A Do-It-Yourself BS Detector
Both of my parents were educators, and reading was a common pastime in my family. Dad subscribed to U.S. News and World Report, the Los Angeles Times and the Pasadena Star News. When we got a TV, his favorite news provider was Walter Cronkite. For those too young to remember, Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening […]
The Wilkes Insurrection by Robbie Bach: A Review
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” These words from Abraham Lincoln came at a time when our Nation was at its most divided point in history – a time when differences ran so deep that we were literally at war with one another. The dangerous divisiveness that exists in America today is fertile ground […]
The Technology of Abolishing Jobs
“I will be the greatest jobs President that God ever created.” @POTUS Donald Trump campaigned with this and won, partially due to the job-loss-induced frustration in places like the Rust Belt. Building a border wall and introducing import tariffs will help some, but they won’t fix the problem. Technology is the real villain, and many […]
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 […]
Not So Super
For some, a flop is a Broadway play that didn’t do well at the box office. For others, the term conjures the vision of a high-jumper executing the ubiquitous Fosbury technique. For the scientific elite, it is an acronym for Floating Point Operation. The appeal of modern computers is basically two-fold; they can automate the […]
Big Data Politics
If you are anything like me, you are getting pretty fed up with all the political messages that are clogging your email inbox. A lot of people would like to blame Obama for this, but then a lot of people would like to blame Obama for everything. The truth is, the Republicans were the first […]
Our Heart Isn’t In It
When I was in high school, the cool thing was to cruise Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Although cruising was technically illegal, there was a Bob’s Big Boy hamburger joint at each end of the route, so you could always safely tell a cop you were on your way to Bob’s. One of the first items […]
Obama Beer
President Obama has been a bit reluctant to say much about his accomplishments after six years in office. He has cherry-picked a few good ones, but seems always on the defensive, afraid to open the door too wide to GOP criticism. He’s talked a bit about foreign policy achievements (traditionally a Republican strength) and occasionally […]
Marijuana Cures Cancer
A couple of San Francisco scientists announced what may prove to be a breakthrough in cancer research. It turns out that marijuana, which molecular biologists refer to as “cannabis” to improve their odds of getting funded, contains a promising substance called Cannabidiol. CBD, for short, is non-toxic, non-psychoactive, and capable of turning off the genetic […]
Rare Earths and China
Most of you reading this already understand that rare earths are not hard-to-find potting soils; they are exotic materials like cerium, neodymium or dysprosium, that have been key to the development of such diverse products as advanced optics, computer hard disk drives, and hybrid automobiles. While environmental concerns were shutting down RE mines in […]
