Not A Mystery
About Life
First or Second Amendment Protection, Take Your Pick
An article in today’s NY Times reported on violence at a recent Donald Trump rally, with clashes between Trump supporters and protestors. When I first glanced at this picture, I thought these guys were holding cans of pepper spray, or tasers. But closer inspection shows no less than 6 cellphones, all locked and loaded. Cellphones … Continue reading
All Apple Music Needs Is A Kitchen Sink
Last year Tim Cook disparaged Microsoft’s effort to merge its tablet and desktop products, saying: “You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those aren’t going to be pleasing to the user.” Tim, I love you, but a toaster-fridge would be more pleasing to me than the current controls on Apple’s Music App. Here’s one example that … Continue reading
Better Than Trump, The Ultimatium Brand
Donald Trump eat your heart out. The Trump Brand is pretty good, but its “sell-by” date is not infinite. On the other hand, the American chemist Glenn Seaborg and his team at Lawrence Berkeley Lab created a series of “Brands” in the 40’s that will live (literally) forever. As described in this National Geographic blog post by Robert Krulwich, they … Continue reading
This Is Not A Bill
While I can’t say that René Magritte is my favorite artist, several of his works resonate. Of those, the one at the top of my list would be “The Son of Man”, which figures prominently in the film “The Thomas Crown Affair”, and reminds me how I felt when I worked for a living. Next … Continue reading
Today’s Low Carb Tip: Flat Iron Steak
Let’s talk about Flat Iron Steak, a fantastic cut of meat I’m ashamed to admit I only discovered recently, and which might offset the hit your household budget will take from De-Sheeting. Traditionally this steak was used strictly for hamburger, but in 2002 some researchers at the Universities of Nebraska and Florida figured out that it … Continue reading
With Apologies to Karl Popper
Minimalist Signage or Performance Art? We think the elevator will go to all other floors, but we don’t really know. See also “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholos Taleb.
Wow, So I’m A “Guest”?
I’ve had glimpses of alternate reality before, but this morning’s peek was truly frightening. A spokesman for one of our major airlines referred to their customers as “guests“. All I can say is, I will have whatever he’s having…
How About A Little Bit Of Respect For The USPS
It’s time to give our much maligned United States Postal Service some respect. Yes. Really. If you haven’t noticed, sending a package thru the Post Office is cheaper and faster than using either UPS or FedEx. Yes. Really. The problem, historically, was that once you turned your package over to USPS, it got disappeared into an … Continue reading
Bank of America, Now Channeling Peanuts
Every year Lucy tells Charlie Brown that she’ll hold the football for him while he kicks it. We all know how that works out. This week I felt like Charlie Brown, with Bank of America holding the football. The football was my new Bank of America Debit card, which arrived in the mail appearing to be an EMV CHIP and PIN card. Wow, I’ve been … Continue reading
We Are All PIN-Heads, If You Believe The Bankers
After a series of ever more serious data breaches, and millions of identities stolen, the banking industry promised to introduce credit cards with advanced security features this year. Just Another Fantasy. Turns out that instead of introducing ‘Chip and PIN’, they are going with ‘Chip and Signature’. Which may sound equally secure, but is in fact, a real meh. As reported … Continue reading
Are You Facebook’s Bitch?
No. This blog post is not about the recent revelation that Facebook tweeked news feeds to see if that would change user emotions. Compared to what we read about in the real world every day, that would have about as much impact as peeing in the ocean. Rather, we are here to discuss another ‘experiment’ brought … Continue reading
Not A Mystery 