Review of The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold

This is going to be quick and easy. One reason is that I don't like to give a general synopsis that ruins the read. Mr. Gerrold delivers an awesome time travel story in the classic scifi genre. The hero is expecting 143 million dollars on the death of his uncle, but receives a belt instead. Not giving too much away since it happens early, but the belt allows him to time travel. This young man now has all of time available to him. What should he do? What would you do? Really enjoyed the read even though I didn't necessary agree with the hero's choices. 5 of 5 stars for keeping this book interesting and free of clutter.

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Motel 6.

So I'm in my truck with the radio on listening to the news on a talk station. They were speaking about the recent discovery by the JAX cops of a meth lab operating out of a room at a Motel 6. The radio personality isn't really giving any additional information besides the main discovery. But it gets good right after that. The station takes a break to runs some advertisements. First up...Motel 6. I'm not kidding. Now that is perfect timing, especially if Motel 6 was targeting other meth lab operators looking for a place to cook their product.

What a sight today...dolphins!

Needed to get to the post office today, and on the way there is a steep hill, actually an overpass stretching across the Intercoastal in Jacksonville, which caused me to stop and walk my bike to the top. Climbing the hill with bike and package in tow, I glanced down towards the murky brine noticing an Egret standing in the marsh. Then a fin broke the surface of the water towards the center of the waterway. At first I though it might be a shark, since I once lived near Charleston, SC where the river was teeming with sharks. But then an arcing form came closer to the surface and I could see the dolphin's back, and blowhole, clearly.

I stopped to watch, but then decided to continue up to the top once I figured a better view could be had from there. On the way, lo and behold, two more dolphins appeared. I stopped walking just shy of the overpass' crest. Never had I seen dolphins this close up before. The trio were casually zigzagging in the river near a marina. Two seemed to stay close together, and might have been a mother and calf. The one I spotted first was getting closer and closer to the bridge, so my view was almost directly overhead. The drop down was probably more than the sixty feet I thought it might be, but still the vantage point was fantastic. Since I was in no particular hurry and the noontime sky was clear blue, I stood and watched the dolphin ballet, minute by minute, letting my personal problems drift away. What a terrific experience.

Postscript: Now paying for yesterday's fun with a sunburn.

Thanks again Microsoft.

Once again Microsoft has provided me a reason to swear off its products.

Installed on my Lenovo computer were to typical MS Office products. And they did work, at one time. But in typical Microsoft fashion, they quickly became unusable with a 'Click-to-run' error, which is one of Microsoft's menagerie of cloud products. Doing the usual search of Microsoft errors, a chore Microsoft users are all too familiar with, I found plenty of other users in the same boat.

No, I won't be searching more on the topic or trying to fix it myself, as I have had to do with so many of its products. No, this provides me with just another excuse why I should not use their products. They are so bound and determined to tie the public to their company, like indentured servants, they will use any means possible, even if its irks their users. There is a kind of peace in it. Once you shed their shackles, as I did a few years back, you never want to go back. Sure I'll use a product readily handy for a few minutes or hours(if that's possible for a MS product), but will not chase down their errors, whether they are there on purpose or not. Thank heavens there are plenty of other products out there not so determined to capture you at any cost (to you).

What news?

Sad, the state of news today. Entertainment trumps anything else. Here where I live most of the lead stories of the evening news are sports stories. Who's been traded. What they tweeted. I'm left to go to the BBC news for real US news stories.

One of the worst offenders is Yahoo. They have the most non-news of any site I frequent. Recently they had a link to a story of a man that had two hearts fail. Two hearts you say? That's what they story's headline read, yet in the story the admitted freely that they purposely mistyped the lead, and in fact the man had a pace maker and a heart. They'll use any headline to attract clicks. Yahoo will also use old recycled news from decades ago, like how credit card numbers are verified. And of course they churn out all the latest non-news of Hollywood, like who has changed their hair color or what dress they wore out the night before.

It's becoming a chore to sift through all this driftwood they call news to find something worth reading.

What sites irk you?

Trailer for Rise of The Planet of the Apes

Okay, I admit I'll wallow in a bit of low-brow movie viewing every so often. For various reasons I'll watch 8 Million Ways to Die, The Terminator, or a Dirty Harry movie. And now it looks like I'm about to get roped into seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

While traversing the internet, the trailer for the movie sprang up. Immediately I was put off, seeing that it is a James Franco vehicle. His performances that I've witnessed thus far leave much to be desired. Then Brian Cox popped up, and a tiny ray of hope appeared for the movie's chances. He didn't do much in the trailer but show there were some good actors hanging around the set.

What struck me towards the end of the trailer was the great job done on the apes. Caesar, the "main" chimp, showed a remarkable ability to convey intelligence and malevolence. Figuring there had to be an actor behind all that CGI, my research found that Caesar is played by Andy Serkis of Gollum fame, from the Lord of the Rings. In all honesty, Serkis was much better than Franco in the trailer. Between Serkis, Cox, and John Lithgow, playing Franco's father in the movie, there should be something salvageable (I hope).

My guess at this point is it will be a so-so movie that will do well at the summer box office.

Incredible Friends, an owl and a cat!

This is an incredible video of an owl and a cat playing together

http://animalvideos.yahoo.com/video-detail?vid=25272362&cid=24037722

I only believe it after seeing it.