Back to normal!  Well, what passes for normal around here, anyways...  I am caught up, all my old half-composed blog posts have been finished and synced out, and hopefully I can now keep up.  Several of my unsettled business issues have calmed themselves also, yay.  Just need to get some personal stuff back in the box.  But that's under my control...

meanwhile...

From Elon Musk: At Long Last, an Inspiring Future for Space Exploration.  "The President has articulated an ambitious and exciting new plan that will alter our destiny as a species. I believe this address could be as important as President Kennedy's 1962 speech at Rice University. For the first time since Apollo, our country will have a plan for space exploration that inspires and excites all who look to the stars. Even more important, it will work."  Cool. 

I voted Democrat, because...  a handy list, from Gerard Vanderleun. 

Ken Auletta in New Yorker: the iPad, the Kindle, and the future of books.  A good read which defies synopsis.  The most interesting aspect is the degree to which newspapers, magazines, and book publishers look to the iPad to be their savior.  If the content wasn't compelling on paper, why would putting it online make it more so? 

BTW my verdict: the Kindle is better for reading.  Better screen and lighter and smaller.  The fact that the iPad is backlit is great for reading in bed however...

Boston.com's Big Picture has a spread on the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.  Wow.  Check it out... 

Ars Technica reviews iWork for the iPad.  "In the end, using iWork for the iPad is a lot like going to the moon. It might be a nice place to visit ... but in the end, it’s not a place I’d like to live, or even stay for any extended amount of time. iWork is decent, but there is only so much you can do for an office suite without a full keyboard and a mouse."  So much for the new computing paradigm.