Hard as it may be to believe, I had never heard of David Blaine before today. Well, I had seen some of his stunts reported in the press, but didn’t have a name or personality to go with the news stories. But now I do. Blaine talked about endurance at the TedMed conference that was … Continue reading
Question: What has Big Auto learned from Big Tobacco? Answer: Nothing. We now know that Big Tobacco knew of the addictive and harmful medical properties of cigarettes for years but kept that knowledge secret, while publicly denying the facts. That story didn’t have a happy ending for either the Tobacco Industry or their customers. The only … Continue reading
These days there’s no shortage of opinion regarding the size and role of government. But one thing everyone can agree on; corruption has no place in any government. In the USA we are lucky in this regard, but many (usually poor) people in developing countries don’t have that luxury. I’m not talking about the stupidity … Continue reading
I thought that “The End of The World as We Know It” had already taken place earlier this year. And I was right of course, but for the wrong reason. Silly me. “Googled” by Ken Auletta, does describe the end of the world as we know it. But it’s not a financial meltdown, it’s a media … Continue reading
Since the Great Recession started in 2008 the Brits have been at the leading edge of economic engineering. For a while it looked like Gordon Brown was going to get a Nobel Prize in economics, but he peaked too soon. No matter, there’s a second chance for Gordon and it looks promising. In that popular phrase … Continue reading
I pretty much always learn things the hard way, consoling myself with the hope that this time I’ll really remember the lesson. Since, statistically speaking, I’m older than the average blog reader I thought I’d pass along some of this hard-earned wisdom. Today’s lesson is to remember and try to Always Ask The Right Question. I’ve discovered … Continue reading
As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in the Bronx during the 50’s. We had all the modern conveniences. Like Good Humor Ice Cream delivered daily in the summer down at the corner. Served up by the Good Humor Man himself. Otherwise known as some kid with a summer job, but at the time he … Continue reading
And I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the Devil. Let’s start with the 10% part. From an interview published in the WSJ with Bonnie Bassler, microbial geneticist at Princeton University: … scientists are learning that microbes interact with humans in complex and often-useful ways. For starters, humans have one trillion cells of their own, … Continue reading
TMI (“Too Much Information”) Syndrome now has a Big Brother, and he’s called “Lifelog“. The term Lifelog was coined by Gordon Bell, and it refers to the concept of recording everything you are exposed to every day; and I mean everything. We are on the cusp of realizing the digital equivalent (as I predicted) of the … Continue reading
I’ve gotta admit to being surprised by this chart from the Economist showing that there are now 3 times more mobile phones in the developing world than the developed world. Mobile-phone subscriptions in poorer countries accounted for just a quarter of the global stock in 2000, but had risen to three-quarters of the 4 billion … Continue reading
I never heard of the Collyer Brothers until recently. A regrettable gap in my knowledge-base. Turns out that Disposophobia or ‘Collyer brothers syndrome’, is a fear of throwing anything away. Imagine, being nutty enough to have something named after you. And these brothers certainly achieved nutty enough. They over-achieved actually. They were found dead in … Continue reading