August Fades

Our previous house is still on the market. We need to sink more money into it so it will sell, and that's okay. I liked the wallpaper in the kitchen, but now it goes. Oh, and we are dropping the price a bit.

The new place is shaping up, and I really need to quit referring to it as "the new place" since now it is simply home. I mean, that's where Darling is, and that's where the food and bed are, so that makes it home. I do have quite a few of my swords now hanging in my new Study (not Office!). And many, many less boxes in the house than there were. In fact, all but one room is box-free.

Darling did have a Doctor appointment today and now will have another surgery next Wednesday. I am not sure what it entails, but I'll find out about it tonight. It might or might not make it to the blog.

I read a number of books suggested by my brother B: Christopher Bunn's trilogy A Storm in Tormay (I liked it), David Wells' Sovereign of the Seven Isles up through book four and now await book five (I like it, but feel Wells is stretching it a bit too much and makes some foolish plot mistakes doing so), and Michael R. Hicks' In Her Name: Redemption trilogy (I liked it).

I also bought and read John Scalzi's Redshirts, which was pretty entertaining.

Politics and storms are everywhere in the news, and I don't have much to say about either of them. Well, actually, I might, but don't have the time or inclination to say all I want to say about some aspects of each. So I retreat into technology and find a nice list of links to talk about briefly.

There's a nice article on Fifty Awesome Gadgets for under $50. I like the t-shirt. You'll know the one I mean.

Tim Rains starts a series for Microsoft Security tools. It looks like it might be pretty technical, but it might be worth watching too.

Wired has an article on how researchers can hack EEG headsets (used by some gamers) to obtain security information, read directly from brain inputs. It isn't as sophisticated nor as exact as the title implies, but it is fascinating that technology has progressed to where we can interpret brain waves. Minority Report, anyone?

I'm not much of a photographer guy, but a flat photographic lens is an amazing idea. What struck me, and they don't seem to notice it themselves, is that it almost mimics how flies and other animals with multi-facet eyes see, at least in concept. Or it doesn't and I just have no idea what I'm talking about.

There is the classic article on the best iPad games and 75 of them are listed here. This one actually gets updates pretty often on the PCMAG website.

But I will finish with a little political chatter. This is the season for politics, as evidenced by a friend of mine heading off for the US Congress for the great State of Texas soon. Yeah, there's this pesky little election thing he has to get past, but he'll make it. The Republican National Convention is going full blast and if all you read is the mainstream newsfeeds, you miss a lot, like the fact that Gov. Christie from New Jersey isn't simply a passionate speaker; he actually worked with the NJ delegates and saved the state's economy. I didn't see that anywhere in the media, and I really must wonder why. For alternate views one friend suggested I start reading George Will, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at the Washington Post. I haven't read his articles yet, but he's probably worth taking a look, even if it's just for a differing opinion.