Whew, busy week.  Coding (several different projects, for several different companies :), and ... moving!  More about that *soon*...  but in the meantime, it's all happening...

Watched some interesting movies recently, warming up for the Oscars ... Trumbo, which despite being [apparently] far from the truth of what actually happened with the real Trumbo, was most entertaining, Hail Caesar, a farce set in the same time period which was pretty entertaining, and Spotlight, my personal choice for Best Picture, a great story and well acted in a beautifully made movie.  (Yeah I liked The Martian a lot too, and wouldn't quibble if you chose that instead.) 

So I guess it is going to be Trump vs Clinton.  They say we get the leaders we deserve, so I guess we don't deserve any better, but wow what a terrible choice.  Regardless of your politics you cannot be enthusiastic about either of these clowns.  My favorite comment in the political season so far is this one: I never expected Idiocracy to become a documentary. 

John Hindraker finds an interesting analog for Trump's success: Jesse Ventura, who surprisingly was elected Governor of Minnesota, running as a non-politician.  "Once Ventura took office, however, a couple of things became apparent. First, not being a politician ceased to be as asset. Ventura had no idea what he was doing, and had to rely on his advisers for pretty much everything. Second, Ventura was not a conservative at all. On the contrary, he and his aides governed primarily as liberals."  And that's the good outcome.

Scott "Dilbert" Adams is making a comeback as a political analyst: How to spot a narcissist.  "Narcissism is definitely a thing. But we also need a name for the mental condition in which you believe you are so smart you can diagnose narcissism from a distance. I won't call you a narcissist unless you state your opinion in a public comment forum and insult other voters and commenters as if you have no empathy. So don’t do that."  Heh.  Well, I think Trump is a buffoon, and I think people who can't see that are idiots.

Chris Dixon: What's next in computing.  "If the 10–15 year pattern repeats itself, the next computing era should enter its growth phase in the next few years. In that scenario, we should already be in the gestation phase. There are a number of important trends in both hardware and software that give us a glimpse into what the next era of computing might be."  An interesting and wide-ranging think piece, well worth the read.  

There are a number of candidates: VR, AR, and AI among them.  Possibly a combination of all three!

In case you think all this stuff is "new", check this out: a voice and gesture interface from 1979, at MIT Media Lab.  Wow.  That predates Chris' three big breakthroughs: personal computers (1981), the web (1994), and smartphones (2007). 

Even older cool tech: this beautiful RCA building from 1931.  What has happened to architecture that we don't design anything this cool anymore?  (Maybe we've lost patience...) 

This might be more helpful to you than me: Twitter's missing manual.  Who knew the apparently simple UI had so many weirdnesses?  (I will say viewing Twitter has become a vast ugliness, sort of like visiting a MySpace.) 

Philip Greenspun wonders: how do people mix alcohol and skiing?  Weeeelll....