Technology
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Apple is the world’s most valuable company
Apple, the world’s most valuable company, hit the $600 billion level for the first time Tuesday. -Washington Post *sigh*. I can remember when the stock price was ~$5.00 back around 1996 or so, and I’m fairly certain it hit a low around $2.00 prior to that. Now it’s over 100x higher (at $600/share)! Hindsight…
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Archimedes Palimpsest at Walters Art Museum
The Walters Museum in Baltimore has some leaves from the Archimedes Palimpsest on exhibit (through Jan 1, 2012). I took the kids to visit the exhibit today. Very nice venue, and the exhibit was well laid out. While the museum is kid-friendly (they hand out satchels with crafts/activities related to the exhibit for the kids to work on), looking at “old books” didn’t hold the attention of a 5-year old for more than 30 minutes (which I thought was a lot). Granted, about 10 of those were a video presentation. Little Olivia fell asleep in her stroller… The Archimedes Palimpsest is a Medieval parchment manuscript. The currently visible part of…
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Ebook or Hardcover – don’t make me choose!
Update 10/18/2011: Finally, a publisher (other than Baen) that is bundling a free ebook version with the hardcover! See When She Woke (Includes Free eBook) by Hillary Jordan at Powell’s Books in Portland. I’m not interested in this particular book myself (mainly due to the pro- “choice” bias towards abortion), but I find the bundling of an ebook copy a wonderful practice! I just wish it were a better poster child. But, it’s a start. I’ve thought for years now that it would be a great business practice to give a customer a free electronic version of any book they purchase in physical form (say, hardcover). The logistics of getting…
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Arthur Phillips – The Tragedy of Arthur
I went to see Arthur Phillips give a talk on his latest book, “The Tragedy of Arthur“, tonight at Politics and Prose Bookstore in DC. As usual, he gave a very engaging talk/reading of the book. I’ve been to a few of his talks now (he’s one of my favorite authors), all at Politics and Prose: for “The Song is You” , “Angelica“, and “The Egyptologist“. See previous posts: Arthur Phillips Reads “The Song is You†and Walter Isaacson, Arthur Phillips recent events. His latest book (The Tragedy of Arthur) is different: the premise is that this is a memoir of his (actual) life with his (con-artist) father and sister.…
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Pope Speaks with Space Station Astronauts
From the Vatican Information service: POPE SPEAKS WITH SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS VATICAN CITY, 21 MAY 2011 (VIS) – This Saturday, Benedict XVI held a conversation with the group of cosmonauts and astronauts aboard the International Space Station, on the occasion of the space shuttle Endeavour’s last mission. From a room in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace the Pope could see the astronauts on a television screen while they could only hear his voice on an audio channel. During the conversation, the Holy Father asked the astronauts five questions. The first: “When you are contemplating the Earth from up there, do you ever wonder about the way nations and people live together…
