Winners and Losers
Our son (#23, center rear of photo) played basketball for a Christian High School in Colorado. Several of their league rivals were also Christian schools. Before every game, both teams would take a knee in the locker room and pray. The ensuing games were intense, competitive, and often close. Only one team won. After the […]
“My God, What Have We Done?”
Atomic bombs are in the news of late. Last year we marked the 70th anniversary of the first use of the A-Bomb on Hiroshima. A treaty intended to keep Iran from getting one is still being argued on Capitol Hill. All eyes are on North Korea, where Supreme Dictator Kim Jong-un grows ever closer to […]
U, Robot
Artificial people are not a new thing. To be clear, I am not talking about non-human legal entities, nor do I mean the sort of folk you meet at cocktail parties who can talk for hours without saying anything. Here I refer only to people whose creators are other technically skilled people. This notion of […]
Thinking Outside the Book
As I was growing up, we had a kindly old family doctor who would make house calls if you couldn’t come to his office (yes, I’m that old). When he retired, his son took over the practice and took care of me during my anxiety-ridden teenage years. There was a time when I had difficulty […]
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 […]
Creep
If you’re an engineer, creep is the slow, permanent deformation of a body resulting from the continued application of heat or stress. If you’re a regular human, it might signify stealthy movement, or perhaps a detestable person. To a select few, Creep is a song from Radiohead’s Pablo Honey album. The fact that a creep […]
For the Memories
Memory is not to be trusted. It is unpredictable, frustratingly fleeting, and only gets worse with age. It will forever cling tightly to useless facts and yet misplace the freshest, most essential ones. I can remember my childhood phone number, the tune and lyrics to Let It Be, and most of the Gettysburg Address, and […]
3.61 Degrees of Separation
That basketball game you really wanted to see is sold out? Relax, I have connections. You want the best price on a new car? No problem, my brother-in-law works at the dealership. Frustrated in your job search? Forget about patrolling the Internet – “networking” is to modern employment what “plastics” was to Benjamin. From entertainment […]
Stuff Happens When You Fool Mother Nature
Butter is milk fat that is rapidly converted by the body into people fat. Butter had been around for 4000 years with no real competition until 1869, when French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès horrified American dairy farmers with his patented, lower-priced spread known as margarine. Frantic political lobbying and prohibitive licensing fees ensued. Margarine was blamed […]
God’s Analytics
For anyone who’s ever written for the web, Analytics are everything. If you are an amateur, Analytics feed your ego and if you are a pro, Analytics feed your paycheck (and your ego). One of the most reliable ways to take the pulse of our culture and measure what we are collectively thinking about is […]
