Goodbye, Blue Monday

Thanks again to The Other McCain for the Rule Five linkage!

Nothing serious today.  It’s Christmas Eve, after all.  We’ll keep it light.  Some fun tidbits from today’s news:

27 Science Fictions That Became Science Fact in 2012.  As a guy who dabbles in the world of sci-fi myself, one of the more frustrating things about speculating future technologies is the rapidity with which they become today’s technologies.  Some years back I hypothesized something called a “datapad,” a small, hand-held device that combined computer, cell phone and internet access point all in one.

Today my Samsung Note 2 fills almost exactly that role, missing only the holographic display and laser keyboard – features which the next generation of smart-phones may well have, 300 years ahead of my prediction.

The tech advances in the article above include many that are more profound; one allows a paraplegic to control limbs with her mind, a breakthrough with staggering implications.  We solve today’s problems with tomorrow’s technology, and tomorrow’s technology is looking pretty cool; the only thing that gives my optimism pause is the fact that the Imperial Federal Government still seems recklessly determined to squash innovation.

But I said we’d keep it light, didn’t I?

I did.  So let’s wrap up the Monday news with 5 Surprising Facts About Christmas.

Merry Christmas, True Believers.