Everything Else
Multi-Tasking is a fantasy. There are plenty of high-energy people out there who say they can Multi-Task, and many a job-seeker has laid claim to this skill in an interview. The truth is, they are lying. Humans can only do one thing at a time. Our modern tools have propagated the Multi-Tasking myth. Our Smart-TV’s […]
Common Sense
According to the Internet, the phrase “Common sense is not so common” originated with a Frenchman – Francois-Marie Arouet – who was a leading figure during the Age of Enlightenment. Francois, who had a knack for catchy phrases, began writing them at the age of 12. Eighteenth Century authorities were not always amused, and he […]
Empathy: A Requiem
It was the summer of 1977 when I drove with my fiancé’s younger brother to the Hollywood Boulevard Walk-of-Fame. Neither of us was that impressed with the famous names on the sidewalk; we were there to stand in line at Mann’s Chinese Theater for the very first Star Wars movie. These were the days when […]
One Thing Leads to Another
When I meet someone for the first time and tell them that I do research for a living, I know exactly what they are thinking – I don’t actually do anything, and I get paid for it. One of the most audacious research efforts in recent memory, NASA’s Space Program led to the now legendary […]
The Meaning of Old
Most of us grasp the meaning of “old” but putting it into words can be challenging. When it comes to people who might be old, there are plenty of euphemisms to choose from. Senior, elderly and senior citizen come to mind, while terms like curmudgeon or geezer are available when appropriate. According to Webster’s, old […]
The Mother of Invention
I once sat on a plane at Phoenix airport waiting to return home at the end of a business trip. The pilot announced that our flight was delayed due to a problem with the flaps, a detail which qualified as TMI (i.e., “too much information”) judging from the anxiety it caused among the passengers. Those […]
The Rise of Artificial Stupidity
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” – George Carlin Judging from the number of times we use the word “stupid” in our daily discourse, you might conclude that it’s on our minds a lot. It should come as no surprise that Merriam-Webster has numerous definitions for stupid. We have all vilified […]
Metathesiophobes Beware
I was born and raised in Southern California and by the time my wife and I had settled our young family in Santa Barbara (aka Paradise), I swore we would never leave. Nine years later we moved to Niwot, Colorado (aka God’s Country). The scripted answer to “Why?” centered on a job offer that was […]
Entangled
If you’re a Network Data Professional and you walk into the server room to find this, you know it will not be a good day. It’s as though the word “entangle” (verb – “to twist together or entwine into a confusing mass”) was coined just for this. Another word commonly used for this situation cannot […]
Just the Facts
“The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.” Anyone who can still remember the sixties will recognize this as the tagline for the TV drama Dragnet. For four seasons beginning in 1967, Sergeant Joe Friday and his sidekick Officer Bill Gannon investigated crimes in the […]
