The End of Eleven
One of the funniest movies ever made, “This is Spinal Tap”, is a mockumentary about a failing heavy metal band. At one point in the film, guitarist Nigel is explaining his amplifier to a filmmaker who is doing a piece on the band. “It’s very special, because, as you can see–the numbers all go […]
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 […]
Review: Target Funding by Kedma Ough
The cover image of Target Funding by Kedma Ough – an arrow hitting a conventional target – makes sense but doesn’t do justice to the vast array of funding sources that she is about to reveal; perhaps a needle in a haystack would be more accurate. Although there are multitudes of funding opportunities out there, […]
Forget About It
Selective memory is well known. For example, I am quite clear on all the mistakes that others around me have made, but I have difficulty recalling my own screw-ups. I’m sure there are smart people who can explain the reasons for this. My own increasing tendency to forget stuff in general is of more immediate […]
Reality Check
Reality can be disappointing. Self-help books and motivational speakers tell us the answer is to set ambitious goals and reach for the stars. When the results don’t meet our expectations, disappointment soon follows. There are many ways of dealing with this. In the 60’s, one answer was to give up on reality completely and settle […]
Cyber Smart by Bart McDonough (review by Paul W. Smith)
Each of us has a unique relationship with our things – especially stuff like smartphones, tablets, laptops, connected cars and all the sundry members of the Internet of Things family. We may see these as a means of making our lives simpler and more comfortable, or perhaps as tangible proof that we are affluent and […]
Buttons That Don’t Work
It’s been over 50 years now since George Jetson and his Orbit City lifestyle debuted as the first program broadcast in color on ABC-TV. George lived in the Skypad Apartments with his wife Jane and their two children, Judy and Elroy. His work week consisted of an hour a day, two days a week, where […]
Review: The Punk Rock of Business by Jeremy Dale
Initially I was put off by the title and cover of this book. The business book genre is quite saturated, and at first this seemed like a lame attempt at differentiation. As it turns out, the Punk Rock analogy is perfect, both for the generation that understands what Punk is all about, and for those […]
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 […]
Brain Drain
Is a Beagle’s brain bigger than a golf ball? (NOTE: if you own a Beagle, you are hereby recused). Once upon a time, a question like this would lead to some serious cognitive calisthenics. Beagles are infamously difficult to train, but how does canine intelligence relate to brain size? Beagles are one of the smaller […]
