Rootz's Blog

When was the last time you capitalized the i's in your texts——without the help of auto-correct? (Seriously, if it weren't for auto-correct, most of us would text like Neanderthals with cell-phones.) Here's a theory: One day in the near-future, we will stop capitalizing the personal pronoun "I". Unlike when handwriting, texting or typing the word "I" requires an extra stroke: the dreaded shift-key. Sure, you have to add the two little bars up-top and down-bottom of the "I" when handwriting, but most people write quickly, and two tiny jots don't make much of a difference. When texting? Capitalizing does make a difference. Not much of difference, but still a difference. Especially when you're in a hurry. Or when you're competing with your friends to be the fastest texture. Or when you simply want to make your text as short and simple and efficient as possible. And anyway, what's the point or making I "I"...

image source: https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/information-doctorow.jpg?w=738 Information Doesn't Want to Be Free is a must-read. I mean it. Everyone over the age of 15 has to read it. At least, everyone over the age of 15 who also uses the Internet. This book is full of unburied truths that matter to every conscious citizen of the world, no matter how old they are, where they live or what they do. It reveals the dirty secrets of copyright policy—and the dangers hidden in proposed laws like PIPA and SOPA. It shows, clearly, that publishers and distributors are more interested in their own short-term success than in the good of creators, let alone the good of the entire world. The book is separated into three sections, each titled after one of "Doctorow's Three Laws": #1: Any time someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you and won't give you the key, that lock isn't there for your benefit. Here, Doctorow w...

source:  http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011 Amazon's goal for its new service, Prime Air, is to be able to deliver customers' orders of less than five pounds in less than 30 minutes [1] . It believes this service will be up-and-running in about 4-5 years [2] . But with all that trouble from the FAA, how are they coming along? Last month the Federal Aviation Administration, gave Amazon the go-ahead to test its drones in the USA. Some of the restrictions the FAA has put on Amazon's drone-flights include: the drones must be piloted by FAA-authorized pilots, the drones can't fly higher than 400 feet or over densely populated areas, and the drones must remain in the pilot's sight at all times . [3] In other words, the FAA doesn't seem to be catching up with the times. In one instance, it took six months for Amazon to get permission from the FAA to test a certain drone, and by the time they received the permission, the drone model was obso...

Gregory Maguire is a brilliant, conniving writer. He tricks you, for the first few chapters, into thinking his story is normal, that it's just like any other well-written novel set in 18th century Russia. But then, there you are, holding the book, and the story starts spinning out of control, slowly at first, then faster and faster. And you can't let go! Not until the end, when the wild begins to fade and you are landed, gently, back on the ground. The novel isn't perfect. I felt that the conflict in the plot (the chaos of an abnormally early spring) was too remote from the lives of the main characters to mean very much and did little except to drag the characters along (mostly against their will) into the story. And, unlike in most stories, the conflict is brought about by an entity that doesn't have a direct relationship to the characters. Sure, the whole world is affected by this change in the cycle of the seasons, but what except for chance has brought the mai...