- Why are the Chinese investing heavily in commercial real estate in and around Toledo? (And no, the answer is not “because no one else wants to.”)
- Got to take nephew Charlie to Fry’s Electronics for the first time yesterday. It was the quintessential Fry’s experience: wide-eyed wonder on the part of the first-time visitor coupled with surly-to-indifferent service from the floor staff, mixed in with a hearty helping of inaccurate information. (The cashier we had, bless her heart, solved the problem for us, though.)
- The NTSB wants you to know that in-cockpit NEXRAD weather may not be as timely as pilots think it is. OK, fine. I’d still rather have old NEXRAD than none at all.
- I’m very interested in Microsoft’s Surface products, but the timing of the introduction seems a little odd. Press reports say that no one was allowed to use the Touch Cover, one of the signature Surface features. That makes me think that it wasn’t ready for public handling– so why not wait until it was ready? One of the unique things that Apple’s done with their product introductions, and that Microsoft could easily copy, is having the product ready to ship the minute it’s announced. Imagine the impact of the Surface announcement if Microsoft had said “here it is, here’s what it costs, and you can buy one today” instead of “here it is; stand by for further details.”
- If you wonder why Pixar’s films are so successful, wonder no more– this list of “story basics” neatly captures the things they think about when crafting stories– and make no mistake, the stories are what make their films so good, not the technology.
- Switzerland as one giant booby trap. With fondue.
- Dick Collins’ writing is always thought-provoking, but never more so than here: “The ultimate responsibility: thoughts on family flying“.
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Re: chinese real estate investment, I read an article a few years ago about the same thing happening with brazillian newly minted millionaires, their real estate market was approaching bubble territory so they started investing in real estate here to put their money some place “safer”, plus make more. This was in 2009 after our real estate market crashed. I’m guessing the chinese are thinking the same thing.
Re: the Microsoft Surface, Bob Cringely posted an opinion about that on his blog, he thinks Microsoft was trying to beat Google before they announced their new tablet, sometime in the next few weeks. He thought that Microsoft was trying to maneuver to being #2, behind Apple but in front of Google.