Field Museum Donors Night

We are at the Fiekd Museum Donors night. Still waiting to get in for the dinner and exhibits.

5 Web Predictions That Were WAY Off!

It is always fun to read something like this, where someone goes out on the limb and takes the risk of looking really, really foolish by making some sort of prediction of the future. We should do this to all those astrologers as well!

But in this case, these were all predictions, often by well-known individuals, about the future of the web. We all know Bill Gates (who is on this list) have made several boo-boos in his tenure as Microsoft CEO. But this Clifford Stoll guy! He made so many predictions that were so way off, no one should put any more credibility on what this guy has to say! I mean, really!

Fifteen years before plunging ad revenues forced its owners to sell Newsweek for $1, the magazine published an anti-Web screed from cybersecurity expert, astronomer and author Clifford Stoll. He called the Web "a wasteland of unfiltered data", and complained that reliable voices were being drowned out by the rabble.

"The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper," he wrote.

"Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet," Stoll added. "Uh, sure."

But there's more!

We return to Stoll for this last one. He managed to get a staggering amount wrong in just a few hundred words. He also scoffed at the idea of "virtual communities", doubted the Web could have practical applications for government, and wondered how anyone could get any research done in the maze of online information.

But with regards to retail, he thought the lack of human contact would doom the Web as a sales medium. The evidence? His local mall "does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month."

The only thing missing from this article is a followup interview of all the characters involved. I'd like to ask Bill Gates what he thinks of the SPAM activity now and why he got it so wrong. And definitely, I'd like to hear from this Stoll fella on how he could have been THAT wrong THAT many times?

Zz.

Flatulent Cows Started Fire At Dairy Farm

You can't make this up.

Methane gas from 90 flatulent cows exploded in a German farm shed on Monday, damaging the roof and injuring one of the animals, police said.

Zz.

When you defend Phil Robertson, this is what you are defending

This is a pretty accurate article that blows away the smoke and the distractions.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/defend-phil-robertson-heres-youre-001248300.html

Somehow, the Ted Cruz's and the Sarah Palins seem to have glossed over the other stupid remarks that he made.

Zz.

Fan Loses House Over A Soccer Match?

Again, you can't make these things up! It is just too freaking weird!

An Arsenal fan with three wives stood to gain another wife and a Toyota in a wager. Instead, he lost his house after betting that the Gunners would beat Manchester United last Sunday.

According to The Mirror, Henry Dhabasani, who has five children from the three wives, wagered the deal with friend Rashid Yiga, who offered up his spouse and his car. The contract was reportedly signed into writing by the two men and witnessed by community leaders in the town of Iganga in eastern Uganda.

After Arsenal lost 1-0, several Manchester fans stormed Dhabasani’s two-room house and kicked his family out.

No, really! Over a soccer match that isn't even in their own country!

Some people have lost all sense of reality.

Zz.

Initial Review of IOS 7

I updated my iPad (3rd Generation) to IOS 7 last night. I have been playing with it for a while and trying to get used to the different ways of doing the things I normally do.

I'm still not liking the new look, but this is more of a personal preference and probably because I'm not used to it. The "simplistic" or minimalist look doesn't do it to me, and it looks more primitive than the previous look. Still, there are a couple of annoying features here that I may not get used to:

1. Safari. The Forward and Backwards button are still on the left side of the top of the browser window, but why did they more the Bookmarks button to the right? It used to be everything was on the left side. You can navigate rather easily and quickly. Move forward, backwards, and go to a different website on your bookmarks doesn't require a lot of moment of your finger. They were all there. Now, you have to move across the page since the bookmark is on the other side! I don't know if this can be customized to change its location.

2. Multitasking. When you swipe upwards with 3 of 4 fingers, you'll see all the active apps. It used to be that you can close apps by just taping on the "x" attached to each icon. Now, you have to do a bit more by swiping the mini window of the app upwards. Here's the thing: tapping is a lot easier and requires less of an effort than swiping up. If you don't do it fast enough, the window/app doesn't close!

3. Difficult to see. The new look of the buttons and the control panel use thin black lines on either white, grey, or semi-transparent background. They do not look as clear and distinct as the old interface. Were these designed by and for youngsters who have 20/20 eyesight?

I'm just afraid that this minimalism concept has been taken a bit too far for an interface.

Zz.

Bad Sugars

A lot of people should view this.



Zz.