DRIVERLESS CARS

Have you ever ridden in a driverless car? The idea has always seemed unreal, but today, the passengers in that car could be me and my husband.

Some partly "quasi" driverless "autonomous" cars date back to the 1920s and the 1930s. At the 1939 World's Fair, a street intersection in the City of the Future had autonomous cars. Since the 80's, significant advances have been made in technology and autonomous vehicles are being developed by Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Nissan, Toyota, Audi, Volvo, as well as in Germany, Switzerland, and Google's project farm, in Frisco.

Google's Self-Driving Car project created the robotic vehicle "Stanley," winning a $2 million prize from the U. S. Department of Defense. Meanwhile, Nevada, Florida, and California have passed laws permitting the operation of autonomous cars.

Currently, Google is working on a Toyota Prius that will have neither steering wheel nor pedals -- just  $150,000 in equipment including a $70,000 radar system, with a range finder that enables the vehicle to generate 3D maps that can be combined with other high-resolution maps of the world, and produce data that allow it to drive itself (or utilize computation from remote computer farms in the area.)
 
The Google test group is composed of ten cars, (six Toyota Prius, one Audi, and three Lexus' -- each car operates with a Google engineer in the passenger seat. They are being tested on San Francisco's steep hairpin turns, city traffic, on the Golden Gate Bridge, and around Lake Tahoe. The cars drive at the speed limit stored on its maps; they maintain their distance from other vehicles using sensors; the group has done over 700,000 accident-free miles. Though Google says it has no immediate plans to manufacture cars, it plans to develop a business which would market the system and the data behind it to automobile manufacturers.

"No immediate plans"-- hah -- that  means it's going to happen very soon.

I think I'd be nervous, traveling in a car without a driver, but this video tells  me it's going to be fun, safer than driving, and very convenient.   

(VIDEO) WHY WE LIKE EACH OTHER.

John answers gracefully, describing wife Emily Frankel's talents--dancing, cooking, writing, handling various business things skillfully and efficiently.

Em launches in to a paean of praise for John Cullum as a THERE person--some one who's always able to concentrate on an issue, with physical and mental energy, no matter if it's fixing, painting, oiling, plumbing, or auditioning for the next job.

Yes, Emily really likes what John likes about her, but he loves what she likes about him.

STUPID STYLE STUFF

Aiiiiiii

I stared at this picture.

Wham bam. I  SLAMMED down New York Magazine.

Page after page -- photos -- tiny ones, full-page pictures, thumbnails, -- dresses, hats, shirts, underwear, coats, jewelry and shoes, plus homes, cars, toys, kiddie outfits -- sketches, full color, artistic drawings, wildly unusual, inventive -- vintage, rococo, ultra modern styles juxtaposed -- page after page with everything excessive, overdone, too fancy. It made me ill, sick in my head, it told me how abysmally ignorant I was.

I subscribed to the magazine trying to keep up with trends, planning to subscribe to Sports Illustrated, Esquire, the New Yorker -- not Vogue that's always overloaded with the VERY  latest chic stuff -- I want to write about trends that affect, infect, and inspire us -- blammo -- I'm defeated by the massive potpourri of N O W.

Whose concept created this fat issue of New York Magazine? Someone I should avoid? Or was it a combo of who's-who-ers in London, New York, Paris, and Rome?  The too-muchness of clashing styles, the deliberate outlandishness -- is THAT the TREND?

Oh my God, it is -- yes it is -- everybody wants to feel unique, special, different, and be one of a kind, because it's memorable -- because we're lost in a forest of too many people trying to be unique, because there's too many people!

What about simplicity -- things that are plain, monotone, bland? Is simplicity gone?

What should we wear, when crappy smorgasbord too much-ness is IN?

Aiiii  -- just our birthday suits?

LOOKING GOOD IN A SELFIE

Of course, when you are taking a picture of yourself, wear makeup and a flattering outfit. You can get practical advice about light and camera angles if you click this link:
               How to Look Good in Pictures, 11 steps.

Hey guys, you don't need to bother with the 11 steps, if you read what Em has to say, based on experience.

First of all, you need to have something on your mind, not your camera.

Banish the vanity thoughts like should I have put on more lipstick? should I have worn a simpler outfit?

Ignore the discomfort, like my eye itches, or it's tricky to smile when the sun is in my eyes.

Stop thinking about the fact that you are posing for a picture. On and on goes the train of your thoughts about you, your work, the things you have to do, and what to do if the picture turns out poorly.  Stop all those thoughts.

If you want a smiling picture, remind yourself about something that happened recently that was fun, or something that made you laugh. If you want a serious face, recall a death that touched you -- you can even produce glistening tearful eyes it you dig in to one of your real sorrows. If a sad, serious face is wrong -- you want a thoughtful or hopeful or confident look -- find a specific memory within yourself.  Concentrate on it, and you'll probably have that face in your picture.

For some people this is acting -- finding within yourself a reality -- the reality becomes the play and the play script. The fact is, right now, as I am telling you how to look good in a photo, I am giving you a crash course in acting.

The stage is where you are. You are the stage manager and the director. The script is what you, the playwright, perceive as your "best" face.

Keep the thought hot, fresh, vivid, and you'll have a wonderful SELFIE -- yes -- a photo of the real you -- the handsomest you -- the you that you're proud of being.