Killer Technology
As a society, we appear to embrace the idea that death is inevitable, and that inflicting it on another is sometimes justified. War, abortion and capital punishment are three examples that come to mind. The latter two form a convenient litmus test for liberal vs. conservative labels. Liberals generally support abortion but oppose […]
No More Britannica
Both of my parents were educators, and my Dad was, in today’s lingo, an early adopter. Our first TV was about the size of a washing machine, with a small, roundish black and white screen. I don’t remember many of the programs we watched, and in those days there weren’t many to remember. We also […]
Peyton Manning’s Layoff Story
Near the peak of the Great Recession, Peyton Manning got laid off. Like millions of Americans before him, he was an aging, highly paid specialist with medical issues. As is often the case, there was a younger, less expensive employee waiting in the wings, ready to bring new energy and skills to the position. […]
Guns on Campus
Do the names Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold ring a bell? Depending on how you look at it, the state of Colorado either has a short memory, or is at the leading edge of the whole Constitutional Rights thing. It was April 20, 1999 when the aforementioned students went on a shooting rampage at Columbine […]
Turd Burgers
Spoiler Alert! If you are eating while reading this, or getting ready for a meal, I suggest you come back another time. At the latest count, there were 6,998,608,412 people on the planet. The United Nations estimates that around 850 million of them will go hungry each day. This presents a serious challenge for both […]
Energy Demand
I drive a 2008 Prius, not because I am on a personal campaign to save the planet, but because gas is $4 a gallon and there are other things I would rather spend my money on. I am always a bit amused when my friends in their all-electric Nissan Leaves (nobody in my neighborhood can […]
Watch What You Eat
The year 1984 came and went with very little fanfare, and only scant reference to George Orwell’s dystopian novel and its predictions of pervasive government surveillance. It certainly isn’t lack of technology that keeps us from realizing George’s vision of the future. Not only do we not trust each other, but we apparently don’t […]
Brown Raises California Taxes
Definition of a politician: A man who can make his wife feel sorry for the girl who left her panties in his glove compartment. Of course politics involves a lot more than just eliciting empathy; success also means appearing mainstream regardless of what stream you happen to be in. Unless you are a […]
Accountability
It is said that your “character” is defined by what you do when you are certain no one is watching. Unfortunately, this only works for you. For everyone else, a company called Taser International now has the answer. Taser has recently announced a tiny camera that can be clipped to, for example, a […]
Green Railguns
Even the U.S. Navy is going green. With all the press that the Tesla is getting lately, it was easy to miss Uncle Sam’s latest foray into electric propulsion. In an effort to preserve the world’s dwindling resources of gunpowder, the Air Warfare and Weapons department of the Office of Naval Research recently demonstrated […]
