Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Traveling

Wednesday is for looking forward to the end of the week and maybe traveling plans you might have.

How about visiting the new hot spot:

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/04/04/the-hunger-games-town-on-sale-for-1-4-million/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-nb%7Cdl25%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D149543

Or the beautiful spot where out family spent many summer vacations:

http://www.gadling.com/2012/04/05/video-scenes-from-greater-yellowstone/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-nb%7Cdl10%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D149799

What is better than a trip to the future?

http://www.aarp.org/technology/innovations/info-06-2011/meet-celia-the-video-robot-video-inside-estreet.html?cmp=RDRCT-ROBO_MAR06_012

Comment Away.

4 comments:

Pat said...

HUNGER GAMES is sure becoming a phenomenon. That town looks like the perfect location for it. I wonder if someone will buy the town and turn it into a tourist attraction. Apparently it already is a tourist attraction, but they haven't put in the rides and food concessions yet. {g}

Yellowstone is the most amazing place! I couldn't get the video to play, but I remember how gorgeous and unusual Yellowstone is.

The robot is a good idea, but if I had one in my house, I'd want to put a couple of rooms out of bounds. I can also imagine being startled if the robot suddenly appeared with its eyeballs on me when I wasn't expecting it. I might keep a blindfold handy in case its timing was embarrassing {g}

Lady DR said...

Great articles, Bill. The Hunger Games location is interesting for so many reasons. First, because it's near home. Second, because Greenville is built around so many mill villages, which have been absorbed and incorporated into the city. I wish someone would buy the property and restore the mill homes and maybe build more, which fit into the "model." I have a friend who bought a refurbished mill home and did some further work herself, but it all kept the original home design and its uniqueness. I also took a course on the mill villages, which was fascinating. The larger home shown in the photos would have belonged to one of the mill managers. The mill houses for workers were small, but very functional and still are today. Additionally, developers have bought the mill shells, those that didn't burn down, refurbished them, keeping much of the old architecture, and are selling them for exorbitant prices, as condos, from lofts to three and four bedrooms. Shelby, where the warehouse is located, is the site of one of the longest-running hamfests in the southeast and we've been to the town many times.

I wish they could refurbish the mill houses, find people willing to live in the mill village and use it as an attraction to show folks how the mill villages worked, with their independent schools, company store, baseball teams (and inter-village competition) and the like.

I've never been to Yellowstone, that I recall, unless as a very small child. It was on our "tour of the west" agenda, until gas prices put long distance RVing out of reach for us and so many others.

I like the idea of the robot, to allow the elderly to remain in their homes. I don't like calling it a spy. In many ways, it takes the place of a caregiver, if the description of the monitoring it provides is accurate. Even for children who live nearby, it would be a big advantage. One would know if the parent was unsteady, seemed confused in the kitchen, took a fall, was having elevated blood pressure, if a CPAP wasn't working, any number of things. It would be especially helpful, if the videos worked both ways, so the kids could see their parents and vice versa, as another means of checking their wellbeing. If they really wanted to make it useful, the robot could check to see if ovens or burners were left on, how much of the time the parent is sleeping and when, whether the parent is eating and what. Not sure how it could help with vision issues, but there might even be help there. I'd rather see it called a "monitor" or some such, as "spy" has negative connotations for me.

I also picked up on the side bar article on the DOJ suing the Big Six publishers and Apple of price fixing and such with e-books. They're obviously running scared. Bottom line, from what I've learned so far, is that it takes little to publish an e-book, whether for a new Indie publisher, like myself, or a major publisher. Do the conversion and have a simple system for downloading. Many people buy ebooks because they can't really afford all the hardcover or paperback prices. Amazon offers an amazing opportunity for all writers to get their books in front of the public, without relying on traditional publishers, the long wait to get to the shelves, the low royalties paid, after they process their corporate expenses and obsolete publishing methods. If the trad pubs would go to POD, to satisfy orders from bookstores and other retailers, they wouldn't need to charge the prices they do, in most cases. Plus, either way, the writer has to do all the promotion, which cuts into any profit they may make. While I've never been a supporter of vanity presses and subsidy presses, the new options for DIY publishing, both print and e-book, have opened a world of opportunity for authors and I think the trad pubs are unwilling to look at the options available that make a writer's income more realistic and equitable. (Putting away soapbox)

William J. said...

Hi Pat

I may have to go to the movies just to see what the HUNGER GAMES thing is all about. If I had a couple of million I'd buy the town and turn into an amusement park with all the hunger games.

It took me two or three times but I did get the Yellowstone video going. Stunning shots.

LOL I think I agree with you about the blindfold. Waking up from a deep sleep and having that standing at your bed side might just give me a heart attack.

Bill

William J. said...

Hi DR

I like it when you both get on your soap box and go off to look at an article not posted but in a side part. Thak kind of curiousity is attractive.

I didn't know the Hunger Games was near you. I didn't even know what a mill village was until the article and your post. I learn something everyday from all of you. I like what your friend did, she must be a creative soul. I bet the course was fascinating wish they had one here. And to know the a manager would have owned the larger home. And to think you have been there.

You have to plan on going to Yellowstone it is one of the most unusual and fascinating places on Earth.

I am with you there are better names than spy. The fall thing is what puts me on the side of the robot because so many elderly will fall and not tell you. I love your ideas about the robot. The possibilities are endless. The oven and burners left on is another big thing.

As to self publishing I loved you soap box. I hadn't even noticed the side article when I posted the article of the day. I think we should go with free enterprise and let it shake out on its own. No court is required. John Grisham's first book was self-published.

Bill