Coin of the Realm
Your brain is a greedy little fellow. Although it comprises only 2% of your body weight, it consumes 20% of the oxygen supply. Deprived of oxygen for a mere one minute, it’s cells will begin to die off and two minutes later, serious permanent damage will have occurred. Oxygen is number one on Maslow’s hierarchy […]
One More Thing
Everyone loves a good saying. Aphorisms – those terse statements instilled with a modicum of truth – are a popular part of our language. The term originated with Greek physician Hippocrates who once aphorized, “To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy.” Ironically, he is also regarded as the Father of Medicine. The more aphorisms […]
It’s Just a Game
I have never been much of a gamer, at least not since PacMan and Space Invaders disappeared from the arcades (shortly before the arcades disappeared from shopping malls, which was not long before shopping malls went out of favor). I have played Call of Duty a few times, but without my son’s Med Kit to […]
The Canonical Weekend
A former boss of mine had a well-rehearsed response for any employee who complained they had too much work. There are twenty-one 8-hr workdays in a week, he would say; three in each of the seven 24-hour days. If you are only using five out of those twenty-one, you are clearly just lazy. Although the […]
Short Attention Spans
I once came across some of my old grade school report cards. In those days the teacher wrote a detailed assessment, in longhand, of each child’s good traits along with those that needed improvement. My mother would send them back with her own mini-essay and a promise to work on the issues. Penmanship was always […]
Sampling Error
Sampling error is a useful tool in the hands of anyone who routinely gathers data, which is pretty much anyone. It has great value for two-year olds, who spend nearly all of their waking hours collecting data about the world. It is equally as valuable to adult scientists whose working hours are generally spent recording […]
The Revenge of the Anti-Drunks
We humans tend to oversimplify things; ergo there are only two kinds of people. The nerds embrace technology, and the Luddites oppose it. We are certain we understand the distinction, but we are wrong. The appellation nerd is so entwined with our culture that it is nearly impossible to pin down the exact origin or […]
Digital is Not Always the Answer
In my basement, I still have a box of vinyl records and another of cassette tapes. Nearby are some shoeboxes full of photos, and a stack of 35mm slide carousels. Next to these is a rack with some 3-ring binders stuffed with lecture notes which I used when I stood before a class of anxious […]
Just Build Something
The mention of Thomas Edison may provoke thoughts of creative energy and invention, but his real contribution to America’s emergence as a world superpower stems from manufacturing. In 1892, he founded General Electric, which today is the last of the original industrial firms to remain listed on the Dow Jones Index. During its storied history, […]
Jesus’s Wife
His biography is a bestseller, and often when a difficult decision arises, His name is in the conversation. Scholars pounce on every shred of news about His life, like the paparazzi on Brad Pitt. A few years back, the headlines involved a scrap of papyrus the size of a business card; on it, Jesus refers […]