The view from the Falcon's nest ... yes, I did print my very own Millennium Falcon, and yes of course that is why I have a 3D printer ... you didn't think I would just use it to print hearts, did you? :)

In between printings I've been coding, and have rediscovered the quiet joy of slogging through forests of architectural wilderness in the pursuit of a clean path to a goal.  I've implemented pasting images from the clipboard in eyesFinder's web interface - something which is so simple and so standard that one has to build a complicated non-standard interface to each browser's non-standard implementation of the standard.  Stay tuned for the nerdy details...

This is incredible: 3D printer can make bone, cartilage, and muscle.  "A team of biomedical researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has just completed an invention 10 years in the making. It's a 3D printer that can craft relatively simple tissues like cartilage into large complex shapes—like an infant's ear. Using cartridges that are brimming with biodegradable plastic and human cells bound up in gel, this new kind of 3D printer builds complex chunks of growing muscle, cartilage, and even bone."  Wow, I might need an upgrade. 

Bernie Sanders should read this: Why is tuition so high?  Turns out the main reason is all the student aid.  This is the same reason houses cost so much and medical costs are so high.  Every time - every time - the government intervenes in a market to "help", the end effect is to hurt. 

As you warm up for the Iditarod*, you might ponder, what lies beneath our fascination with the North?  It's a little "PC" for me but I do admit to having that fascination... 

* PS congratulations to Hugh Neff and his team for winning the 2016 Yukon Quest.  He will be a favorite for the Iditarod ... in two weeks!

Horace Dediu with an interesting analysis: Priorities in a time of plenty ... for Apple.  How does a great company stay great, and keep building innovative new products?  (tl;dr: by focusing on customers) 

Comedic relief: Obama compiles shortlist of gay, transsexual abortion doctors to replace Scalia.  I agree with Glenn Reynolds: future historians will read The Onion and be unable to tell it from the actual news.  Does anyone believe Obama will nominate a white male?