Dameron Hospital

We had this giant, blue van when I was a kid. We called it the tank. We had our name painted on the spare tire cover attached to the back.

One time while driving through California on our anual pilgrimage to Disneyland, someone stopped to thank us for the help we gave them at our hospital.

All my Dad could say was “You are welcome,”

Every now and then I would search online for this hospital. I suppose it was not until recently, probably as a result of Poe Dameron from Star Wars, that search engines would relate the spelling of Damron with Dameron.

I was impressed to stumble across Dameron Hospital. It really exists! And in California no less.

My short stint with Apple

If I recall correctly, I learned about podcasts from a roommate. I told him I would love to listen to some, but I didn't have an iPod.

When I was informed  I didn't need an iPod, I looked into downloading podcasts on my own. The Subscribe message confused me. I thought it meant like a paid subscription to a magazine.

When I got over that hurdle, I was able to download podcasts. I have enjoyed a bunch for several years now.

One Christmas season, I got an iPod Shuffle from work. I thought it was pretty cool. I actually acquired a second Shuffle from a co-worker shortly after.

I bought an iPod for my brother once as well. I did buy an iPod Touch, because I really didn't want an iPhone. I was pretty slow in getting a smartphone too.

I admit I bought earbuds and  an expensive USB charger, but it's been a long time since I bought any other Apple stuff and I have no intention in the future.

Well i do use the cheaper knock off earbuds. I like how they feel. I'm only paying pennies and no Apple tax.

Missed Operunities

In high school I remember going out with this one girl. I think we went on a group date or double date and went to see Sandlot at the dollar theater. Don't believe we ever went out again and I don't know why not.

One night I got a call at 12:30 a.m. inviting me to dinner the next day. Technically it was later that day. I always thought the invitation was odd.  I just happened to be awake when the call came and wondered if I was just a backup plan of sorts.

Well, I lost my cell phone on the way over to the house. I had verified the address twice, but apparently was dropped off at the wrong place.

When I finally made it home I tried to use an online phone application. It might have been an early version of Skype or the connection was just terrible, but I finally got through. It might have been a believable story if I was stranded and calling from some gas station.

Dinner was long over and never got another invite. Im sure I offered to have her over to make up for the trouble, but it never happened either.

One year, at a Christmas party, a certain favorite of mine was standing underneath the mistletoe offering a kiss to anyone that took it. I tried to set down my drink and all but was not fast enough!

Rethinking the moon

I just finished a book on the Apollo missions. The book was called A Man on the Moon

by Andrew Chaikin, with a foreword by Tom Hanks who played Jim Lovell in the 1995 movie, Apollo 13.

It was impressive that we (as a people) had traveled so far to the moon so long ago. Why go back to the moon? Already done that?

Due to lack of public interest and government funding, we (NASA) unfortunately never has gone back. We have sent out probes and rovers - which is really cool. Just not the same as sending people.

According to Google Moon, an online interactive map of the moon landings. it looks like all the Apollo missions were relatively close to each other. Not just in the time, but geographical space.

It would be like some alien race - if one actually exists - landing in New Jersey and claiming the studied the Earth. The Garden state barely represents this planet.

I’m sure a lot of data has been gleamed in several ways over the years, like the presences of Helium 3 on the moon - which could be mined and used as a power source.

Until the warp drive or some other means of faster, more efficient propulsion can be invented, funding should be provided for all kinds of space exploration. Including going back to the moon.

Basically it is income?

Almost 20 years ago, I was having a discussion with an extremely brilliant co-worker about a monetary-less society. Kind of like my understanding of the Star Trek world.

I have had this conversation with a bunch of people over the years. The response from this co-worker however, was quite a shock and makes me hesitate to bring up the subject with others.

I respected the guy. I thought he was a great software developer. I was hoping we might have shared the idea about doing things to benefit mankind; even just a little bit. His response was that he would quit working if he never got paid.

Years later at a dot-bomb company that I worked for, I wrote some software that pretty much automated someone out of his job. I thought it was a fun project. I assume that guy moved on to better and less repetitive, mind numbing things.

If lots of jobs can be replaced by robots, it could free up lots of people to work on other tasks. But I'm also leery it would allow talented people to choose an indolent life.

Uber economy of scale

The other day I found myself weighing the options of going to dinner then going over to the theatre or going home first, eating dinner than Ubering over to the theatre. I decided to go home first. It was a cheaper, more convenient option.

Is Ubering a word now?

With more Uber cars on the road, the better it is for the Uber company and it’s customers. Probably not the drivers though.

Sometimes I feel bad when I call for an Uber within view of a line of taxis. Or when I’m riding by a cab while in a car with an Uber sticker in the window. Other times, I’m rather elated. Most of the time, I don’t even think about it.

I thought it was fairly cool to get a female driver the other day, but I admit I’d rather have a ride in an autonomous car. Today, the driver wanted to talk, I just wanted him to drive. I am not completely rude, so I talked.

I tried the carpool option for the first time. I figured there was a good chance nobody wanted to pool with me in the middle of the day. Especially where I was going, home, right down the interstate for a couple miles.

Anyway, the conversation turned to work. Mostly about his dwindling number of daily passengers. And here I was, skimming money off my fare with the cheaper carpool option.

Why go back to the moon?

Years ago my younger brother and I were talking about space exploration. I skirted around what I thought was a lure to talk about some conspiracy theory about the moon landings that took place years before either of was born. At length, he asked why we don’t go back to the moon.

This was before all the talk about commercial space travel by private and public companies. I  recently heard Russia was planning on going to the moon as well.

The conversation was also before the Mars rovers and all. I had no real defence to my brother’s questions. I had not been paying attention to any new developments.

I finally asked what was on the moon worth going back for. Everything a person would need to survive on a giant rock in space would be taken from the taxed resources here on this planet.

Space travel sounds real exciting, but you will not see me doing it until I can get beamed up onto a Galaxy class Enterprise. So, until then, I’m all for government and commercial funding of all facets of space exploration.