Writing in the margins of the books!  Of that, I am guilty.  An article about "Marginalia":

Book Lovers Fear Dim Future for Notes in the Margins

Marginalia was more common in the 1800s. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a prolific margin writer, as were William Blake and Charles Darwin. In the 20th century it mostly came to be regarded like graffiti: something polite and respectful people did not do.

Paul F. Gehl, a curator at the Newberry, blamed generations of librarians and teachers for “inflicting us with the idea” that writing in books makes them “spoiled or damaged.”

But marginalia never vanished. When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in South Africa in 1977, a copy of Shakespeare was circulated among the inmates. Mandela wrote his name next to the passage from “Julius Caesar” that reads, “Cowards die many times before their deaths.”

Studs Terkel, the oral historian, was known to admonish friends who would read his books but leave them free of markings. He told them that reading a book should not be a passive exercise, but rather a raucous conversation.

If you wanted to get the Federal government deficit into perspective - as in your own household finances - then here it is from this Examiner article, "Just How Broke Are We?"

If the Federal government were scaled down to the size of the average US household, here’s what its finances would look like:

• The Federal government would earn $50,000 a year in tax revenue (the same as the average US household).

• It would be $325,000 in debt.

• It would pay almost $10,000 a year in interest on that debt.

• Last year, it would have spent $79,000.

• This year, it is hoping to spend $86,000.

• The $100 billion in spending cuts (that some politicians view as draconian) would be equivalent to the household cutting its $86,000 in planned spending down to a mere $83,700. Not a bad start, but the household has another $33,700 to go before it balances its budget.

Take a closer look at Professor Davies' chart:

In "Stealing Thunder," I use some explanations of a sniper rifle which is hi-tech to shoot long distances.  Lo and Behold! The South Koreans have developed such a Supergun.   South Korea has created a SuperGun to defend its borders from the Communist agression along the DMZ.

Xtranormal is an online cartoon technology for using standard characters, add voices (by typing in the script) and manipulate the camera setups.   For a few dollars, you can publish to the web.   This explanation below has received over 4.2 million views.

Digital Technology keeps moving right along.  Check out the new Digital Camera, Alexa, from Arri.

Australian researchers have created a 'Thinking Cap' which suppresses the left side of the brain to encourage the creative right side of the brain.   Not to be worn while driving I imagine.  I want logical drivers not 'creative' drivers.  But this invention might be helpful for problem solvers and designers.

Thinking Cap Zaps Brain to Make More Creative

Visual Effects in one form or another has been around since the dawn of filmmaking.   You can check out the history in VFX Wikpedia.     I found this website which lists fifty great VFX shots.  Not necessarily the greatest of all time but a compendium of these VFX shots through film history.  I like the fact that the shots vary from decade to decade in consideration.

Top 50 Movie VFX Shots at DenOfGeek.com

They vary from shots in Thirties movies to the present day but a nice walk down memory lane.

Visual effects may be divided into at least four categories: (from Wikipedia0

• Models: miniature sets and models, animatronics, stop motion animation.
• Matte paintings and stills: digital or traditional paintings or photographs which serve as background plates for keyed or rotoscoped elements.
• Live-action effects: keying actors or models through bluescreening and greenscreening.
• Digital animation: modeling, computer graphics lighting, texturing, rigging, animating, and rendering computer-generated 3D characters, particle effects, digital sets, backgrounds.
• Digital effects (commonly shortened to digital FX or FX) are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated with or from photographic assets. Digital effects often involve the integration of still photography and computer generated imagery (CGI) in order to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture in camera. FX is usually associated with the still photography world in contrast to visual effects which is associated with motion film production.