The Hidden History of Big Brother in America by Thom Hartmann – A Review
Companies like Facebook-Meta and Google are under increasing scrutiny as we have come to realize that our personal information and browsing habits are the highly profitable product that they are selling. In his book “The Hidden History of Big Brother in America”, radio host and best-selling author Thom Hartmann shows us how the consequences of […]
A Few of My Favorite Things
One of my favorite things, particularly in this pandemic-era of working from home, has to be the Internet. It is also one of my least favorite things. The reason it made both of my lists is not complicated, and perhaps best explained by this metaphor – the Internet is like the most extensive library on […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Mysteries
“Mysteries abound where most we seek for answers.” – Ray Bradbury There are good mysteries and bad mysteries. If you are relaxing next to the pool with a best-selling mystery novel, that’s good. If your doctor is baffled by your “mysterious” symptoms, that’s bad. Puzzling mysteries can be challenging, frustrating, or even concerning. Since […]
