LOL way cool.
I wish they'd have kept with the Newtons. I'd much rather have a handheld Apple than this Palm... oh well.
I luff thee waye thi Nutonn maces u tork, idths very funy forgit tha keebored juste leep stribbling on the tenne pounnde Newtons...sory but itss rilly macing me gigglee
A
Annachoos
Logohedge
Deciding that today is a Day Of Rest™, I popped into Second Life and made a hedge next to my house in Munck...
Anyway, this isn't particularly interesting or anything, it's just that I noticed when you look at it upside down, another layer of symbolism pops into view.
I love happy accidents like that 
if it's something to do with that party back in September, I bet I look wasted.
It is from then, and it's not a bad picture. I've scanned it and put it here
Hmm, not entirely sure I look my best in that one
A Shameless Piece Of Self-Promotion
You may recall me mentioning (once or twice) that I'm an artist. As with most things in life, I'm a bit rubbish at actually organising things, and as a result, most of my work languishes either in my studio, or still on my hard disk. Consequently, I was rather pleased to be asked to submit some of my work to an online gallery — because they would handle all the actual business side of things.
Well, slightly later than I expected, they've gone live
¹. Which means that you too can own your very own Special Edition Curran™
(Unless, of course, I've already made you one and you're just waiting for me to send it, that is)
I feel all grown up...
¹ I was going to link to the page with my work on it, but my regex would have screwed it up.
Becky EnVérité writes:I was angling for a free copy, seeing as I'm "in it", but then again if Repartee gave a free copy to every tranny who contributed or featured, they wouldn't actually sell many.
I made the front page of the London Evening Standard and still had to buy my own copies! The Florida Sun actually did send me a copy of their paper which I featured in but the guy who sent it died of anthrax a couple of days after it was due to be sent and the next person to die was the poor chap who worked in the post room sending out copies of the paper. For a couple of weeks I was expecting an anthrax laced newspaper to plop into my mailbox but I think it was intercepted before it left the USA.
Joanna writes:if it's something to do with that party back in September, I bet I look wasted.It is from then, and it's not a bad picture. I've scanned it and put it here
I really have no idea why they chose that picture. this one is more typical Siobhan
This Is Why I Feel Smug About Being An Apple Fangirl
Nothing, I hasten to add, about my inner gloatings that all your PCs are going to get fried tomorrow, and me and Erin will be sat here chuckling...
No, this is about this
NEVER let geeks design user interfaces. Let DESIGNERS design them.
So far, IE7 looks like a skidmark on your pulling-pants. If I used a PC, I'd be embarassed that that was the interface some zit-faced numpty in Redmond had decided was "cool".
What amazes me though, is the number of drooling comments made along the lines of "Love it!" — How can anyone POSSIBLY think that that is a Good User Interface?
I think I may get a Mac next. I have never used one before, nor do I have a clue how to use one. I don't even know what the equivalent of word is, but I am not using that! Ever. (I'd like to reserve the right to be hypocritical on that one though, 
as I'll see a sony laptop I want when I go shopping for a Mac)
Beki
I don't even know what the equivalent of word is
It's Word
User Agents You Don't Expect To See In Your Logs
Number 284 : "Panasonic-X70/1.0"
I used to have one of those. It looked gorgeous, but it was the biggest piece of crap masquerading as a phone that I've ever had. The UI sucked.
(I'm detecting a theme tonight)
Nobody in their right mind has used IE on a PC since 2000 at least, surely. The good thing about PCs is that we have lots of choice!!
we have lots of choice!!
True — but what good is choice between 10 million tons of crap? I'd rather have 1 good thing, than a hard-drive full of shit.
Okay... enufsk is enufsk!
There's some horrible tautology about "why I feel smug about being an apple fangirl". Feeling smug is what being an Apple fanboy/girl does. It's like some kind of fucking religion, which is probably why it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.
I used Macs for many years, I cut my teeth on them. My first home computer that wasn't a glorified games machine was a Mac Classic. I also had a Classic II and an LCII. They were fantastic machines. i stopped using them because my work called for me to use PCs. So I did. There was stuff a PC could do that a mac couldn't, at least not as cheaply and seamlessly. I also got a PC at home, because it was cheaper to own and maintain.
I've recently thought about buying a Mac because I really like some of the new interface stuff. Some of it sucks lemons. I only just tolerate iTunes, for example, an interface "designed by designers".
Apple foster this feeling that their stuff is "special" and you pay a premium for that, it is good stuff. But you pay for it. Most people are happy to pay a bit less for something that does the job. They don't wear their PC like some kind of lifestyle choice.
I've rambled a lot in this cos I'm finding it hard to find the point I want to make. I guess it's that Apple evangelists do yourselves no good by being quite so vehemently anti-PC, it just comes across as blinkered and cultist. It actually puts me off buying into Apple stuff, because a) I don't want to be accused of "seeing the light" by Apple FanPersons, and b) I'm not sure I want to be seen as a member of the cult!
I'm not sure I want to be seen as a member of the cult!
No, but you're more than happy to be seen as a member of the cult that doesn't want to be seen as a member of a cult.
My point being that I find it ironic and perversely poetic that a lot of people take pride in the "specialness" that they assume when they state that they don't want to use a Mac, just because of the "zealousness" of Apple fanboys/girls
Yep. It's a lot cheaper, and someone usually brings biscuits to our meetings.
Most people are happy to pay a bit less for something that does the job.
I'd argue with you about the "pay less" bit — but that's irrelevant. "Does the job" is a statement loaded with subtexts — "doing the job" involves more than squirting out the right ones and zeroes in the right order. It's about how it makes you feel just as much. And if I walk away from using a Mac feeling slightly warmer inside — rather than feeling like I've battled against something for an hour — then that is a Better Thing™
So, to stay with browsers — Firefox and Opera are piles of crap?
Nope. But the question was about choices — and those are choices on the Mac.
someone usually brings biscuits to our meetings.
At ours, we have cake. Cake is better than biscuits.
It costs more though
I think it comes down to caring. Either you care about what computers do around the squirting ones and zeros or you don't. It seems that the people who care buy Macs, and the people who don't buy Personal Computers. That's maybe why you get Mac Zealots screaming on street corners how much better their stuff is, while PC owners just get on with doing stuff.
Aha! To summarize
Mac Users own a computer that "Just Works".
PC Users just work with computers.
PC Users just work with computers.
No, PC users battle against their computers.
The number of times I've seen C (Windows and Linux) users show me with great pride how they've learnt to use their computer amazes me. Computers shouldn't be learnt They should ""Just work""
Okay, I'll let you believe that. And I'm off to bed. Besides, you should be allowed the last word on your own blog.
Which is...
...my blog is better than your blog, because it's built with PHP rather than ASP
"Computers shouldn't be learnt They should ""Just work""" — But didn't you learn how to use a Mac?
No. Out of the box, in 1984, when I turned on my 128K Mac, I knew how it worked. It's been plain sailing since then.
Its one of those auguments that just seems to run and run. I have to admit that the woman at work who raves about macs put me off buying one. Still explaining to her that mac OS was actually just free UNIX based quietened her down a bit. Especially seeing as I use Solaris on a SUN box, thats more expensive and so even better . Whats going to happen when MAC's become INTEL based? Surely they are just LINUX running on a PC then?
Theres always better counter aurguments. e.g. I use my MAC because its the best around for graphics work. — really I use an SGI graphics work station, it pisses on your MAC!
Isn't debate fun.
Jenna
Houu nuch d1d thay co5t?