I came across a handful of things in the news that caught my attention today that I wanted to share and comment on. In the spirit of saving time and a li’l bit of space I threw them all together in one post.
Airlines are starting to suck more. Charging for carrying on luggage? While I will appreciate this on one level (the size definition of a carry on has gotten waaay to loose these days), things are starting to get a little ridiculous. Are they going to start charging me to use the bathroom as well? Or maybe they’ll make you pay for your seatbelt.
Needless to say, the Segway didn’t exactly change the world like Dean Kamen thought it was going to, but in my opinion, the man is still a freaking genius. His inventions have largely gone towards helping improve people’s lives including his iBot mobility wheel chair, which can climb stairs and can balance on two wheels to help people reach the top shelf or other similar actions. A new prosthetic arm he’s working on for the DoD to help injured soldiers is pretty freaking amazing, and wins him more points with me. Definitely check out the video where he shows off the arm on The Colbert Report.
Not a link to one article in particular, but I’m kind of over the iPad falling-all-over-ourselvesness. Perhaps I’m just a Debbie Downer or perhaps its my low level of anti-Apple mentality (full disclosure: I have and love my iPod), but I just don’t get the hype. I’m trying to figure out what is so awesomely awesome about it, and I’m not wrapping my head around it. It doesn’t seem to excel at any one thing, or have anything that really sets it aprt.
Last thing, what the hell is going on with the earth right now? Maybe its just getting more attention than it usually does due to the tragedy in Haiti, but how many freaking large earthquakes are we going to have this year. Just off the top of my head there have been major quakes in Haiti, Chile, Indonesia, and Baja California. A closer review of the US Geological Survey website shows there have been 19 earthquakes of 5.0 or more this year. Hell, even Oklahoma experienced a 4.0 this year. Oklahoma doesn’t have earthquakes, people. Like I said, it could be that its in the press more, but the trend seems kind of ominous.
