My Happiest MomentIn 1982, I had to outride a storm to reach safety. The outcome was a high point in my life.Feb 15Feb 15
Cirque de ConsolationThis is a tale about, among other things, morels, those dark and tasty mushrooms that cost maybe fifty bucks a pound, if you can get them…Feb 12Feb 12
A Discontinuity That’s Certain, and Probably NegativeFour possible economic outcomes of the election: status quo, disruption, deregulation, or recession, all divergent and depending on who…Oct 7, 2024Oct 7, 2024
What This Country Needs is …We were hiking along the West Highland Way when we ran into an old fashioned conservative Republican. She felt she had nowhere to go.Aug 17, 20241Aug 17, 20241
Safety ValveIn which we deputize a coconspirator as insurance against our plan possibly going sidewaysJun 21, 2024Jun 21, 2024
Coats and Ties Can’t Hide the Nature of Adolescent BoysIn which a bad boy and chaos architect is expelled from an elite school but still gets the last laugh.Jun 10, 2024Jun 10, 2024
The Missing Voice Of Charlie HebdoA chance discovery of a French satirical writer and political cartoonist leads to a lifelong inquiry into the nature of free expression.Jun 6, 2024Jun 6, 2024
High DesertGetting out of L.A. wasn’t hard. In the early 1970s, drivers still tended to pick up hitchhikers. But the empty desert lay ahead.Dec 5, 20233Dec 5, 20233
All This China Bashing is Just a SmokescreenIt’s fashionable these days to dump on China, but some of the bashers have hidden motives.Jun 28, 20231Jun 28, 20231
Penetrating the Dissimulations of Microsoft and GoogleBroken Outlook email won’t let you view active content from fancy senders, but try to get Microsoft to own up to that or Google to help…May 17, 2023May 17, 2023
The Enshittification of Google ProceedsIf you follow Doctorow’s theory, we’re just before the part where the platform dies.Apr 26, 2023Apr 26, 2023
Qualcomm Open a Comms Frontier in SpaceWith satellite capability, someone lost in Yosemite could send an S.O.S. or the phone itself could be located by emergency responders.Mar 1, 2023Mar 1, 2023
Published inArtificial Intelligence in Plain EnglishSpecialized Accelerators on Die Will Bring AI to the MassesE.g. A small server in a restaurant can take input from a camera, recognize an individual, and prepopulate an order or means of payment.Feb 13, 2023Feb 13, 2023
Published inArtificial Intelligence in Plain EnglishI asked ChatGPT, “Do snakes miss their arms?”It said: Snakes do not have arms, and therefore do not have the ability to miss them.Feb 9, 20231Feb 9, 20231
I Wanted Charles Atlas RibsA fragment of familial memory is revealed when a child’s wish for a more powerful body is recalled.Jan 30, 2023Jan 30, 2023
Intel Woos Software Developers at Freshly Minted ConferenceAt InnovatiON, Intel touted software, its developers, AI, the new foundry, and Mobileye as well as its traditional hardware business.Oct 3, 2022Oct 3, 2022
