Category: Things I Read

Hollywood Reporter…

• Back in January 2015, Phillips aimed to escape a management agreement by lodging a bold petition with the California Labor Commissioner asserting that 19 “manipulated” him into accepting jobs and being in violation of California’s Talent Agencies Act, which says only licensed talent agents can procure employment for clients.

There always seems to be a story of Idol winners trying anything to get out of their contracts. That golden ticket wasn’t always so shiny.

Salvation Army…

• Started as a fundraiser by The Salvation Army in Chicago during the Great Depression, National Doughnut Day honors our military veterans and commemorates the work of The Salvation Army volunteers who used the tasty confection to comfort American soldiers in France and Germany during World War I.
  These female volunteers, earning the nickname “Doughnut Lassies” and “Doughtnut Girls,” fried the doughnuts in soldiers’ helmets, and served countless treats to grateful troops

I always forget The Salvation Army started National Donut Day. I’m torn in my celebration, though, because for quite a while I’ve been doing this slow-carb diet inspired by Tim Ferriss in “The Four Hour Body,” feeling pretty good, and Saturday is my cheat day, not Friday. Giant, fried pieces of dough are nowhere included on this way of eating, but an exception might have to be made in honor of the troops!

You’ve seen the commercials, now play around with Alexa on your computer without actually buying an Amazon Echo. You need an Amazon account, and it will work with most browsers except Safari I guess. Go ahead, ask “Alexa, what’s the weather today?”, or just look out your window.

• Take all of these warm, happy thoughts from your mind and throw them in the trash, where they belong. Because what I’m about to show you is going to change everything you know about geese.

I’ve been saying it for years that the geese will eventually take over. The photos here are almost as disturbing as their poop.

• Shortly after iOS 9.3.2 was released, MacRumors began receiving reports that the update was causing an “Error 56” message on some 9.7-inch iPad Pro devices. Not all iPad Pro users were affected, but those who were saw their devices rendered unusable.

I’m surprised there wan’t one beta user of the update that had the problem to catch this before it went live. Maybe the pool of users was too small.

• Passive magnetic levitation, which was developed by the late physicist Richard Post in 2000, uses unpowered loops of wire in the track and permanent magnets in the train pod to create levitation. By contrast, maglev requires complex and expensive infrastructure upgrades, such as power sources placed at intervals along the track.

If none of that makes sense to you with all of the technological jargon, all you really need to know is that the “train” goes really fast. Forget flying cars where we can crash into each other, let’s just keep everyone going 760 miles per hour on a train track inside a tube.

• Kittlaus began by asking Viv what the weather was like today, but then continued the conversation with increasingly complicated queries, like “Was it raining in Seattle three Thursdays ago?” and even “Will it be warmer than 70-degrees near the Golden Gate Bridge after 5pm the day after tomorrow?” Viv had no problems answering the stacked requests, showing a clear awareness of context.

Remember that scene in “The Terminator” with all of the talk of the machines becoming self-aware and somehow it was tied to a computer chip so all Arnold and John Connor had to do was destroy the chip to save humanity? Sadly I don’t think saving humanity will be about destroying a chip because once become “aware” and realize they can learn to program, we’re doomed, or they’ll try to protect us like VIKI did iRobot.

• Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said yesterday, “I’m just not ready to back Donald Trump.” That was an example of good negotiating. “Not ready” means he hopes to be able to back Trump someday, but only if Trump changes in some unspecified ways that Ryan wants. It gives Ryan leverage. It was a strong move.

But Trump responded with “I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda.” 

Checkmate, in one move. On this chessboard, a future President beats a Speaker of the House. And Trump makes you think past the sale again, to his presidency.

I will say it once and say it again, Scott Adams’ deconstruction of Trump’s tactics is fascinating.

• Opponents of Trump have started making the case that he is “dangerous” and “risky.”

You know who likes dangerous men? Answer: Everyone.

Seal Team Six is dangerous. George Washington was dangerous. Abraham Lincoln was dangerous. Women like dangerous men. Men want to be dangerous men.

And the Clinton camp somehow loses by making Trump risky and dangerous – someone over there just doesn’t get it.

• Outstanding Restaurant
  Alinea, Chicago

As a huge fan of Alinea, and eagerly awaiting what’s in store with their renovation and re-imagining, I was happy to hear of their selection as “Outstanding Restaurant.” Congrats Alinea Team!

• To prevent burns, sensors monitor the heating elements in the head 20 times every second to ensure a constant temperature is maintained—automatically shutting the unit down should it get too hot. 

In my head I’ve wondered why Dyson hasn’t made a hairdryer yet because it seemed like an obvious choice, but I forgot about that whole “damaging” hair thing.

• it’s also been specifically engineered to shift some of the high-pitched sounds hair dryers often produce to an even higher frequency beyond the reach of human hearing. The motor’s compact design also means it can be integrated into the Supersonic’s handle, instead of the head, completely changing its weight distribution, and making it more comfortable to hold and use for prolonged periods.

I will be curious to see how quiet this thing ends up being, but even at $400 when it’s available in September, I see something that might be on my wife’s Christmas list.