Mokka mit Schlag

I just ordered one of Apple’s new MacBooks. They just released them so this seemed like the best time to buy. There won’t be any new notebooks released until MacWorld in January, and if anything is released then it’s likely to be a MacBook Pro rather than a MacBook. I don’t use my laptop as a primary machine, just for traveling, so weight is more important to me than screen size. Thus I prefer the 13″ MacBook to the 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pros.

The Pros do have a faster graphics card, but it’s not like I’m going to be playing WarCraft on my laptop. The Pros do have an option to have a matte screen instead of a glossy one. The MacBook is glossy only. Generally, I prefer the matte screen; but that they just be what I’m accustomed to. Hopefully, after a week or two, the glossy screen will look normal to me. To clinch this one, the MacBooks have a smaller native resolution (that is, a larger pixel size) and I prefer not to squint.

A few years ago the iBooks were crippled relative to the PowerBooks–for instance they could only mirror the desktop to a second monitor, not expand the desktop across two displays–but these days the main difference seems to be screen size. The newest MacBooks use the same basic chipset as the Pros and the CPU’s only about 10% slower. All but the base model even have a dual layer SuperDrive. Possibly the speakers are a little weaker in the MacBook. The low-volume speakers have been my biggest disappointment with my old TiBook; but even if they are, the smaller size is still more important to me.

I was tempted to wait for the hypothetical, solid state, ultraportable MacBook, but I don’t really know if any such project exists, or when it will come out if it does.
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Zipcar and Flexcar have agreed to merge. This is exactly the sort of merger that I think ought to be prohibited by antitrust laws: two competitors doing exactly the same thing, even if they are both still Tiddlywink operations by Fortune 500 standards. I’d much rather see them compete in the marketplace than collude. However there will be at least one immediate benefit for ZipCar customers: more insurance.

Effective immediately, Zipcar is raising their coverage to $300,000 per incident for members 21 and over instead of the state mandated minimum. It will also soon be possible to rent Zipcars in Flexcar’s cities: Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland and Atlanta. Now if they could only find the cars they think they have in Brooklyn, everything would be hunky dory.

Great Golden Digger Wasp, Sphex ichneumoneus
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2007-08-18

Let’s finish wasp week with the Great Golden Digger Wasp, one of the larger and more impressive local NYC wasps (though sadly not one of my more impressive photographs. I am looking into improving my camera equipment.) This is actually a very widespread wasp across North America, and is commonly seen in gardens and parks.

The Great Golden Digger is a solitary (non-social) wasp that lays its eggs in burrows in the earth. It’s not very aggressive, but like most wasps will sting if you try to handle it. Adults feed on nectar but prey on other insects to provide food for their young, especially grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets. Thus like many other wasps they’re quite beneficial to gardeners and farmers, and should be left alone when encountered. Don’t bother them and they won’t bother you.
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Northern Paper Wasp, Polistes fuscatus
Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, 2007-09-23

Much less aggressive and problematic than the invasive European cousins from Day 4. Nonetheless getting too close to a nest would be an incredibly stupid thing to do. Like most social wasps they will defend their nests if disturbed. Otherwise they leave humans well enough alone.
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Bald-faced Hornet, Dolichovespula maculata
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2007-08-18

Not really a hornet at all, this species is more closely related to yellowjackets. Like yellowjackets, they are omnivorous and both collect pollen and eat insects, even other wasps.

Although they have a reasonably distinctive appearance in the field, bald-faced hornets are most easily recognized by the large, paper nests they construct in trees. Sometimes these are easier to find when the leaves fall off the trees, but this one has been visible in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens for months now.
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European paper-wasp, Polistes dominulus
2007-08-18

Zebra Mussels, Kudzu, Cane Toads, and European Starlings may get more press; but invasive, exotic species are crowding out native insects too. According to Wikipedia, the European Paper Wasp was first noticed in New Jersey in 1968; but the real damage seems to have been done by an infestation starting in Massachusetts in the late 1970s. It has since spread up and down the East Coast. Exactly how much damage it’s doing to native wasp species is an open question. However, on a recent trip to Jamaica Bay Wildlife refuge it was the only wasp I found, and I saw several colonies set up inside bird feeders. This can’t be good.

Pay special attention to the yellow antennae. This is the easiest way to distinguish it from native species such as the Eastern Yellowjacket.
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