Tidbits, August 19, 2013
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| No budget for clothes, apparently |
We
watched a movie on Netflix last night. Called AE: Apocalypse Earth, the movie stars Richard Grieco (haven't seen
him in a while) and Adrian Paul as Lt. Frank Baum (really? Oz anyone?). When Adrian
Paul appeared in the movie I thought it couldn't be him because he looked so
young, but Darling pointed out it is Netflix so the movie could be old. Turns out
it was made in 2013! So he still looks good. His love interest (he always has
one) is Lea (the first movie for Costa Rican actress Bali Rodriguez), a native
of the planet the team crash lands on. Okay, it wasn't the best film, but it
sure wasn't the worst I've seen. The ray guns were pretty cheesy, but IMDB says
it only had a million dollar budget, so overall, for the price, that's pretty
good.
Since the
networks cancelled Primeval: New World,
Darling and I decided to watch the original series (Primeval) on Netflix. So far
I like it pretty well.
They
also have a slideshow of the twenty places we should all visit in the USA. I
thought I'd probably seen most of them. I was wrong. I'll list the places so
you don't need to visit the site, but the slideshow is nice.
(Highway
1, French Quarter, National Mall, Las Vegas Strip, Yellowstone National Park, Times
Square, Nashville, Grand Canyon, Hollywood
Walk of Fame, Disney's Magic Kingdom, Independence National Historical Park, Taos
Pueblo, Fenway Park, South Beach, Civil Rights District, Gettysburg National
Military Park, Chicago, Ill., Ellis Island, Pearl Harbor, Metropolitan Museum
of Art)
This
makes me worry. How many other things can be remotely controlled? And really -
prison doors? This doesn't look good on any level.
There
have been a lot of bear attacks in recent weeks, across a number of states.
Wildlife specialists think it is simply coincidence and a larger than normal
number of bears.
Michigan,
Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho,
The
government finally admitted
Area 51 is real, but it isn't anything special except a testing site for
the government aerial surveillance programs. Days after this announcement a
buddy of mine mentioned that the ISS has noticed something hovering on the portside. (Okay, it's probably just an old EVA bag, and I don't even know if I'm
allowed to mention it, but there it is for both my readers.) Still, the
fictional Area 51 sites are much better than reality!
(And why
was it kept such a secret all these years?)
I don't
know why I never heard of Kristine Kathryn Rusch before, but I finally read the
first volume of her Retrieval Artist series. I liked it. You might too.
I
thought some of my favorite writers disappeared from Wired.com. Turns out they simply
went to a different site…
… where
they still write cool articles like this one on an older television series
starring David McCallum from (from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and NCIS). It isn't on Netflix, though, and
neither are the two other shows they mention: The Woman in Black and
even Welcome to Night Vale.
Since my
brother Barry is now heading off to teach another year I thought I'd post these
quotes about teachers. He feels under-appreciated, and I don't blame him. In
many countries teachers are revered. Barry has to take a pay cut under the
current Michigan administration - again - after the State reneged on health
care promises made decades ago.
Just a
quick aside, since I'm talking about Michigan. I thought about investing in
some property in my home state, but the current Republican governor has made the state some place I don't want to
be involved in. The current Michigan administration even taxes retirement benefits.
It's a beautiful state, but if they keep this up it will become unpopulated.
Scientists
managed to take another step into the technology of teleportation. We aren't
quite at the "Beam me up, Scottie" era, though.
These
guys are making Google glass look better. They still won't let me wear it at
work, no matter how cool they look.
On the
artistic side, here are some absolutely amazing photos of water. Who knew water
was so beautiful?
If water
isn't your thing, how about a pencil sketch. Really. Take a look.
As a
gamer I have to admit I'm a little fascinated by this game review. But there
aren't any explosions and nothing to shoot. Sounds like Mist.
I won't
tell you what this slideshow identifies as ten of the most addicting phone
games out there, but I will give you a hint. Curse you, Candy Crush!
If
you're really busy (like I should be) WIRED says these are the only tech guys
you need to follow. No, I'm not on their list.
WIRED also says these
are the only business guys you need to follow. I'm not on that list either, and
neither is James Altucher. I'm not
sure WIRED has all the latest information… (just kidding).
If
you're looking for a new place to live…
If you
have a couple extra million, $2.5 million to be exact, you can get this nice
place in New Mexico that is totally independent. I don't know where the nearest
neighbor is though. Maybe that's why the owner is selling; he got lonely.
And here are three
Texas ranches you might want to look at, all near Blanco, Texas. Why Blanco? Because
zombies probably won't make it that far when the Zombie Apocalypse occurs. (Yes,
they all use Trulia, but I like Trulia.)
A nice little ranch in
west Texas for a little less than a million dollars, but you get two houses on
16 acres.
http://www.trulia.com/property/1044971171-1193-Cedar-Cir-Blanco-TX-78606
Which makes this place
look like a bargain at only half that price, is on 3.8 acres and near town. I
don't guarantee that Blanco has a theater, though.
This one costs a bit
more, but it has a pond on 21 acres. With fish.
Yeah,
I'm doing research for one of my stories…
If you're an iOS developer (like I
sometimes am) you need to have. I don't have them all yet, but I like the templates, but I can see where they might
be useful in the development cycle.
The new iOS is going
to drive me nuts. Icons are a major pain for me, since I'm not a gifted artist
like Darling. This does make it much easier. If you need to make icons, you'll
like it, but you need Photoshop.
And if you are a
developer, you'll want to know how people think the competitors are doing. This
guy gives nine ways the Windows phone is better than iPhones. He has some good
points, actually.
Finally, if you read this far, you deserve an
original bit of wisdom from me. I was thinking the other day, on the way home
from work (amazing!). Some of us grow up to be leaders. Some of us grow up to
be followers. Some of us don't grow up at all.
Thanks for reading!
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