THUNDERSTRUCK

Latest book review...  Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen was AWESOME.  The backdrop for the story includes two threads; Marconi and his development of the "wireless" and all the politics and intrigue associated with that, and then a Dr. Crippen, who was married to some overbearing and domineering woman whom he eventually carved up into tiny pieces.  The story follows the paths of each of these until the point they intersect.

You can read about the book here; but its extremely interesting to read about the advances of technologies and how they come about.  This all occurred in the early 1900's; but the story could have been about any silicon valley startup today.  Young aggressive entrepreneur, new technology and a rush to push it into the mainstream before its really ready...  Lots of competitors and intrigue and incredibly high stakes.  

We then follow the personal story of Crippen and his overbearing wife and how he dealt with a very unsatisfying life, until he meets his soul mate and cracks...  It all comes together in a OJ Simpson-esque chase across the Atlantic, brought to you in living newsprint thanks to the miracle of wireless communications.  This book in addition to being a really good read, makes you think about how technology changes our entire society.  How one guy can change the world with nothing more than an idea and a will to make it real.

I've also read Larson's Devil in the White City awhile ago, and this book is just as good...  Highly recommended!

Six Man Football Rocks

I have to say that one of the best parts of living in Texas is high school football.  The kids pour their heart and souls into it, even at little 'ol schools like our own NYOS Charter School.  And every week is an event.  There are even websites dedicated to tracking the kids progress, speculating on pre-season rankings, and the whole nine yards!  The following site covers our school (look for Austin NYOS): http://www.sixmanfootball.com/index.php

We've had three of the boys playing now and its amazing how important grades and such become when you can't play...  All the kids enjoy it, the games are very competitive and there are memories being created that will last a lifetime.

Go JAGS!

What you need to know about Credit Scores...

For the folks in the room who wonder about credit scores, I found this excellent article from a 20-something journalist who writes on debt amongst our young ones... Anya Kamenetz wrote a book called GENERATION DEBT that seems to imply kids today are doomed. Haven't read it, but I'm not buying that... But regardless, the attached link is very informative! Happy Reading!

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/generationdebt/103708

Update to the MacBook saga... Where are my applications?

OK:  Time to update my loyal readership (are you out there?) on my MacBook.  Probably the MOST IMPORTANT application of all is my checkbook program.   Historically it was MS-Money which was an awesome program.  I went to get a native Mac application to replace it, because of course we can't have any of that evil Microsoft stuff running anymore, but this is where the wrinkles began...  It appears that Apple has not really got enough of a user base to entice application programmers to develop decent tools...  Moving from MS-Money, which clearly has been used and tweaked based on "zillions" of users complaining and moaning has thus resulted in a quite a fine and highly tuned user interface has made just about anything else very sad in comparison.  It appears there is a Quicken available, but the reviews indicate the Apple version is a pale imitation of its regular product and I was finding nothing but complaints.  I ended up buying (and at $60 bucks, not cheap) iBANK from IGGSoftware, which LOOKS nice, until you find out that they DO NOT have zillions of users complaining, but rather about five of us...  While I remain committed to my MAC-only SW policy, I really hope there are more of us MAC users out there and that someone takes up the gauntlet of providing decent personal productivity apps...  PLEASE!!  ??

Starbucked...

OK: This book by Taylor Clark is pretty interesting... As someone who never had been in a Starbucks until I met my wife, the whole thing kind of escaped me... But I'm a cheap a$$.

Funny story... I used to be sent to various Starbucks to get my wife her crack... err... drink. Once I went to a Starbucks that I had not been to in about six months and started rattling off the extremely complex incantation in the drive through... There was a pregnant pause as I completed the spell, and then the lady on the other end of the box says very tentatively... "Ah... Is this... Bekki?"

I'll never forget it... But anyway, Taylor is NOT a Starbucks fan as far as I can tell, but he does seem to be pretty fair in his assessment of them... I just wish I had bought their stock way back when... Un-flippin' believable...

OK: Problem Solved

OK: Here is an interesting post from MIT.  They evidently have cracked the code on storing solar energy in the form of hydrogen (think Fuel Cell); thus making large scale solar possible...

Check it out...  My energy obsession may be at an end!  :-)

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html