Holy yikes, we've hit the big time! Sure, it was an honor to be chosen as a member of the elite MacAddict Network (now recently deceased). Yes, we were overwhelmed when Apple's iReview bestowed upon us a glowing five-star rating (before also vanishing into the ether; hmmm, do we sense a pattern?). But we are truly undeserving of this latest triumph, a nod from the veritable pinnacle of Macdom: a mention and link by none other than the Naked Mole Rat himself. "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"

Indeed, when faithful viewer Tim Kirk first pointed out that the Rat had emerged from hibernation, he didn't tell us that the late MacWEEK's erstwhile utensil had picked up on the recent swirling controversy surrounding Apple and its uneasy relationship with the Church of Satan-- or that the latest NMR Report singled us out as a "worthy media organ" (we won't ask which organ) and graciously linked to our scene about the fracas. Little did we know that a goofy piece of filler material that we dredged up for a slow news day would propel us to international superstardom. Incidentally, now that every vaguely Mac-related news outlet has leapt upon this story despite the fact that the tussle ended months ago (even Reuters picked up on the sordid tale on Saturday), we'd like to reiterate that we first heard tell of the situation on the Mac EvangeList. Credit where credit's due, and all that.

So now that we've won the adoration and worship of our peers, what are we going to do now? We're going to Disney World! But just to show you that we haven't forgotten the little people who made us what we are today, before we leave we'll fill you in on the Rat's latest scuttlebutt-- which is all about Puma, the long-awaited update to Mac OS X that the numerically inclined are casually referring to as version 10.1. As all you "early adopters" are painfully aware (seeing as your cumulative time spent staring at a spinning rainbow cursor can now be measured in months), Mac OS X's single biggest issue is perceived performance; spending a week using Mac OS X and then booting back into Mac OS 9.1 is not unlike swallowing a box of No-Doz and then strapping oneself to the top of the Bullet Train.

Well, the good news is that development of Puma continues apace; according to the Rat, current builds are "still slower than Mac OS 9.1," but they're loads faster than 10.0.3 at basic tasks such as resizing windows, launching apps, etc. Check out this improvement: copying a thousand files in icon view reportedly takes a mere 50 seconds under Puma, down from five minutes under 10.0.3. Ah, progress! (And never mind that the same task only takes ten seconds under Mac OS 9.1. Spoilsport.) Here's hoping that Puma surfaces in time for Mac OS X's big "coming out party" at Macworld Expo next month-- and that it's zippy enough to impress the masses. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to pack...