Dotted across our nation are monuments, trails, and highways dedicated to recipients of the Purple Heart. The United States Postal Service has a Purple Heart forever stamp in regular production. The Purple Heart is a military decoration awarded to service members who sustain injuries in battle against the enemy. It’s right that we commemorate and memorialize the sacrifice of our service members who are wounded in battle. Read Article

Civics

My recent road trip to Chicago was my first in a vehicle that had the complete current suite of driver assistance technologies, namely adaptive cruise control with autonomous braking, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, and blind spot monitoring. To be honest, it make the trip significantly less stressful and much more pleasant. Read Article

Technology

My normal routine is to get up early in the morning and walk while my family sleeps. I spend my walking time listening to various podcasts. I didn’t do very much walking in the past six weeks, and my backlog of podcasts is longer than it’s ever been. At times, I was tempted to declare podcast bankruptcy, but instead I chose to preen the podcasts to which I subscribed.
Read Article

Technology

I’m no stranger to the Killing series. Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard have written eight books detailing the final days and events surrounding the deaths of famous characters in history. So far, I’ve read about Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Jesus and George Patton. In the last few publications, the books in the series have focused on larger groups of people, namely the Imperial Japanese government in World War II, the Royal English government in the Revolutionary War, and with this title, prominent members of the SS. Read Article

Empty lot next door,

Now filled with markers and men.

Lousy summer soon.

Haiku

Apple Maps continues to suffer from its false start. iOS users download alternatives like Google Maps and Waze to fulfill their navigation needs. Yet, if you look at the three products, they each have a competitive advantage. Nothing can touch Waze when it comes to beating traffic. Google is the king of business, shops, and places. Apple Maps brings beauty in design, along with the tight integration between phone and Watch. While I normally use these mapping services for driving, I thought I’d have a great time using Apple Maps for walking navigation in Chicago last week. I was very wrong. Read Article

Technology

Too many accounts.

Too much to manage, closed most.

Ah! Instant relief.

Haiku

Alison went to a lecture recently on fad diets. She showed me the slides, and they were pretty much what you expected. What was incredible is just how many fad diets are out there. It’s easy to get busy, lose track of your health, and not focus on eating the right foods. Plus, there’s a lot of conflicting information out there about what foods are good and what foods aren’t. Read Article

Technology

I received this book as a gift from a speaker at my parish. He distributed them after giving a talk on the importance of praying as a family. Read Article

I did a pretty good job of documenting my adventures on my trip to Chicago. Lots of pictures, a few short updates, and five podcast episodes covered my movements though-out the city. I wanted to sit down and reflect on my overall experience. Read Article

As a pilot, and a lover of Boeing jets, I’ve been following the 737 MAX stories very closely. Aviation can be a difficult beat for any reporter to cover, but in times like these, it’s important that the flying public is given an accurate view of the situation.
Read Article

Technology

I saw this book on sale on the iBooks Store and was immediately drawn into the content. We’ve heard stories over the years of Members of Congress increasing their personal net worths over their terms in office, and so my expectation was that this book would explore that topic. The book was a waste of time. Read Article

Apple is primed and ready to announce their new paid news and television subscription(s?) next week at a media event. There have been a flurry of reports on publishers joining the service, including The Wall Street Journal and Vox. The big question surrounding the offering is the economics. For magazine publishers, sacrificing huge royalties to Apple may be worth it to increase readership. For news publishers, the upside may be harder to see. Read Article

Technology

Last week’s attack in New Zealand was repugnant. Even worse, the terrorist’s use of social media was representative of a new breed of horror. We’ve lived with two decades of jihadists beheading hostages and posting the video on the internet, but this new era of live-streamed violence is particularly troublesome. Read Article

Technology

Water by the curb,

Pigeons fluffed taking a bath.

Best sight of the day!

Haiku