O.K., O.K., So September is nearly-gone, SORRRRRRRRRRRRRY!
This sunrise was taken, actually, in early August on top of the Intracoastal waterway-bridge (on US 441) near a place called "Port Mayaca" - the BIG Lake Okeechobee is right behind me, and the "Port Mayaca Locks" are between this body of water and the lake.
Pokemon GO progress / setbacks / status: there's a new 'Computer Game' called 'Pokemon Go'- and it is 'taking the world by storm' (assuming you believe the "Press"?)....
(This is a shot INSIDE the Orlando airport / hotel (where I recently went to retrieve Ms. May)) - and I found a LOT of Pokemon Go characters here. BUT back-then I was not at a 'high enough level' to really make use of the environment.
(a picture of 'Ms. Oddish'- just one of the MANY Pokemon Go characters.
- So - Well - We figured, that - (AGAIN) life would by-pass us by - the technologically challenged... At this moment, Mr. Bill it attempting (with LARGE BATTERY SUPPORT to make the most of his early-morning tricycle-rides (except this past couplle of weeks, he broke his left little toe (thanks to NOT doing what his wife suggested( Maybe I should listen to her more often, huh?)) - to get things from the PokeStops and upgrade his 'Level' (he's now a Level 19 (29Sep16) - probably get to 20 within the next couple of outings)...
- and learning (some) about things like 'eggs' and 'GreatBalls' (as opposed to 'regular' PokeBalls).
It turns out that 'leveling-up' helps a lot - but there is / are a lot of things that change as you 'level-up' - so - it's both complex and challenging - and there is a definite 'trade-off' with things like the balls (and ball-types) that you use to 'capture' Pokemon characters and the ways that you trade-off what you carry in your 'bag' and what species of Pokemon characters you capture, which ones you 'trade' to the 'Professor' for more 'candies' - etc. etc. etc. etc. - like MANY things in LIFE, there is ALWAYS a 'trade-off'!...
The deal with Pokemon Go is LEARNING and Trade-Offs - very useful to know about both!!!!
Book Recommendations: (in the interest of keeping-you-up-to-date on our Society's 'fall from grace' - these address some VERY MODERN societal issues, and not just US society, but any fairly 'modern' society, regardless of it's attempts at political control...
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"The Steel Kiss" by Jeffrey Deaver (same guy who wrote 'The Bone Collector' - which was made into a movie with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie) - I think the 'best-part' of this book is when Angelina Jolie puts a bullet in an electric motor that won't stop - very entertaining... - BUT ALSO very RELEVANT for our societal development - and in light of 'Stuxnet' <= Wikipedia-Link.
"Make Me" - by: Lee Child - this is a 'Jack Reacher' novel - and quite good - there was a recent (last year, I think) movie called 'Jack Reacher' (Starring Tom Cruise (in the lead role) and Rosamund Pike) - this book carries-on with that character.
"Drone" - "Drone Command" - "Blue Warrior" - all by: Mike Maden - all about guess what "Drones".. - and how they can be used as a 'terror-device' / tool for evil rather than for good.
Robin Cook (the MD turned author (who has written MORE than 30
medical-thriller-books)) has two 'new' books, both of which address
'modern' issues relating to the medical profession (read these two
'in-order'): "Nano"
and "Cell"
- BOTH of which are engaging, and cuss and discuss several very VERY
important medical-social issues... Cell is particularly 'timely'
as the medical-profession in America is being dragged, kicking and
screaming (literally) into the 22nd century in terms of 'digitizing'.
- The medical industry is really resisting digitizing medical records
and they are struggling with the potential for fraud, mis-use and
outright 'lying' in medical-records. The HIPAA
act-law-philosophy has attempted to minimize this but HIPAA is
WOEFULLY INADEQUATE in both it's goals and it's implementations...
"Quantico" - the lead character is a very famous Indian actress, who I think does a pretty darned good job, here.
"Person of Interest" - (new episodes on 22 September (later this week)) a show which has now been cancelled, but you can find if you look for it - their 'basic tennet' concerns facial recognition, but they are 'mostly' fairly (technically) accurate
"NCIS" has dipped it's pen into the 'societal' / 'social-media' thing with the last season and I 'perceive' that there is a major change coming to the cast of this show, in the near future, but who knows? (I predict that Mark Harmon will leave the show, and the Emily Wickersham will take-on a much more high-profile-role.
HCF - this is really an OLD (VERY (VERY) old at this point, 'assembler-command' - HCF means 'Halt and Catch Fire' - it is like a 'no-op' in the computer-world (in 'assembler' language), and for those of you who I've already 'left behind' - don't worry about it - you wouldn't understand ANYWAY... - This show will only 'make sense' (especially in it's first season) to those who REALLY know / understand computers - it's about the VERY (VERY) early days of the PC and such - VERY good, but VERY esoteric...
One show that I really liked, recently has to do with 50-75 years ago in the UK, "The Bletchley Circle" - VERY VERY interesting statement of what women did during the war in the UK (when most of the men were off doing 'combat' duty. a Companion to this would be the Alan-Turing movie starring the famous British actor Cumberbatch
A local lawyer told me, recently, that self-driving automobiles and drones will support his business for at least the next 10 years... another way in which society is changing!
some music to listen-to / ponder: (YouTube link)
AND - AND
- AND
- if you want to see something REALLY OLD (LONG BEFORE the concept of the Go Pro!) - you can click on this link to an OLDIE (but a goodie) - this video was done in 'about' 2002 (14 years ago? (we think (Ms. May is videoing, I'm sailing (or trying to?))) but we're not sure...??) - click-here
- if you want to see something REALLY OLD (LONG BEFORE the concept of the Go Pro!) - you can click on this link to an OLDIE (but a goodie) - this video was done in 'about' 2002 (14 years ago? (we think (Ms. May is videoing, I'm sailing (or trying to?))) but we're not sure...??) - click-here
recent cycling-ride documented: a web-link (easiest). OR 3 different formats of 'raw' data: ...gpx, ...kml, ...csv)
- hardware from http://www.wahoofitness.com
- software (an "app" on the iPhone) from http://www.abvio.com
- YES there are other 'apps' for iPhone (and/or other "smart" phones) but this just happens to be the one I use...
AND - here we talk about the infamous "__OmniTemp__" gadget (in acutality it is ONLY a 'pyrometer' for a 'wood-fired-kiln' - that doesn't sound very exciting (and it really isn't)) - the (highly-reduced) web-page is here...
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AND MUCH of what I have learned about Python (which I'm using for this, that, and the other) has come from using the great courses and knowledge available from: http://www.lynda.com
AND - AND - AND! - more about Python comes from the books I find at: http://www.oreilly.com
Rhino3D has a companion software tool that is called (loosely) a "graphical algorithm editor" (_Grasshopper_ is it's name) - it allows me (the 'pilot' for lack of a better word) to do several things that are not inherently possible in Rhino3D... (AND NOW the Grasshopper thingie is available for the Macintosh version of Rhino3D) I took a course in Grasshopper, in Miami, last week, and learned a LOT - it's hard, sometimes to change-one's-approach / mind / theory of things - but in this case it was warranted. On the other hand - I've decided the time-involved in driving to Miami (in the POURING RAIN) could be better spent elsewhere. Luckily, the trainers in the Miami office have agreed, and will do on-line / via-the-web support for me in the future. - We've outlined a couple of 'areas of interest, and we'll get on this support 'wagon' in the very near future - and I don't have to DRIVE in the RAIN anymore!
- AND as you know - mostly - I LIKE to use the Rhino3D for Macintosh version, and so having Grasshopper on the Mac is a WONDEROUS development for me! BUT as in life - there's a trade-off, and here it means that the Macintosh version of Rhino3D is a 'bit' behind the WindowsPC version. At home I have both, admittedly, both on 'older' machines (3-5 years older)... I LIKE Macintosh's user interface, but there is / are a NUMBER of features that just work better on the Windows PC version. At this point I've learned if it doesn't work after the 'expected' investment of time and effort on the Macintosh version, TRY IT on the Windows PC version and it typically works there