📚 I’ve been reading Arthur C Clarke’s book The Nine Billion Names of God. I read that particular short story in high school and it’s never left my mind. I guess because while it’s science fiction, it’s not the kind science fiction people immediately think of when they hear science fiction. You know, Pew! Pew! Pew!
I’m writing about it not because of the stories (which I’m enjoying), but because, it turns out, it reminds me of my childhood. Growing up my mom, despite being a big reader, didn’t buy books. All the books we read came from the library. In fact, I don’t think I bought any books until I bought textbooks in college. You know, now that I write that, it feels so odd to say.
In keeping with this tradition, I guess, this Clarke book I’m reading came from the Brooklyn Public Library. It had to come from the deep storage section which isn’t accessible to us mere mortals. It’s a really old book. And it smells differently than the new books I often buy now. Sorry, ma.
This book smells like my past, my childhood. It smells of stories.
🚀 I’m with my son and we’re about to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. I can barely contain my excitement.
Update: (11pm)
What a show! To hear the score and some additional sounds all performed by an orchestra and/or chorus was goosebumpy. I mean, to hear The Blue Danube live is nothing short of a treat. My wife took our daughter to see Amadeus done at the same place in the same way and now I regret not going to see that with them.
⌚️ The Apple Watch Series 4 feels like the beginning of something much bigger than a notifcation system slash fitness tracker. A device that has the ability to track falls and help monitor your heart is device you learn to trust and never be without. It becomes intertwined with your view of (and how you view) your health. In other words, it feels like version one of a device from a science fiction movie.
📚 I finished two books while on vacation. The first one was Unlocked by John Scalzi. I have no idea why I read this before his other book Lock In but I don’t think it was really necessary to read them in order. I’ll get around to Lock In before too long. The book’s style reminded me of World War Z by Max Brooks. I’m sure this style has a name, but I am not fancy enough to know it.
Anyway, I recommend Lock In (World War Z too).
The other book was Artemis by Andy Weir. I didn’t like it nearly as much as his first book, The Martian because it felt like everything had to be overly explained because the science is too far out of everyday knowledge. It just got in the way. I still recommend Artemis because Andy Weir’s love of space and science shines through and I like that.
🚙 The second row behind the passenger in a modern minivan is the secret to a wonderful vacation. I have two arm rests, my own AC vent, a shade for my enormous window, a cup holder… I even lost my shoes in this thing! Seriously, I feel like I’m on vacation from my vacation.
📚 I just finished reading Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. I liked the story, but the writing didn’t feel authentic. Everyone came across as too clever. The ending was also a little too neatly wrapped up.
But the topic of racism isn’t talked about enough and that makes me give the book a rating of Recommend.
🖕 Apple removing Alex Jones from its database is the first step (and one that was long overdue) in what I hope is a march towards removing his far-reaching soapbox.
His hate can spew from his hole like it did in days past: On a street corner with his pants around his ankles.
💻 Apple must realize not only is 5GB an embarrassingly small amount of storage to offer as its free tier, it’s also not enough for its customers to get fully invested into what it can do for them.
If Apple wants folks to see how important iCloud storage is, it needs to give them enough to really get into it.
As far as the 2TB level goes, which is a very good deal, all Apple has to do is convince families to share the iCloud Drive space and, before you know, there are a lot of people paying $10/month and being quite happy about it. Yes, spending Tim Cook’s money really is fun.
💻 Between age and better technology, I am finding it harder and harder to use my 11" MacBook Air. I think it’s the new way macOS Mojave renders fonts, but it is what is and my eyes are what they are.
It’s been my favorite Mac for five years now, but after using retina-quality screens on iPads and MacBook Pros, I just can’t read on these old screens any longer. It might be time to pass this down to the boy.
📲 iOS 12 Public Beta is a little pokey on iPad Mini 2, but perfectly serviceable. I think it’s even faster than under iOS 11.x. Impressive considering it’s over 4 1/2 years old.
🏨 As part of being a U.S. citizen, it’s now become necessary to tell our government to NOT do bad things. So, here goes: Dear Government, Don’t take health coverage away from us. -Citizen Bob
🚘 Can you imagine if people walking on sidewalks acted the way many do while driving? You’d be walking, get up behind someone, and yell, at the top of your lungs, “GET THE EFF OUT OF MY WAY!” But no one does that. I wish everyone thought about that while driving.
