Wall Street can be fickle. With many companies of late making headlines due to SEC notices, earnings warnings and improperly forecast inventory levels, the market has not been a "happy fun zone" for some time - as even those companies that have been setting record earnings quarter after quarter have not escaped the analysts' wrath. Just last week, Apple stock fell when one analyst from Credit Suisse First Boston suggested that the company would miss earnings or forecast a revenue slowdown, based on rumored new iPod delays.

They were wrong. Big time.

After the stock market's close today, Apple announced the second-highest quarterly revenue and earnings in the company's history, on the back of more than 1.3 million Macintosh computers sold, and in excess of 8 million iPods. Also, the company reported that its new Intel-based Macs are flying off the shelves, comprising a full 75% of all Mac sales in the quarter.

Lucky for me, I had re-invested in Apple just last week, in an attempt to once again throw good money after bad, hoping to lower my overall share purchase price, and to benefit more greatly from the potential uptick in the stock. Not only did Apple stock rise by more than $1 a share during regular market trading, but the stock is up more than $4 a share (8+%) after hours, making me enough in about an hour to get a new MacBook for free, should I choose to throw my new cash that way.

With my Mac at work aging, now six years old, it's time to get a refresh. With Apple supporting Windows and Mac OS X together on one machine, we could add to Apple's bottom line in the upcoming quarter by getting an awesome new business machine.

Listening to ''Ian Richardson - Assume Nothing'', by Dave Clarke (Play Count: 9)

It seems that commentary on the current administration will nearly write itself - for the truth is even more bizarre than fiction. Even the most new presidential observers recall how President Clinton was charged with mirroring "Wag the Dog" when he ordered airstrikes in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Suggestions were made that as in the movie, a war was manufactured to boost ratings - effectively implementing a Hollywood presidency, and not a DC presidency.

Turning the page forward a few years, we've seen much worse, more tragic, realities. A state of constant war, and wave after wave of misinformation and redirection. Scandals much darker than anything that ever engulfed Clinton have come and gone with regularity - as our civil liberties are increasingly being threatened, and nothing seems outside the grasp of the political elite. But while Bush and Cheney have demanded ever-greater powers for the executive branch, and unprecedented secrecy, George has neglected those things that traditionally define the presidency, choosing to spend months out of each year on vacation in Crawford rather than in Washington, and never even once exercising the power to veto bills from Congress. Representing what historically had been recognized as the fiscally conservative party, George has never even once vetoed any portion of any spending bills - as the country as been racking up hundreds of billions in dollars of deficits, just one administration after the surpluses of Clinton/Gore, which had turned back the clock on decades of deficits from Reagan and Bush Sr.

But now it looks like at least one of those things will change - as Bush is poised to issue his first veto after more than five and a half years in office - not to pronounce any dramatic point of order in business or domestic policy, but instead, to block science, stopping the research into stem cells that could lead to dramatic findings in the research community for decades to come. Instead of really trying to find Osama Bin Laden, or really trying to restore order in Iraq through establishing a stable government and police force, or even offering armor to our troops so that they are protected, Bush is instead once again stopping science - just as the administration continues to deny the reality of issues like global warming and evolution. One has to wonder what their elementary school teachers did that was so horrible to turn them away from the subject forever...

As Americans, we have to recognize that this isn't just an average presidency going through a mediocre spell. This is record-breakingly bad. George W. Bush, who ascended to the presidential throne through trickery and legalese, including a 5-4 majority Supreme Court appointment, is etching his name in stone as the very worst presidency this once-proud country has ever had. It's just head-shakingly ugly.

Listening to ''Prosac'', by DJ Tomcraft (Play Count: 8)

Heck... if I can devote a whole entry just to technology notes, then why leave out sports?

The A's, despite a good start by rookie pitcher Jason Windsor, who was making his major league debut, fell at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 5-3 this evening. Meanwhile, hot on the A's heels are the Anaheim (err... Los Angeles) Angels, who have won seven straight and crept to within a half of game of the division lead. However, at this point, the A's continue to hold first place, though every loss makes things just that much more dicey. Amazing how all the good feelings from taking 3 of 4 against Boston can be erased with one down game.

Switching gears, and sports, my latest entry to Sactown Royalty, which marked Kenny Smith's entry into #14 on the all-time Sacramento Kings roster, was posted shortly after midnight tonight. Kenny only lasted 2+ seasons at Arco Arena, and made more of a name for himself with the Houston Rockets, gaining two championships, and later as a TV analyst for TNT, taking potshots from Charles Barkley on a nightly basis.

Listening to ''Do You Feel the Same'', by Ian Van Dahl (Play Count: 11)

It's a mere three weeks until the next big Apple-related expo, the World Wide Developers' Conference (WWDC). Along with the MacWorld Expo, held every January, WWDC is one of the biggest opportunities for the Mac and iPod maker to unveil Steve Jobs, and for Jobs to unveil the latest and greatest in hardware and software. And as with any good Apple shindig, the rumors fly fast and furious until there's "just one more thing"...

This year is no different. While Microsoft has stolen some of the limelight on the back of the rumor that they will soon be releasing an iPod clone with WiFi and additional features, Think Secret says that Apple's reading some announcements of their own - one claiming that iTunes will be extended to include movie rentals, and the other, that the second-generation iPod Nano is just around the corner.

The new Nano? According to the site, it will be available with larger capacities, and a wide variety of colors. Meanwhile, the next-generation iPod could grow as large as 80 gigabytes, equalling the space on my PowerBook! Yet, as is common, with a few weeks left, more rumors are expected, and many will be wrong.

Listening to ''Dark Sympathy" by Jerry Bonham (Play Count: 4)