Author Archives: Paul

Professional software engineer; enthusiast / advanced amateur photographer; (Apple) / Mac / iOS guy; partially omniscient, witty, tech geek; hooligan; user of 'adult language'; 37?!?; rock / blues / jazz fan; skeptic; and raconteur (...and ESRI).

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something […]

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R.I.P. John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth

The paper of record: John Glenn, a freckle-faced son of Ohio who was hailed as a national hero and a symbol of the space age as the first American to orbit Earth, then became a national political figure for 24 years in the Senate, died on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio. He was 95.

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The Last Steps

Great Big Story: On December 7, 1972, NASA launched Apollo 17, a lunar mission crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt. It would be the last time humans traveled beyond low Earth orbit, the last time man landed on another celestial body, and the last time man went to the moon. The Last […]

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Nice Shot! Balancing the Supermoon on the St. Louis Arch

The supermoon appears to balance on top of the St. Louis arch. Photographer David Carson shot with a Canon 1DX. The exposure was ISO 250, shutter speed 180, aperture f4.5.

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The Unchained Goddess (1958)

We’ve known about anthropogenic global warming for decades and decades… “The Unchained Goddess” (1958), produced by Frank Capra and the fourth film in the Bell Laboratories Science Series (1956-1964): Even now, man may be unwittingly changing the world’s climate through the waste products of his civilization. Due to our release through factories and automobiles every […]

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Cosmodrome

Netflix: Get a look at the sophisticated engines Russia designed for a Cold War-era moon landing and how a changing world led them to a strange fate. Excellent film. Anything space-related, especially Mercury-Gemini-Apollo era, you can sign me up.

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Can science stop the looming banana extinction?

The banana is the world’s most popular fruit crop, with over 100 million metric tons produced annually in over 130 tropical and subtropical countries. Edible bananas are the result of a genetic accident in nature that created the seedless fruit we enjoy today. Virtually all the bananas sold across the Western world belong to the […]

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California governor signs controversial right-to-die bill

Physician-assisted suicide will become legal in California under a bill signed into law today by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, making it the fifth state in the nation to give terminally ill patients a legal right to die. As hard as it may be to believe in today’s ultra-political culture, my Mom–who was an RN–told me […]

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How Ricky Williams’s Infamous Contract Got Made

In 1999, college football superstar Ricky Williams — represented by rapper Master P’s No Limit Sports — signed one of the most infamous contracts in NFL history. Fascinating.

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Tennessee’s Cosmetology Board Thinks It Can Regulate a Software Company

Or, could it be that the board is using its regulatory power at the behest of private businesses who don’t want to compete with Project Belle? That seems to be case.

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