I like very long (40+ hours in unabridged audio) fantasy novels that are based in England in the 1400s. I like Science Fiction that is at least within the realm of possibility so that I can "willingly suspend my disbelief." One of my current favorite authors is Neil Gaiman (might not have spelled his name correctly.) I love the articles in these magazines: Wired, Popular Science, and Discover. Finally, I like to read a book in a field outside of my own (psychology). A recent example was a 400+ page book on String Theory for non-physicists. Enjoy your trip and enjoy your reading. Something we know from the world of neuro-psychology and functional neuroanatomy is that our brain is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. People that do as few as two puzzles a week are far less likely to develop a dementia in old age than those who don't. People with graduate degrees, compared to the general population, rarely get dementia unless they had many first degree relatives who had an age-related dementia. Reading is a fantastic way to use your brain. So is surfing the web. Watching TV is a very passive activity and does little for brain health.

I used to subscribe to both and enjoyed both, especially in the late 70s and early 80s. Over time, they both became very liberal. I prefer a magazine that reports the news in a more neutral manner. I shouldn't be able to tell if they lean left or right. I want to read articles and decide how I feel about a subject. I enjoy excellent reporting and excellent journalism but I do not enjoy having someone else' opinion proselytized - even when I agree with that position. The only magazines that I still enjoy, these days, are science magazines and maybe a few others that manage not to preach.

Despite the shortcomings (perceived and real) that many will discuss regarding this particular telescope, it is still a very good thing that the U.S. and other countries continue to spend the money to develop, build, and implement new 'scopes. Considering how tight money is (worldwide) it can't be easy to find the funding for these projects.

I have a 12 year old bathroom scale still running off of the original lithium battery that was factory installed. I am amazed at how long it has lasted. Lithium is, admittedly, a different beast than alkalines. But 12 years is pretty good for any battery.

I agree with everything you said. But it still intrigues me and it could still be a part of another solution that needed the last piece of a puzzle. But, yes, there would be a lot of not-so-good unintended consequences.

Perhaps, if this approach ends up working, not only could it be used for treating diseases but possible could be used to prevent diseases by somehow encoding them into genes. Not sure if you would do that just for folks who have a history of a disease or offer such a solution to a larger group much in the way we do inoculation for disease.

I have almost no idea what you are trying to say but I am sure you mean well.

should have read "Apple has not done well in the past WITHOUT Jobs . . ."

And, Apple has lost Steve Jobs and when his legacy of ideas is used up, I don't see Apple doing well. Apple has not done well in the past with Jobs and they won't in the future. Jobs was Apple. Jobs is gone. Apple will not continue to innovate and bring out "game changer" products because they lost the guy who envisioned those products and knew how to bring them to market.

I'm not sure it could be demonstrated that Apple ". . is still five years ahead of everyone else." Five years is a great deal of time in the technology world.

Excellent point. I stopped watching TV in 2005 and I don't watch it online. I don't miss it all. I love Internet radio (I have one on my nightstand) and audiobooks and surfing the web. I teach psychology for a living and we talk about this in social psychology quite a bit. It's a great discussion and I do know that there are some great aspects to television but it still isn't a preference for me (anymore).