Random Thoughts 5/6/09

• Consumer Reports loves Mac laptops. So do I.
  
• Shannon is going nuts planting stuff around the house. It must be the annual spring/early summer plant-a-thon.
• Lincoln Christian College and Seminary, one of the finer schools in our brotherhood, is changing their name to Lincoln Christian University.
• Great article about the CIA, code breaking, and a mysterious monument in Wired.
• Not everyone is hurting in these rough economic times. Apple has $29 billion in cash reserves generating rumors that they'll use that cash to buy out Twitter or game company Electronic Arts. Probably not on both counts, though.
• We (myself and a growing group of friends) are still hopelessly addicted to Settlers of Catan. I've noticed that we're generating a lot of come from behind victories. I won Sunday night in a six player game with four cities and two separate victory points after lagging behind for most of the game; I really was only trying to play the spoiler until I realized I was getting close at the very end. In several other games recently I have led early only to get overtaken in the endgame.
• We play the Fishermen of Catan add-on, the Harbor Master card (2pts), and various house rules limiting the robber to help speed up the game. On the other hand, several of us are what you might call "glacial" players.