PinnedThe Road Not Traveled: We Need an On-Ramp for InnovationWe seem to be moving towards a national industrial policy. Part of that is an effort to promote innovation in health care. President Biden has created the Advanced Research Projects Agency — Health (ARPA-H), following the pattern of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to foster a renewed inventiveness in…Industrial Policy4 min readIndustrial Policy4 min read
PinnedCovid Vaccines: We Were Doing Great. What Happened?March 4, 2021, was my day of liberation. I got my second Covid vaccination that day. While it would still be two weeks for the inoculation to reach full effect, I could finally see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. At least for me. Not for most…Covid 194 min readCovid 194 min read
PinnedWhat’s the Opposite of Defund?“Defund the police” has become a divisive term hurled from right to left and left to right. As a rallying cry for partisans, it’s having its season. Its meaning, however, is often determined by the hurler, usually as an invective rather than part of a discussion. Perhaps we need to…Defundthepolice4 min readDefundthepolice4 min read
PinnedFalling ForwardChapter 1 -28:17:18:37 Sheila Pennington watched as dawn sunlight struck the far edge of the clearing about 400 feet away. She was drinking the last of her morning coffee as she sat in a wildlife blind on the edge of the Sanctuary’s compound. She often greeted the dawn from the…Science Fiction21 min readScience Fiction21 min read
Jul 30, 2022Why You Want an Electric VehicleI began my journey towards EVs when I got my first hybrid car, a 2008 Toyota Prius. I liked its fuel mileage, usually in the upper 40s and often north of 50 miles per gallon. Soon we had two of them, but the second was totaled in a crash (no…Evs6 min readEvs6 min read
Jul 7, 2022Are We in an Echo Chamber?(Beware the following is a codger’s rant.) As I age — yes, I’m old — I get the feeling that I’ve seen this show before. Just today, the New York Times had two stories that took me back decades. The first about…Crime And Punishment3 min readCrime And Punishment3 min read
Mar 15, 2022$329.69 … Fraud So FarThe following is an extract of my report to my financial institution about fraudulent transactions facilitated by the Square company. I’d be happy if they policed their transactions more diligently and allowed outsiders to report these incidents without becoming members. Additional Dispute Information Please provide the following information to expedite your request. Have…Online Fraud2 min readOnline Fraud2 min read
Feb 18, 2022Why are you emailing me?[The following quotes are from email messages I have received just in the past week. My thoughts reside within the square brackets.] I’ll be honest [You mean you lie at all other times? Do you really need to announce your honesty?] Humbly asking… [Really? You’re running for the US Senate…Spam2 min readSpam2 min read
Jan 19, 2022Terms of (Mis)UseI teach as an adjunct faculty member at a well-known state university. At the moment, I’m only offering one course per term, so as you can imagine, I have some unstructured time to write ruminations such as this one. Today, I received an email from the university leadership that it…Authentication4 min readAuthentication4 min read
Jan 15, 2022When Did Errors Start Getting Numbers?We have all seen these messages. The latest for me was from Allstate Insurance. They sent me an email saying that I had a new insurance document in MyBenefits (a subsite that offers access to your policies, claims, and other information like mysterious and vaguely threatening changes to your policy)…Url3 min readUrl3 min read
