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Hire Me!
Hire Me! Hire me for your writing assignment or event. I'm reasonable and reliable. Also looking for additional writing gigs. Email me at rclimpert003@yahoo.com

Based in Atlanta, GA - Rick Limpert is an award-winning writer, a best-selling author, and a featured sports travel writer.

Named the No. 1 Sports Technology writer in the U.S. on Oct 1, 2014.

Monday
Jan102011

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Unbillable Hours

Do you like John Grisham?  Well, Ian Graham tries to do his best Grisham impersonation here.

The story—part memoir, part hard-hitting expose—of a first-year law associate negotiating the arduous path through a system designed to break those who enter it before it makes them.

Landing a job at a prestigious L.A. law firm, complete with a six figure income, signaled the beginning of the good life for Ian Graham. But the harsh reality of life as an associate quickly became evident. The work was grueling and boring, the days were impossibly long, and Graham’s main goal was to rack up billable hours. But when he took an unpaid pro bono case to escape the drudgery, Graham found the meaning in his work that he’d been looking for. As he worked to free Mario Rocha, a gifted young Latino who had been wrongly convicted at 16 and sentenced to life without parole, the shocking contrast between the quest for money and power and Mario’s desperate struggle for freedom led Graham to look long and hard at his future as a corporate lawyer.
Clear-eyed and moving, written with the drama and speed of a Grisham novel and the personal appeal of Scott Turow’s account of his law school years, Unbillable Hours is an arresting personal story with implications for all of us.
A good read, get it now for free.
Monday
Jan102011

Snow in Atlanta 2011: Surveying the Damage

It's Monday morning and the sun is coming up.  Time to survey the damage from last night's winter storm.

It's rare in Atlanta to get some snow that will stick on the ground for more than a couple hours, but we go it last night along with some ice.

The roads are bad and it is very cold out.  The TV news crews are telling people not to go out unless they absolutely have to. 

The worst looks like it is over, but we are stuck inside for the day.

Monday
Jan102011

Georgia at a Standstill

Over 5 inches of snow has shut down schools and businesses in Metro Atlanta this early morning.

This was taken at 11 pm last night.  More has since fallen.

A little more snow and some freezing rain is in the forecast for today.  Roads are dicey and motorists are advised to keep the cars parked today and be safe.

Sunday
Jan092011

RickLimpert.info Picture of the Week: Mademoiselle Mahut

Leave it to a French guy to wear a dress...

It seems like the 11 hour marathon match at Wimbledon against John Isner did something to Nicholas Mahut's brain. 

Well maybe not, but Mahut is becoming known as one of the best sports in tennis and he's on his way to becoming the "Clown Prince of Tennis."  I guess you could say the Meadowlark Lemon of tennis.

Here is is this past week playing an exhibition mixed doubles match at the Hopman Cup in Australia against Isner and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.  Mahut borrowed one of his partner's outfits to play a set of mixed.

I love the Mattek-Sands socks and the pink headband is the topper.

Unless he gets a last-minute wildcard, he will have to go through qualifying to play in the Australian Open.  Good luck to Mahut.

Here's Isner and Mahut back at Wimbledon, with Mahut in shorts and not a dress.

Sunday
Jan092011

CES Comeback Company of the Year Award: Polaroid

An AudioBoo preview:

Listen!

 

For generations, Polaroid was regarded as one of the most trusted, well-respected and recognizable brands when it comes to instant photography. The Polaroid story began more than 70 years ago with polarized sunglasses, which then evolved into instant film, cameras, and camera accessories, marking the beginning of the well recognized Polaroid Classic Border Logo. In recent years, the brand has expanded into other consumer electronics categories as the name Polaroid has been rebranded and reintroduced into the public's consciousness.

I became acquainted with Polaraid again on Christmas Day, 2010.  My wife's 13-year old cousin was showing off his new Polaroid PoGo printer.  The PoGo is a hand-held mini printer that lets you print from your camera cell phone or digital camera with ZINK Zero Ink Printing Technology from ZINK Imaging.  Yes, that's right, no ink!  The pictures you print are small and aren't that sharp in resolution, but the technology here is fantastic. 

What else was Polaroid up to as CES 2011?  Actually, quite a lot.

Lady Gaga. 

Polaroid's selection of pop icon Lady Gaga as their new creative director last year has now borne fruit, and at least a third of the product line is every bit as weird as you might expect. The Polarez GL20 sunglasses contain a built-in camera and two 1.7" OLED screens that can immediately display the photos you're taking — smack dab in the middle of your poker face.

You will be able to upload photos to the web right from the glasses, which will be available during the 2011 holiday season. In the video above it looks like the two screens might potentially obscure your actual vision while wearing the glasses, but Polaroid says they actually sit just below your usual field of view.

The other two announced products from Gaga's new Polaroid Grey Label are actually rather inspired: a completely re-invented Polaroid instant camera experience with the GL30, and an instant mobile printer dubbed the Polaprinter GL10. Using an inkless technology called ZINK, the GL10 connects to almost any device you can throw at it either directly or via Bluetooth to create prints on the go.

Tablet.

Polaroid is also getting ready to release a tablet.  The Polaroid tablet is 9.7 inches and looks to be staying away from the trend of black rectangular tablets, by being closer to a 4:3 ratio, than the more common 16:9 ratio form factor that we’ve been seeing throughout the show, though it is still black. Here are the specs:

Cortex A8 1GHz processor
4GB internal storage
2 megapixel camera
6800 mAH battery

If this does come out, I expect it to be an inexpensive tablet, and it may be ore of a hit overseas than in North America.

Quotes from the show:

"As we introduce a line of revolutionary new products, we're excited to give our old and new fans around the world multiple ways to connect with the Made In Polaroid movement here at CES," said Scott W. Hardy, President of Polaroid. "Our CES lineup reflects Polaroid's rich 73-year legacy as the innovator of instant photography and celebrates the global community that's supporting Polaroid's incredible cultural resurgence. Nothing can compare to the originality and relevance of the Polaroid instant experience. Our mission is to inject that Polaroid experience across the digital and physical worlds."

“These glasses can be worn in public, you can walk around, you can take them to a club, take them to a show or mine, take pictures while I sing on stage,” Gaga joked as she talked about her new Polaroidline to the engaged audience.

Polaroid CEO Bobby Sager said about Gaga's glasses, “this product is absolutely and completely inspired by [Lady Gaga].”

"Lady Gaga's GL30: it actually looks something like an old-fashioned Polaroid camera, with its boxy, tapered shape. It is, of course, a digital camera that also prints 3x4 inch prints using Polaroid's ZINK technology. Pictures can be reviewed on a screen near the viewfinder before they are printed (only 10 blank pictures come in each pack). Best part: you can add in white border around you image to give it that vintage Polaroid look, when printed."

Polaroid's products may not be the most highend gadgets you see at CES, but they are different, and it's good to see this company still churning out some gadgets for us to enjoy.