We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan
(alt-txt)
Old people used to write obnoxious thinkpieces about how people these days always wear watches and are slaves to the clock, but now they’ve switched to writing thinkpieces about how kids these days don’t appreciate the benefits of an old-fashioned watch. My position is: The word ‘thinkpiece’ sounds like a word made up by someone who didn’t know about the word ‘brain’.
I like this one too đ
Recently, we here at BWG have inadvertently relegated our Ardbeg consumption to their special annual releases (you can read all our Ardbeg reviews here) and seem to have overlooked some of their more regularly available stuff. That has been a mistake⌠Ardbeg Uigeadailâs nose is like an enchanted forest of flavors. It starts off with a beautifully complex blend of earth, oak, moss, wild blackberries and raspberries and Ardbegâs typical, ever present, but not overpowering peat smoke. The palate is a fresh, hand-picked bouquet strewn over smoked wood chips. A few drops of water open up the fruity and floral notes, while adding a creamy texture to this smokey mountain of flavors. The finish is smooth and warm with some sharp cracked peppercorn and fading peat smoke. Uigeadail is beautifully complex and balanced. For BWG itâs by far Ardbegâs best regular offering. Available in store and online at Gates Circle Liquor for $106
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This just appeared in my reader … My favorite distiller …
Bruichladdich, one of BWGâs favorite Scottish distillers recently discontinued their âLaddie 10â flagship bottling and replaced it with The Classic Laddie Scottish Barley. We loved the Laddie 10 (you can read that review here), so we were not happy to learn of its departure â however, we were equally as excited to sample its replacement. This unpeated Bruichladdich pours a deep honey gold, a few shades darker than its predecessor. The nose is classic Bruichladdich, salty and floral with a caramel, banana sweetness. The palate is clean and balanced, with sea salt caramel taffy and a lavender bouquet. It has a nice oily mouth feel which leads into thoroughly warming finish that lasts a good while. A touch of water broadens the palate with more floral notes, while maintaining its salty-sweet bite. There is no age statement on this Laddie bottling and the abv. has been punched up toâŚ
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Yesterday’s Google News search on Apple had a Barron’s article on Apple’s suppliers. Apparently you can read the whole article through the Google link, but a direct link asks you to subscribe. Go figure.
The basis of the article is that these stocks could get pummeled if Apple disappoints on September 9. That may or may not come to pass, bit if you want to invest in companies riding Apple’s coat tails consider these:
GTAT – GT Advanced Technologies
Manufacturer of Transparent Aluminum
SWKS – Skyworks Solutions
Wireless handset chip supplier
INVN – InvenSense
Motion processing, MEMS gyroscope, and motion processing technologies for consumer electronics
RFMD – RF Micro Devices
Manufacturer of RF (Radio Frequency) integrated circuits
AVGO – Avago Technologies
Provides an extensive range of analog, mixed-signal and optoelectronic components
OVTI – OmniVision Technologies
Manufacturer of proprietary image sensing and state-of-the-art CMOS process technologies
STM– STMicroelectronics
Produces a diverse range of devices, ranging from single transistors to microprocessors
NXPI – NXP Semiconductors
Creating solutions that enable secure connections for a smarter world
MU – Micron Technology
Best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices including DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, and SSDs.
The article also referenced the WordPress site RE/CODE as a source.
My latest impulse buy âŚ
Extremely Smooth. Once you understand how Dos Maderas P.X. 5+5 is aged, youâll have a full appreciations of itâs deep mahogany color, a reddish brown hue like brilliant sapphire. The heavier caramel rum aromas are lifted by sweet traces of sherry âŚ
Read the full review at Rum Gallery. Seriously, if you like rum and haven’t tried Dos Maderas P.X. 5+5, go read the review now.
Not bad for an un-educated impulse buy. Definitely in the same league as Ron Zacapa Centenario 23. I suck as a reviewer, but I know what it like. This is sweet, delicious goodness. It is like fine double casked scotch made from sugar. Mmmmm âŚ
En EspaĂąol (mostly)
Num, num, nummmmmmm âŚ
It’s the first five metres that count âŚ
Heinlein is one of my favorite Sci-Fi authors.
When I was in high school you couldnât get past the nerd clubhouse front door unless you were familiar with Robert A. Heinlein. You didnât necessarily had to have read his books, but you needed to be familiar with the guy. About a month ago at work some guys were discussing the various merits and demerits of the Paul Verhoeven movie version of Starship Troopers, and I added my two cents that no matter what you felt about the movie that the book was great. One of the guys seated there, who was a pretty big sci-fi fan, replied that he didnât even know it was a book.
So how did one of the most thought provoking controversial and exciting books in the science fiction universe get downgraded to a shower scene? Well letâs start with the man himself Robert A. Heinlein.
Heinleinâs early life could be summed up inâŚ
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MaW3
Do I look like a gamer? Look here. (Don’t answer that)
Ok, so I suck at First Person Shooters. Number 2 son calls me “the turret”.
But I do like head-to-head Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. My friend and I used to enjoy playing each other on Command and Conquer Red Alert for iPad. That is, until we discovered MaW3. Without a doubt the best military RTS game, bar none, is Machines at War 3 by ISOTOPE 244.
Available for iOS, Mac, and Windows on the iPhone and iPad App Store, Mac App Store, Steam, and directly from ISOTOPE 244.
I can’t say enough positive about this game. Don’t take my word for it. Read the review links at ISOTOPE 244. This is one amazing and phenomenal game. James Bryant has accomplished a tour de force. It is elegant, masterful, and flawless. It even plays well on a iPhone 5s.
If you like the RTS genre, please – please, check out MaW3.
And now back to skirmish mode … (Roger that Sir! Reinforcements, we need reinforcements. A ha ha ha ha, taste my laser! Oh the humanity.)
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
President John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962, speaking to incoming freshman students at Rice University, Houston, Texas
This may just go to show how truly geeky I am, but it struck me as humorous.
In the previous post – Strong, Powerful Women – I ended it with
“I like my women the way I like my coffee ⌠hot and strong“.
The HTML for this is
Now that’s strong! đ
Despite my joke that that I like my coffee the way I like my women …
The Roskilde Festival is the largest North European culture and music festival and has existed since 1971. They are a non-profit organisation consisting of about 50 full-time employees and thousands of volunteers. It is held in Roskilde, Denmark in late June.
http://roskilde-festival.dk/about_roskilde/
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roskilde_Festival
⢠⢠â˘
It is also famous for the Roskilde Festival Radio Nøgenløb (Naked Run) held on the Saturday of the Festival (this Saturday just past). The Nøgenløb is a foot race around the Festival grounds where the participants, men and women, run totally naked (shoes are allowed). It has been run every year since 1999, with a ticket to the next year’s festival awarded to the male and female winner.
The Danes obviously don’t have the phobia of public nudity common in the U. S. and some other countries.
⢠⢠â˘
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
~ Genesis 2:25, King James Bible
⢠⢠â˘
The Roskilde Festival Radio Nøgenløb serves as an example of what a pack of Zs might look like as they run naked across the countryside.*
WARNING THE IMAGE BELOW LINKS TO A VIDEO THAT SHOWS NAKED MEN AND WOMEN RUNNING IN THE NĂGENLĂB. IF YOU ARE OFFENDED OR ASHAMED OF THE NAKED HUMAN FORM, DO NOT CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW.
* Except maybe for the body paint and the GoPros
My hero đ
Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. In these two companies, products manufactured have never been proposed before. For SpaceX (USA), the company is able to sell a rocket launch for satellites for 12000 dollars / kg as cost for Ariane 5 (Europa) is 23000 dollars / kg and for Proton (Russia), 18000 dollars / kg.
As ILIAD for French Telecommunication, SpaceX is completely redefine the market of space rocket launch. He obliges restructuring Safran (Ariane) into Airbus group in June 2014.
Elon Musk is also the CEO of Telsa, a company selling only electric cars in USA! Elon Musk is a serial creator, as he was the creator of Paypal sold to Ebay in the 2000âs years.
âIf a company depends on its patents is that it does not innovate or when it does not innovate fast enough.â It is with these words Elon Musk justifies hisâŚ
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⌠from the lower east side
Last month while making a pilgrimage to my old stomping grounds to attend to family matters, I hooked up with Pegasuspilot after a 27 year hiatus. I introduced him to OCTOMORE, and he introduced me to Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 rum. I left him with the open bottle of OCTOMORE and he gifted me with a fresh bottle of Zacapa.
As I write this I am finishing the Zacapa (drunk from a silver cup ⌠also gifted to me). Thankfully the Zacapa is a fraction of the price of the OCTOMORE and apparently available locally.
I have never fancied myself to be a rum drinker, but Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 is sweet nectar of the gods. Bottled at 40% ABV, “FROM VIRGIN SUGAR CANE & BOTTLED AT HIGH ALTITUDE”, Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 from Guatemala is a treat that anyone can afford. This is sipping rum that can be enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or in mixed drinks. If you like rum, look for it. If you like single malt scotch, look for it. It is a delicious diversion. To me it doesn’t taste like traditional rum. It is sweeter and smoother.
Oh no ⌠I just poured the last drop of Zacapa into my silver cup. Yum yum yum. Thankfully the mellowing agents in Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 won’t allow me to be sad.
So good, you’ll do the Swinburne Stomp
A video rebuttal to G2 Research RIP
Mmmm, did someone say chicken and ribs?
Oh, not BBQ, never mind.
BRUICHLADDICH
PROGRESSIVE HEBRIDEAN DISTILLERS
OCTOMORE/06.1_167
Touch the image above (you want to touch it) to go to the Bruichladdich OCTOMORE 06.1 SCOTTISH BARLEY webpage.
THE WORLD’S MOST HEAVILY PEATED WHISKY, THIS IS THE SIXTH EDITION OF THE UBER-EXPERIMENTAL CULT OCTOMORE.
Titanic amounts of peat but with a light, delicate complexity and a beguiling finesse. Young, yet eminently mature, it defies us. It remains an enigma. We embrace that.
Here, we pay tribute to its pedigree, to the land from which it came and the raw materials that gave it life: Octomore Scottish Barley.
We believe challenging convention matters.
⢠⢠â˘
I am sequestered in an undisclosed location, dealing with stressful family matters (the Mrs’ side). A bright side to this is that a local wine and spirits store had a bottle of the above mentioned cult elixir. As I have depleted all the home stocks of OCTOMORE, I justified buying another bottle (and got permission from the wife).
Review
There are several fine reviews of this spirit on the web. Google is your friend. As for me, it is the same OCTOMORE that I have come to love. No, not merely love, but obsess over. Stalk.
Yet this OCTOMORE is stronger, spicier, with more bite on the tongue. Bottled at 57% ABV it has a kick that can be mellowed with a drop or two of spring water. Like the OCTOMOREs that preceded it, the high phenol level of 167 PPM does NOT equate to the same smoke level as a Caol Ila, Laphroaig, or Ardbeg. The smoke is subtler, woven through a sweet, young, crisp experience.
Not my favorite OCTOMORE of all time, but like sex or pizza (if you know the old joke), it is still OCTOMORE.
But wait ⌠was it the fact that I was several “wee drams” into the bottle when I began writing? A bit of research and a nagging remembrance uncovered:
I’ll be damned. This was my second bottle of OCTOMORE/06.1_167. As I said, I (we) finished off both the OCTOMORE/06.1_167 and the OCTOMORE 10. This bottle of 06.1_167 was much cheaper than it was at home location. A good deal. It is interesting to me that on my second bottle it seemed stronger, spicier. Oh well.
Damn good whisky!
First clue …
Touch the image above to read the full article.
The above article recounts that Toyota already owns shares in Tesla and sold Tesla the plant where the Model S is made. Furthermore Tesla provides the entire electric drivetrain for the Rav4 EV, a “compliance car” sold only in California to satisfy regulations requiring auto manufactures sell a certain number of zero-emission vehicles. Tesla expects to finish supplying Toyota this year.
“Unlike in fairy tales, we know that Samsung’s illegal strategy has been wildly successful,” McElhinny (Apple lead attorney) said in Apple’s closing arguments in late April.
⢠⢠â˘
Key Samsung lawyer sees patent war ending soon — with Apple getting nothing
Compare to Ex-Samsung Lawyer âŚ
⌠Admits Samsung Couldn’t Tell the Truth if their Lives depended on it
Strong words
Read the full article at Patently Apple
The Patently Apple article is a synopsis of an article originally published by Vanity Fair.
Disclaimer: This blog is written and maintained on an Apple iPhone 5s using the Automattic WordPress for iOS app.
Have you been watching the new BBC series Sherlock? If not, you should.
It is, to use the British phrase, ‘brilliant‘!
Season Three just finished. Not sure if it is on Netflix yet, but it is available on both iTunes and Amazon.
Start over at the beginning! It’s brilliant.
See WP0 and The Wahls Protocol
Seventh Day on the Wahls Protocol
Mrs and I have a combined weight loss of 8 – 10 pounds.
I suspect we are not eating enough, but we are stuffing ourselves and can only eat so much.
We need to eat more meat.
All in all we are feeling the same or better, loosing weight, allegedly getting better nutrition, and definitely not going hungry.
See WP0 and The Wahls Protocol
Wahls Protocol Day Four
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Me too.
Today is Day Four of the Mrs and me on The Wahls Protocol.
From The Nudist War â Day 43
Jess was officially diagnosed with MS ten years ago, not long after she posted for the position at the CDC in Atlanta. She noticed that she had a âfloaterâ in her left eye that didnât go away. When she saw her Ophthalmologist he diagnosed her with optic neuritis, for which he prescribed a course of oral steroids to reduce the inflammation. âOne thing you should know,â he told her, âthere is a good chance that you have Multiple Sclerosis. Let me refer you to a Neurologist who specializes in MS treatment. Sheâs the best one in Atlanta.â After a CT scan, several MRIs and lumbar punctures, the diagnosis was in. âMs. Munroe, I am so sorry to have to tell you this. The MRI analyses and spinal fluid tests both indicate positive for Multiple Sclerosis.â
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc?rel=0
Hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook available at:
Amazon
Audible
Apple iBook
Apple iTunes
and other retailers
Maybe I should put Jess on this diet.
Sitting here drinking and smelling my OCTOMORE 06.1 167ppm in a Glencairn Glass.
All of the senses are involved. For a five year old scotch, this stuff is fantastic. Hell fantastic period.
If you LOVE, smoky sweet delicious scotch, you must try OCTOMORE.
OK, yeah I’ve had a few wee drams đ
WARNING
This post deals with the public display of the naked human body. Clicking on any of the links below could subject you to images of the natural unclothed human form. If you are under 18 or if this might offend you in any way, please refrain from clicking on any of the links below.
Life comes at you like a trip down a wild uncharted river. Somedays are a lazy drift along on slow-moving currents. Other days can be like running the rapids: stressful, fast paced, even dangerous.
Always there are opportunities on the shore drifting past. Do you ignore them or look wistfully at them as they drift past? Do you paddle to the shore and explore new possibilities?
Some days you are trapped in a slow stagnant whirlpool. Do you sit and spin or paddle out and ahead?
Some folks have fancy riverboats, others have rafts. Yet the river and the shore are the same for all.
OCTOMORE SCOTTISH BARLEY
http://www.bruichladdich.com/the-whisky/octomore/octomore-06-1-scottish-barley
I just snagged a bottle. The stock photo above is better than anything I could take. Click the photo or the link to go the the official Bruichladdich webpage.
I can tell you that I like it (I had better at almost $200 a bottle). It is not a sweet as the 10 year old OCTOMORE. Although it has twice the peaty/smokey goodness as measured by ppm, it did not strike me as that much smokier. It’s good stuff.
But don’t take my word for it. Watch what the people who make it say about it:
Jim McEwen’s passion for his creation is inspiring.
Related posts:
Darn you, WordPress for iOS 4.0.1
Darn you to heck!
Through my many years of cat ownership, I feel confident to say that I understand ‘Cat’ speak.
You see, cats are very self-centered. It’s all about them.
Meow? (Rising) … Me?
Me-yow? (Rising) … (For) Me ?
Myow myow (emphatic) … Me (too) me (too)
MYOW (short) … (Leave) Me (Alone)
Myew (quiet) … (Who) Me?
Myew myew … (Luv) Me (luv) Me
MEOW (Desperate) … (Feed) Me
⢠⢠â˘
Try out your new-found knowledge of ‘cat speak’ on the following video …
So … Tuesday was my 22,000th day here on Earth. 60 years, 2 months, and 23 days.
22,000 Days is immortalized in the Moody Blues song of the same name.
Now that I am living on borrowed time, as it were, I have decided to form a new club. The 22,000+ Club.
I couldn’t have done it without you.
⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠â˘
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1
http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠â˘
The latest WordPress iPhone App by Automattic (Version 3.9, January 30, 2014) writes update to the wrong folder.
For example the first entry of Day 42 (The Nudist War) has ALWAYS been located at:
After editing and saving it is now located at:
https://contrafactual.com/2013/07/10/hzv-day-42/
Arrrrrgggghhhh
I discovered this after going back and editing earlier posts.
I thought the post had disappeared until I did a search on Day 42.
Next step … Contacting Automatic đŚ
Top 10 Observations of an old White Guy on Race Relations in the New Millennium
Number 10
Barrack Obama may be the coolest, hippest, Nobel Prize winningest President the US has ever had, but he is not the blackest. Bill Clinton still holds that title.
Despite all the other fun bits that I include in my blog … my cats, the interesting YouTube video, various fun facts, music, history … my real reason for blogging is that I want to write fiction. I currently have two main streams of fiction: the Day 42 zombie saga and the Mars collection of science fiction short stories.
I recently wrote a new short story titled Rocket Man.
I included various supplementary material on either side of it. Prior to posting Rocket Man. I reblogged both Phobos Rising and Jumper. After I posted it, I included a history of the Rocket Man song. Intermixed with this was a variety of other video posts and a cat post.
The material on either side of the Rocket Man short story got numerous ‘likes’ … yet Rocket Man got only a single ‘like’.
I am perplexed.
⢠Did you read it and not like it?
⢠If you read it and did not like it, can you tell me what you disliked?
Be frank I’m a big boy I can take criticism.
⢠If you didn’t read it why not?
As always I am extremely appreciative of your feedback.
Thanks cb
So back on December 8th I posted my original iPad Air Fail post.
I had suggested reviewing the following thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5532206?tstart=0
It is a long thread
Despite the glowing reviews of the mainstream press and tech community, there are still many frustrated users out there whose iPad Airs have regular Safari crashes, App crashes, and even full reboots.
I didn’t want to have to do this, but you have forced me to. Based on the number of ‘likes’, I am maybe one of four people reading Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse The Journal of Cleopatra Stevens.
That’s just wrong.
Guns, lots of guns
Earlier this year I wrote a piece of satire titled ATF, a post-apocalyptic strategy based on the stockpiling of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. Although satirical in nature, and intended to be humorous, there is much truth, I believe, in that essay.
This Friday I’m taking today off from work and were going on a road trip to Austin Texas. And by this Friday I mean today is Friday.
As you recall I got one of the brand-new iPhone 5s models.(See bragging rights)
This post is an experiment in technology. And by this post I mean today’s post. For some reason dictation wants to use the work this when I say today.
This entire post is being dictated on my iPhone 5s. With the occasional delete for extra spaces or perhaps a type for punctuation it’s 100% dictated. You’re even getting the mistakes I’m just going back and clarifying them when I see something.
I am dictating it a sentence at a time. Because it needs to go up to the web to analyze what I’ve just said. And I don’t want to be too long string of words per dictation.
I’m learning about dictation it excepts the phrase single quote
Single quote for a carriage return. Okay that did not work let’s try something else it accepts “new â line “as a carriage return. That’s better.
Pretty slick, Anna.? Are you A a a RRR GGG HHH ask Glenn nation point!
A a a RRR GGG HHH! Did not understand our, Rather yar, But it didn’t understand “exclamation â point”! And by didn’t I meant did.
It is not perfect, but it’s pretty darn good. Backspace delete okay this commands don’t work okay those commands did not work. Return return sorry
One (space
One) I have been writing Contra factual using the iPhone almost exclusively since I got the iPhone
Two) I have been making a lot of progress on the day 42 series. There will be no date 48 teasers I hope to have it out complete in a day or two. Day 48 T-shirts. To sit up ha ha Ha. Ha ha ha day 48 teaser.
Three) I am simultaneously working on the ending of the series. But I don’t know how far to go before I start going into ending mode. As they say all good things must come to an end. They also say “this too shall pass”. Although in truth once I switched to ending mode the ending could go on quite a long time. I’m excited to get to the ending, but then endings are always sad.
Four)
Four)
Four)(Finally!) again completely dictated no corrections mean madeâ âââ â now I have completely forgotten but .4 was supposed to be. And by .4 I mean line for by line for I mean four)
Pi equals 3.141?
Five (
Five) to WH EW. When last I looked I had over 80 people following this blog. But I think I really only have a quarter of perhaps I half-dozen loyal readers. And by quarter I mean core. You know who you are.
Six) ignoring this particular post., Do you think my writing is good enough to publish? Specifically would you pay real money for something I wrote? More specifically would you pay real money for a digital copy of day 42 in its entirety? And finally would you recommend day 42 to others? Use the reply option to answer.
Seven) this is what I am thinking; and by “; “I meant quote: “, And by quote: “I meant quote:”. It is curious to me why sometimes it decides to print quotequotequote and it other times just a single quote.”Eddie likes cheese”. That was interesting. The logic of this thing is “inscrutable”.
Eight”) okay so this is what I am thinking. I will continue to serialize a 42 on my blog. But once I get to the point where I think it’s finished or close to finished, I will work toward assembling it into a single e-book. At which point I will go back and embellish each of the days as I see appropriate, Such that the e-book will be a more complex version of the serialize story. So my question then to my readers is: what do you buy it or recommend that someone else by it assuming is at a reasonable price for e-book like a couple of bucks bastion Mark. Ha ha Ha. And by bastion Mark, I mean “?”.
Nine) why am I going to Austin today? Number one son is getting married on Sunday. I will be enjoying a long weekend. I will be reconnecting with white okay ES. And by white okay S I mean yolks open paren E old kid sister). Sorry.. Sorry.â â S I GHâ â letter Y oh Kay S. Period. Period…. Wedding of number one son. I will also the room that reuniting with my wife’s sister. Period. I will also be we uniting with my wife’s sister. And her husband. Who I knew in college.
11) need more coffee! Standby…
12 open paren
12) just shot a video of Hillary and pickles. I’ll look for it shortly after this post
As number six would say “BCNU”. LOL
As number six would say “be seeking you”
As number six would say “be C C C in I give up
That thing that number six in the show the prisoner used to say
Here’s a thought …
When writing a fictional piece in a real location, how much of it should be fiction how much it should be real. Up to now I’ve tried to keep everything pretty much frictional. Yet Galveston is a real place and now I am faced with dealing with the reality of it.
Thanks to my stupid valued technical advisor I’m having to put in more reality than I had originally considered. As such it is taking me longer to research and longer to work on the plot devices. So please bear with me.
Stupid Technical Advisors
So instead of getting the completed Day 47 today, you are instead getting this incoherent rant about technical advisors.
The role of the technical advisor is to assure that the plot of a story, TV show, or movie stays believable within the level of “suspension of disbelief” required by the storyline. Apparently my “technical advisor” (a close friend of mine) thinks that one of my plot devices, key to Day 47, is unlikely and/or unrealistic and/or impossible within the current norms of personal behavior and/or the Laws of Physics.
Now I have to completely re-write that section, leaving you, my poor, desperate readers waiting yet another day to find out what Eddy saw.
Oh well, as long as these fixes keep you from going “Well that’s just stupid” and stop following this story altogether, the corrections are worthwhile.
Be patient.
Ever since iOS 6, Apple has included a microphone icon on the keyboard.
Above you can easily see the microphone icon. Next to it is the icon for changing between international keyboards.
One of the things that I don’t like about the iPhone is the fact that the keys on the keyboard are too small for my fat fingers.
I’m testing what I can do with dictation. In fact this entire post has been dictated using my iPhone. It’s really very amazing; yet another example of Arthur C Clark’s “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
One of the things I’ve noticed is that the microphone for the iPhone is on the bottom and so I have to be careful about how I hold it otherwise I cover the microphone with my thumb and of course then it doesn’t work. I also just noticed that it doesn’t like the word “thumb”. I get “some”; I get “from”; but I don’t get thumb.
However I think it’s good enough. I plan to begin dictating all of my posts on my iPhone. I think I’ll use it on my next installment of Day 42 (DayZ of DiZeaZe).
So … After my first weekend with the iPhone 5s, I have some observations to make:
Keeping in mind that this is my first smart phone of any kind …
There has been some hoopla about hackers finding a way to by-pass the finger print security. But when you look deeper, it involves getting both your phone and your finger print and some esoteric process of making a synthetic copy of your finger
print. This is spook stuff (spooks as in NSA, CIA, KGB, MI5, etc.).
In day to day use the finger print authentication is PDA*. This is truly an example of Arthur C. Clark’s “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
The 64-bit A7 chip is blazing fast; all of the usual online experts agree. I can’t wait to see next month’s iPads running on this.
* Pretty Damn Awesome
Contrafactual 