Sensors and Effectors
The human body is a marvelous piece of work – an intricate network of 206 bones, 900 ligaments, 4000 tendons, 100 organs, and more than 600 muscles (about 40% of the body’s total mass) It is serviced by a vast plumbing arrangement of veins, arteries and capillaries totaling around 60,000 miles. Input from 5 familiar […]
One More Thing
Everyone loves a good saying. Aphorisms – those terse statements instilled with a modicum of truth – are a popular part of our language. The term originated with Greek physician Hippocrates who once aphorized, “To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy.” Ironically, he is also regarded as the Father of Medicine. The more aphorisms […]
A Line in the Silicon
During the siege of the Alamo in 1836, Lt. Col. William Travis is said to have drawn a line in the sand with his sword, imploring those who were willing to defend the fort to step across. While the story itself has since been debunked, it was good enough to insert the phrase “a line […]
All Is Not Forgotten
Ninety-five percent of all lab animals are mice or rats. Without them, we humans would be in pretty bad shape. They have been used as models for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer’s and a host of other human maladies. If you’ve ever been cured with a medication prescribed by a doctor, odds are you […]
Easier is Better
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” (Friedrich Nietzsche) We love inspirational quotes to help us through challenging times, and this is one of the classics. My late father had another favorite -“Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things” (Henry Ward Beecher). The common theme in these […]
Bend Me, Shape Me
“Bend me, shape me Anyway you want me Long as you love me It’s all right Bend me, shape me Anyway you want me You got the power to turn on the light”* I’ll give you the compressed version of this for now since I don’t have the bandwidth for more. If you are still […]
Class of ’04
“People who have so much of their personality invested in the Internet can’t really survive as whole individuals without it.” Mark A.Rayner – The Fridgularity Good technology is assimilated effortlessly into our daily tasks. This is why automobile turn signals are always controlled by a lever mounted on the steering column, and never by a […]
Zipperbot
Marvel Comics currently has 10 characters with names beginning in “Z”, but Zipperbot is not one of them. The ability to automatically unzip might pass for a super-power in some settings but that was not what the team at MIT had in mind. In a world where robots can put out fires, respond to disasters, […]
What People Think of You
“People who say they don’t care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don’t care what people think.” – George Carlin In the business world, just like in the real world, people are your number one resource. Changing “Personnel Department” to “Human Resources” wasn’t just a cheap re-branding ploy; it really […]
Buzz-Kill Tech
For those who are not up to speed on the latest jargon, here is a working definition of “buzz-kill.” The “buzz” – You meet an attractive woman in a bar. You buy her a beer. When you smile and clink bottles, they light up and begin flashing in synch to the music. She laughs in […]
