(CNN) -- If beauty is indeed truth, as John Keats claimed, then this story ought to be true: the logo on the back of your iPhone or Mac is a tribute to Alan Turing, the man who laid the foundations for the modern-day computer, pioneered research into artificial intelligence and unlocked German wartime codes.

His death, a decade after the end of the war, provides the link with Apple. Unrecognized for his work, facing jail for gross indecency and humiliated by estrogen injections intended to 'cure' his homosexuality, he bit into an apple he had laced with cyanide. He died in obscurity on June 7, 1954, 10 years and a day after the Normandy landings, which made copious use of intelligence gleaned by his methods.

And so, the story goes, when two Stanford entrepreneurs were looking for a logo for their brand new computer company, they remembered Turing and his contribution to their field. They chose an apple -- not a complete apple, but one with a bite taken out of it.

Sadly, the truth is rarely as simple, or beautiful, as we would like.

more http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/06/opinion/... /



CNN couldn't google?





http://www.edibleapple.com/2009/04/20/the-... /

The Newton Crest: 1976-1976

The first Apple logo was designed in 1976 by Ronald Wayne, sometimes referred to as the third co-founder of Apple. The logo depicts Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, an apple dangling precipitously above his head. The phrase on the outside border reads, “Newton… A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone.”



The Rainbow Logo: 1976-1998

Not surprisingly, the above logo only lasted a year before Steve Jobs commissioned graphic designer Rob Janoff to come up with something, oh I don’t know, a little bit more modern. Janoff’s eventual design would go on to become one of the most iconic and recognizable corporate logos in history.

According to Janoff, the “bite” in the Apple logo was originally implemented so that people would know that it represented an apple, and not a tomato. It also lent itself to a nerdy play on words (bite/byte), a fitting reference for a tech company. Quick sidenote: Corporate design sure was a lot simpler in the 70’s. Nowadays, companies like Pepsi spend millions of dollars on logo re-designs that are based on complete BS and new age mumbo jumbo.

(snip)

The relatively simple origins of the rainbow colored Apple logo hasn’t stopped some from reading a bit too much into what it represents. Jean-Louis Gassée, former Apple executive and founder of BeOS, quipped about the logo: One of the deep mysteries to me is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn’t dream a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope and anarchy.

more http://www.edibleapple.com/2009/04/20/the-...

They could just tap into one of their volcanos and use that heat to boil water for electricity instead of building nuclear reactors all over their volcanic island.

It seems so simple, but maybe there's a reason I'm not seeing?

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/pow...

Feel free to add your own.

Egyptian Police van drives into a crowd at high speed (warning, GRAPHIC)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Egyptian 'Ambulance' (?) drives over a protester at high speed (warning, GRAPHIC)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Inspired by http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

During 2009 England demanded lots of cash from Iceland.

Except, they forgot that the Icelandic alphabet doesn't include the letter "c".

So, Iceland cooperated and are now sending England lots of ash.

People who want it to be getting worse?

After having seen it only once, I kind of agreed with William Pitt's take on it http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu... but now I feel differently. President Obama was sincere when he said he was reluctant to commit more resources, but sees it as the only real viable option, looking at the big picture and thinking of the future. I'm a fairly smart guy, but I'm honest enough to admit that Barack Obama is smarter than I am, and has access to information sources that I don't, as well.

I don't support wars, on principle, but I hope to God that President Obama is making the right choice here, and this war is winnable. At least now we have more clearly defined exit conditions.


This'll probably go over like a lead balloon here, given some of the other posts I've seen on the subject tonight, but oh well

Pyramania - Alan Parsons Project, 1978



There are pyramids in my head
There's one underneath my bed
And my lady's getting cranky
Every possible location
Has a simple explanation
And it isn't hanky-panky

I had read
Somewhere in a book, they improve all your food and your wine
It's said, that everything you grow in your garden would taste pretty fine
Instead, all I ever get is a pain in the neck and a
Yap yap yap yap yap yap yap

I've consulted all the sages
I could find in the yellow pages
But there aren't many of them
And the mayan panoramas
On my pyramid pajamas
Haven't helped my little problem
I've been told
Someone in the know can be sure that his luck is as
Good as gold, money in the bank and you don't even pay for it
If you fold, a dollar bill in the shape of the pyramid that's printed on the
Back


http://www.snopes.com/rumors/20bill.asp




ymmv

That's my opinion, anyway. Anyone feel like debating that?