Passengers (2016)

IMDB

Passengers (2016): Think Robinson Crusoe in space. Or The Martian with fewer challenges to solve. Or a love story with a jerk of a guy. C-

The Future of Education

As always, society is engaged in a great battle for the future. Education is ground zero. The New York Times reports on how the heads of tech giants like Netflix, Facebook, and Salesforce are using philanthropy to try to improve education.

In the space of just a few years, technology giants have begun remaking the very nature of schooling on a vast scale, using some of the same techniques that have made their companies linchpins of the American economy. Through their philanthropy, they are influencing the subjects that schools teach, the classroom tools that teachers choose and fundamental approaches to learning.

Source: New York Times.

POTD: No Glory

From 2016 10 09 Alexandria

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the streets of Alexandria, Virginia.

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017)

IMDB

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017): In Egypt, Russia, even America, democracy retreats. Here, it's Hong Kong. Hope lies in youth. B+

OTBR: Blueberries and Stones in the Czech Republic

Latitude: N 49° 07.494
Longitude: E 015° 15.450

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously (not actually) last month that are "off the blue roads".