From a recent walk I took at Berens Park in Elmhurst, IL
Try Amazon’s Alexa Without the Echo
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.
It’s time you learned the truth about geese
- 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.
She Likes to Iron
I like to buy wrinkle-free clothes because, well, I can be inherently lazy. My wife, however, does her best to look her best, which I appreciate, and is great at ironing. Although this is an ode to her ironing ability, she did find out one day that I know how to iron, so alas, when my wrinkle-free things are so wrinkle-free, I can’t nudge her for help.
Egg Sandwich
Every morning before work I send my wife a short song. Sometimes they are songs about love, sometimes they are silly, sometimes they are songs about our dog, but all of the time I’m not the best singer, and look dorky.
I accidentally sent “Egg Sandwich” to my sister who enjoyed it so much she tried to ridicule me by posting it. It didn’t work.
Now, along with my wife, I’m sharing my songs on my YouTube Channel. I promise there will be songs about love, silly songs, songs about our dog, and I won’t be the best singer, and will usually look dorky. Subscribe for songs every weekday, and a bonus archive or special song on the weekend!
Would You Climb?
9.7-Inch iPad Pro iOS Update Pulled After Bricking Complaints
- 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.
Dónde Está el Baño?
Finally.
Many, many years ago I took Spanish in high school. I did fairly well although I still think my Spanish teacher gave me a slight pass sometimes as I was also involved in yearbook, and she was yearbook advisor. I wish I could say my Spanish learnin’ has served me well, but I don’t remember much of the language any longer, although I can still read it out loud if something is written in Spanish. The issue there is that I probably wouldn’t know what I’m saying, so it’s probably best I stick to English.
Through all of my forgetfulness of the language there have been two phrases I can speak with authority, well, okay, three if you count “dos cervezas frias, por favor,” but mostly I know “No hablo español,” which is simply “I don’t speak Spanish,” and it oddly comes in handy if a person assumes you speak the language, but the coup de grâce of my knowledge is being able to ask where a bathroom is located. The thing is I’ve never been able to use the phrase as everywhere I’ve traveled, well, English was widely spoken. Finally, though, after all of these years, on a trip to Costa Rica, I was able to rattle off “Dónde Está el Baño?”, and the dude pointed me in the direction of relief!
I have never been so excited not to really know how to speak a different language!
The thing is that as we were preparing for our trip I really wanted to brush up on my Spanish. I kept thinking I should pull out my Duolingo app and start the lessons, but I would usually keep thinking about this when I was in the car and never followed through when I could pay attention. Eventually the time came to head to Costa Rica, most of the reviews about the Dreams Las Mareas resort mentioned you could get by without knowing Spanish, and although sometimes a challenge, most of the staff could figure out what you wanted, and they would always end with “It’s a pleasure.”
It was a nice trip though I wish it were longer. We saw some monkeys, and we opted not to go on any excursions, instead just to relax a lot, which was nice, but I will say that it was really hot and humid, especially just coming off a Chicago winter. Nothing really mattered, though, because all I know is that I finally got to use “Dónde Está el Baño?”, and I pulled it off like I knew Spanish!
Finally!
Hyperloop Transportation: What Does It All Mean?
- 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.
The Creators of “Viv” are Showing Off. Here Comes Awareness.
- 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.