I’m a fan of Freakonomics Radio, the audiocast.
… hosted by journalist Stephen Dubner, with economist Steve Levitt as a regular guest. Freakonomics Radio occasionally hits No. 1 on iTunes, with 4 million downloads a month …
Dubner and Levitt have 3 Freakonomics books, the most recent of which I just read.
Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
It’s short. But good.
Freakonomics attempts to shed light on topics misunderstood by the general public.
Rockin’ Ronnie recommended me a good one.
The Martian is the first published novel by American novelist Andy Weir.
It was originally self-published in 2012 before Crown purchased the rights and re-published it in 2014. A science fiction novel, it follows the fictional American astronaut Mark Watney as he becomes stranded alone on Mars and must improvise in order to survive.
It has been described as an Apollo 13 meets Cast Away. A film version directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon is scheduled for release in November 2015. …
A wise cracking goofball avoids the cliche of going mentally ill in solitary confinement.
Steve Jobs was a complete jerk. But he done good with Pixar. 🙂
… Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder.
The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, a transaction which made Jobs Disney’s largest shareholder. …
Inadequate sales of Pixar’s computers threatened to put the company out of business as financial losses grew. Jobs invested more and more money in exchange for an increasing portion of the company, reducing the fraction of ownership by the management and employees until after several years he owned essentially all the company …
Steve admired and respected John Lasseter as an artist. He could not say NO to the guy.
I start my search for flights using Google.
Since you cannot buy your ticket via Google, I normally buy the ticket from the airline I want to fly itself.
Google is rolling out even more cool ways to plan flights. Check this out.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Andy bought and likes this product:
Where are the wheels?
Andy got his from Crateworks. I’ll check out Andy’s the end of the month.
I hate taxis. 😦
And would love to support ANY alternative.
Uber sounds great. 🙂
Uber is a venture-funded startup and transportation network company based in San Francisco, California, that makes mobile apps that connects passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services. …
Uber has been accused in several jurisdictions of illegal taxicab operation. …
On 11 June 2014, in a concerted action, taxis blocked roads in major European cities in protest against what they perceive as a threat to their livelihood by companies such as Uber. The cabbies contended that Uber and similar smartphone app-based services have an unfair advantage because they’re not subjected to the same kinds of fees and regulations placed on taxis. …
Google is one of the biggest investors.
Uber is not always the faster, cheaper option. But it will be, eventually.
The Canal Solar Power Project is a project launched in Gujarat, to use 19,000 Kilometre long network of Narmada canals across the state for setting up solar panels to generate electricity. …
The pilot project will generate 1.6 million units of clean energy per annum and also prevent evaporation of 9 million litres of water annually from the canal. The project virtually eliminates the requirement to acquire vast tracts of land and limits evaporation of water from the 750 meter long canal, tackling two challenges simultaneously by providing energy and water security. …
I hope this works.
related –
U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) that seeks to prevent the Department of Defense from using funding to address the national security impacts of climate change.
See who voted YES (not to study climate security risk) and who voted NO (to study the risk).
The GOP must change or die, long term. The voters are moving towards accepting Global Warming as a fact while Republicans cling to denial.
Tom Merritt vs Mike Elgan
Tom Merritt is probably the smartest Technology pundit of them all, better (even) than his former boss Leo Laporte.
Unlike Leo, Tom is egotistical and not nearly as likeable.
Still, Tom was my #1 tech news authority before getting fired by Leo late 2013. His salary of $200,000 or so was not being recouped. Money was the main issue, I believe.
Tom was replaced by … Mike Elgan.
A guy I’d never heard of. Something of the opposite of Tom Merritt.
Mike was terrible on audio at first. No gift of the gab, at all. Reviews were tragic. Over the months he got better and better. Mike is very smart. And very well connected in the Tech world.
He has 3,289,961 followers on Google+.
Though I don’t do much on Google+, I follow Mike on TWIT.
I just subscribed to Tom’s audiocast Daily Tech News Show.
I’ll listen to both. They are quite different.
I’ve got to live FREAKIN’ long enough to see this technology in the wild.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
In December I spent 7 hours in the Emergency Ward of the hospital. Excellent and prompt treatment. I must have seen 10 different specialists. Had a CT scan.
In the end, it was concluded I suffer from Vertigo. … (I suffered from Vertigo twice, so far. There’s been no re-occurrence since December.)
In the end, I was charged ZERO dollars. Filled out no paperwork. ONLY showed them my driver’s license.
LOVE the Canadian Health Care system. 😀
At Christmas my family warned me that I’d be billed for the Ambulance. About $400.
I poohpoohed that. And flew to South Africa.
On my return to Calgary in May I found the bill waiting.
$351.76
Oh well. That’s still very inexpensive for excellent service I got in a medical emergency. I’m happy I don’t live in the U.S. of A.
I paid up.
Rick McCharles 