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Obsolete
I remember when I got my first pager. Pagers were for special people who must always be available in an emergency, and so I felt important. The feeling was short-lived. I soon realized that it could...
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How Convenient
Things don’t always turn out as promised. If you’ve ever waited in a long line at a fast food restaurant or searched all over for a convenience store, you know what I mean. While it’s true that...
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On Second Thought…
My first thought is usually one I’ve shamelessly filched from someone else, a tidbit of conventional wisdom that hijacks my brain immediately after a problem presents itself. I envy people who can...
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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...
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Tech “R” Us
We humans like to measure things. Companies like Survey Monkey (which collects 16 million answers daily) will take nearly any business contact you’ve had and convert it into a number. Over the past...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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Forget About It
Selective memory is well known. For example, I am quite clear on all the mistakes that others around me have made, but I have difficulty recalling my own screw-ups. I’m sure there are smart people...
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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....
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Metathesiophobes Beware
I was born and raised in Southern California and by the time my wife and I had settled our young family in Santa Barbara (aka Paradise), I swore we would never leave. Nine years later we moved to...
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The Rise of Artificial Stupidity
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” – George Carlin Judging from the number of times we use the word “stupid” in our daily discourse, you might conclude that it’s on our...
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The Meaning of Old
Most of us grasp the meaning of “old” but putting it into words can be challenging. When it comes to people who might be old, there are plenty of euphemisms to choose from. Senior, elderly and...
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The Canonical Weekend
A former boss of mine had a well-rehearsed response for any employee who complained they had too much work. There are twenty-one 8-hr workdays in a week, he would say; three in each of the seven...
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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...
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Everything Else
Multi-Tasking is a fantasy. There are plenty of high-energy people out there who say they can Multi-Task, and many a job-seeker has laid claim to this skill in an interview. The truth is, they are...
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Sentient Stuff
Those of us who have worked in the data storage industry often wonder how our computers match up to the processor we carry around in our own heads. Comparisons are difficult to come by – we can...
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The Science of Pretty Much Anything
In the late sixties, I spent several summers working in a gas station. I learned how to rebuild brakes, mount and balance tires, and perform basic maintenance and repair tasks. I also pumped gas....
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The Highlighted Route
It is in our nature as humans to plan. Some of us do it formally, writing down step by step instructions with a well-defined goal in mind. Others plan at a smaller scale, often thinking about step 2...
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It’s Just a Game
I have never been much of a gamer, at least not since PacMan and Space Invaders disappeared from the arcades (shortly before the arcades disappeared from shopping malls, which was not long before...
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