Last night, Michelle was having a hard time dealing with Jeanne and dinner. So I invited Jeanne to the bedroom with a small bag of candies. Since the bed is off limits to food, I sat on the floor and leaned on the wall. Jeanne did the same. And we sat side by side eating candies :)
One of Jeanne’s favorite iPad apps is a drawing and painting app. It saves on paper and minimizes the risk of her writing on other things. Unfortunately, unless it’s finger painting, drawing and painting using fingers doesn’t exactly train her on the motor skills for actual drawing, painting, and eventually writing. Enter the capacitive pen. I’ve been planning to get one for some time. So it was quite timely when James gave me one from his trip to the US. Thanks, James!
Only problem is that there are bits of metal on the pen. So to minimize chances of it scratching the screen, I was forced to install a screen protector. Now that was a chore! It took me 5 tries before I was satisfied, i.e. the display area is clear of dust and bubbles. Even so, there were still some dust specks here and there. But since they were on the border, I can overlook them.
So S&P downgraded the credit rating of the US from AAA to AA+. What are the implications? I think, nothing. Rating agencies such as S&P might be applicable for companies and even governments but when you’re talking the US it’s different. Japan and China, with their huge holdings of US debt won’t really base their own rating and pricing from some rating agency. And in self interest, they certainly won’t simply let their holdings lose value which would be the case if yields rise due to the ratings downgrade. These large holders are the rating agencies when it comes to the US. Already Japan has indicated that their confidence is unchanged and China with it’s bigger holdings is likely of the same mind.
I finally finished watching it today and it was great. It captured and condensed the story (based on aforementioned bits and pieces) of the animated series very well. The production quality was unexpectedly good, reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica but not overdone like in the new Star Wars movies. There were some awkward acting, including that of Meisa Kuroki (but since she’s kawaii, I can overlook that).
In the movie, Earth is under attack by aliens called Gamilas, irradiating it with a constant bombardment of radioactive asteroids. To save Earth, an battleship is sent out to a remote planet called Iskandar where an anti-radiation device is supposed to be located. Beset by Gamilas at all twists and turns, the crew retrieves the device and eventually returns to Earth, finally ending with a blaze of glory, a big kamikaze bang befitting a Japanese battleship. Somehow it gave me a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction rather than a feeling of waste. Now that’s a good ending.