9/11

Happy Birthday to Dad, Tai Shan and the USA!

• View July 2009 Pictures of the Month
  
• View July 2009 Snapfish Pictures
  
• (note: you may have to create an account at Snapfish to view these pictures)

We had some house guests this month.  Gunny and Piggy (aka the Terrible Terriers) came to stay with us for a few days while Granny and Pop-Pop went on their annual trip to the Jamboree in the Hills.

On our way to the annual Family Reunion, we took a field trip to Pittsburgh, PA. 

While there, we went to the Carnegie Science Center to see their roboworld™ exhibit.  It was really neat to see all the different things robot can do. 

We also went on a Duck Tour.  We wondered why the vehicles were called Ducks until Pop-Pop told us about this and now we know!

And we also took a ride on the Monongahela Incline.  The view of Pittsburgh from the Incline Station at the top of Mt. Washington is really impressive.

See you next month...

Ross & Owen

9/11

I just finished reading an article with an interesting view on the economic effects of the Internet by Tom Foremski of ZDNet.  It made me think a bit about what long term changes the Internet might bring to our way of life and economic well-being here in the USA.  We all hear the mantra that losing jobs to other parts of the world will more than be made up for by the the "better" hi-tech jobs that will be created here in the USA. 

Sounds great, but in reality not everyone will be equipped to do these "hi-tech" jobs.  I wonder if we will eventually become a nation of people with low paid service jobs and high paid technology jobs with nothing in the middle.

9/11

I read a post at eWeek.com by Jim Rapoza titled Apple Trumps Microsoft, Google as Tech Monopolist, in which he claims the "biggest" tech monopolist is Apple.  Based on the criteria he uses to come to reach this conclusion, I more or less agree with him. 

Being a monopoly is not in and of itself evil.  It's the "greed is good" business practices that monopolies often use that are.