Thursday trivia #88

Happy birthday to the one and only Julie A. Robichaux! My dear sister is a terrific writer who can tear a strip off of a miscreant or write a sweet paen to motherhood and apple pie, sometimes in the same post, while making it look easy. I’m grateful that her rapier wit, good looks, and artistic sense help raise the family average of same above my own mediocre levels.
In the third quarter of calendar 2012, Huntsville was the #1 airport in the nation… for airfare, with an average fare of $522. When I only pay $500 for a trip SFO-HSV I consider myself lucky.
Surface Pro observation du jour: thé Staples in Madison, Alabama has gotten “tons of phone calls” about the Surface Pro 128, and has run out of stock every day on the 64GB model– as soon as they get one or two in, they sell them again. “I could have sold 10 or more on Saturday,” said the manager to me tonight. Anecdotes, of course, but if a smallish city like Huntsville has strong demand…
Got to do a presentation to a group of MVPs this week on how to get into the publishing business. It was fun– thanks for coming, y’all!
This article is a decent summary of why I fear the upcoming merger between American and US Airways. I prefer to fly Delta when I can, but American’s schedule from the Bay Area to Huntsville is better, so I often fly them… but if they descend to US Airways’ service level, I won’t.
Speaking of publishing: the first two book chapters are in Microsoft’s hands, and I’m busily working away on the third. I’ve also edited the first two of Tony’s chapters. More to follow.
Nice to see the Toledo Blade in the news again.
Right after I posted my thoughts on auto-kill-drone-scary-things, I saw this article about the “domestic drone industry” pressuring the FAA. Good luck with that, guys; the FAA doesn’t pressure all that well.