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How did I survive without GPS navigation?
When I was growing up, my dad taught me to read a map, so I've never had a problem navigating to an unknown location. With the advent of GPS navigation units, is there a need to learn how to read a map? Possibly, but it is significantly diminished.
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Audiobooks, do they get a bad rap?
When I first heard about Audible.com and other companies capitalizing on audiobooks that have been around for years for those that have difficulty seeing and for those that drive a lot (typically), I didn't think much of it as I thought books should be read. I've always associated audiobooks with older people and could never see myself listening to one. A few weeks ago, my wife and I were at a party and I was talking to a fellow runner. She said that she listened to audiobooks while running and that got me thinking. Somehow I had collected The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Lost Light from audible through some free promotion. I loaded both books on my iPod, and was almost instantly hooked. I wanted to run even more to keep listening to the books. Now I'm on a quest to find more audiobooks either from the library or through audible. -
Product Reviews - is there any value?
Product reviews have been commonplace in magazines, newspapers, on TV, etc. With the increased popularity of the Internet, everyone seems to write reviews on varying topics from products to movies. I've even written a review. With all these reviews out there, is there any value to them? That's, of course, a matter of opinion. Each reviewer has a bias, knows certain facts, has likes and dislikes, and maybe even an axe or two to grind. When I buy things, I typically read a lot of reviews that are all across the board; someone may not like a company because an employee was mean to them, or they could have had a bad experience with a piece of software (one that may only have happened on their machine), or on the other side, the reviewer may have met the author of a piece of software personally and felt a connection.
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Holy crap!
I was sitting at my desk around 8:45 AM and heard a loud sound. I thought it was an earthquake, but the floor didn't shake. I checked the earthquake maps and didn't see anything. I then searched the house to see if someone was in the house, but luckily didn't find anyone. Then I spoke with my dad later and he said he heard the same thing; we concluded we heard it at the same time (he's about 30 minutes from me), so I poked around and found an article about it. Not sure if it really was a sonic boom, but it really scared me and the dog. I think it is the military; of course they'll never tell us anything.