I can't believe I'm admitting this but, I need readers.

I'll be 49 this year. I've worn glasses, well contact lenses 95% of the time, since I was 22 years old. My vision has always been about 20/30 meaning that I need glasses to see things far away. Things that are within an arms length or so have always looked fine and I've never needed glasses to see things close-up.

I've watched my parents and older relatives start to deal with readers in their '40's but somehow I didn't. There's no use in speculating why other than I don't watch much television. My work days are spent starting at various computer screens though. Since getting a smartphone and iPad, I probably spend way too much time staring at those screens...mainly for reading as I'm not a fan of watching movies on those devices (nor do I have the time.)

Because I wear contacts for distance correction, they help my eyes focus on things that are far away. The muscles in my eyes have always been able to contract to view things up close clearly even with the contacts in. However, something seems to have changed just in the last week and I find myself reaching for readers to see things on both my iphone screen and, for the first time just a few minutes ago, on my laptop screen.

I guess no matter how hard we try and outrun him, Father Time catches up with everyone.

Buying Cheap Lightning Cables, So Not Worth It!

For the record, I've always had success avoiding the Verizon and Apple tax on accessories by ordering from eBay. For at least 10 years this has served me more than very well and I've ordered very nice chargers, cases, etc. not only for myself, but for friends and family.

But I have been having a bad case of fragile or DOA lightning cables ever since getting my iPhone 5S.

Mind you, I've had genuine Apple, Belkin MFi certified, and generic knock-offs from eBay. The generic ones are the worst, being non-certified, several of them were DOA.

I just ordered a metallic reinforced cable from i-Blason on Amazon.com for $15. Will update this post with my experience.

Here's an interesting article on another guy's experience with cheapo cables
http://www.cnet.com/news/why-im-done-buying-cheap-lightning-cables/

Dinner conversation about the end game for wealth inequality and revolution

I think our civilization needs to look back at what happens when tremendous amounts of wealth are concentrated into the hands of the few. Yes, in an aspirational society that is the ultimate outcome. But can we avoid catastrophe or revolution by being cognizant of the "endgame?" Can the elite be convinced that we need to find a better way?

In a capitalistic society, the clever will always find a way to escalate and there will always be that segment that dwells at the bottom, living off of the generosity of the middle and rich. But extreme disparity is just wrong.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dalearcher/2013/09/04/could-americas-wealth-gap-lead-to-a-revolt/

Jared Diamond: Why do societies collapse?
http://www.ted.com/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse/transcript?language=en