Tidbits - September 3, 2013

They say the hint is in the picture...

So this is September 3, 2013 and that means that ONE WEEK FROM TODAY Apple™ has a new event. Speculation runs rampant concerning what they plan to introduce or expound upon. Just mark your calendar: September 10th. Do we care? I don't know. I'll wait and see.

Lee Hutchinson and Day 4 of Soylent. He posted this one on August 30th and nothing since. Perhaps it didn't go well… Only one more post to wrap this story up, and I'm waiting for it.

Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Florida successfully completing the epic marathon Monday (September 2) on her fifth try since 1978. Nyad is now 64 years old. She swam about 103 miles. When I first saw the title of the article I thought the author misspelled naiad - which is the word for a water nymph.

Along with sword-makers, knife-makers fascinate me. Here's one of the best (according to the article).


from www.lib.utexas.edu

Syria dominates the news for now.
Syria is in the Middle East and encompasses 71,479 square miles, which is about twice the size of Maine and a bit less than the size of Utah. Syria has been embroiled in a civil war since 2011, with over 100,000 people killed. The chemical attack on August 21 killed a little over 1400 men women and children.

Syria. What is the issue? CNN did a good job of explaining in this article.

Mr. Obama is considering a "limited, narrow" military action against Syria. Is he becoming the reflection of the President his party maligns?

Could Syria strike back if we attacked? Wouldn't you?



On Boeing and Space
The Boeing Dreamliner is a beautiful machine. See how they are made in this series of photos.

Two companies now compete for the resupply contract to the International Space Station, and neither is Boeing (at this time). Orbital Science has the Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule. A demo resupply mission is scheduled for September. Elon Musk and SpaceX have the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. A Dragon capsule successfully docked with the ISS in May, 2012.

I don't have a lot to say about an article on Labor Issues in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, except I really like it. I need to thoroughly study it. After all, I write Sci-Fi and Fantasy and I'd like my stories to be good.


Financially, I have to begin to worry about my Pension and Profit Sharing… How about you?
Your Pension when the Unexpected Happens. Talks about how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) handles a number of different pension problems, most notably divorce (which just gets ugly).

Not Your Father’s Retirement Plan. How to handle your retirement assets so you don't run out of money - or at least help mitigate the risks of running out of money. One of the big hints was to spend less. That applies even before retirement!

Charitable Donation Tips for Boomers. There are some good tips here, many I never thought of. That's why I read articles like this.


Some games deserve a little recognition.
There is a little bit of news on Bioware's Dragon Age: Inquisition game. It does look awesome, but there won't be any health regeneration - gee, like real life. I'm not sure I like that.

Ars Technica's Kyle Orland wrote an article on Godus - and he likes it. That makes me very happy, since I backed the game on Kickstarter and am looking forward to its release. That looks like September 13th for the pre-release. I need to get a PC…

I also backed Wasteland 2 and am awaiting my swag, but I don't see any articles on that one.


Let's look at some Tech!
You know that some people are considering creating smart roads, right? Roads with the ability to recharge your car as you drive? I forget where, but someone is making one right now. Here's a new one - recovering the energy from bumps and bounces - from the suspension in your car. I love this!

Yes, I'm still looking at phones. Darling says she doesn't need a smart phone. Well, here's a beautiful "dumb" phone, but I think Darling would object the first time she couldn't find Candy Crush (darn you, Candy Crush!).

Microsoft bought Nokia. I have no idea how this one will play out, but Nokia currently makes the very best camera for a phone! Of course, it is a Windows phone…

Control a Mac or PC from your iPad. This is cool, but a bit pricey, at $80/year.

Google might have been planning a smart-watch for a long time. C'mon. We all know Dick Tracy thought of it…

I'm always looking for some way to turn me into a real artist, like Darling. This probably won't help me, but maybe it won't hurt either.

This is cool, but I'm not big about wearing rings. Maybe if they made it into a bracelet of some sort? And included some touch spots to manage my phone? And added Bluetooth connectivity for my headphones? Oh, then it's like my own-design iWatch or something, huh?

Remember the translators used by the crew of the original Enterprise? It's here.

Hey, I could have my own mini-batcave! Sort of… I'd want to get a really cool car, though. I don't think the Camry makes the same impact as the Batmobile (or a Porshe).

In the How-To department, they show us how to make a fake wall. They say it's for a television in a rental place. That's cool, but this would also work to create a hidden room, wouldn't it? I think my study might soon disappear behind a wall! Combine that with the mini-batcave (above) for my car and I'm well on the way to becoming a superhero!



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