Many of my friends and coworkers own iPads. I do not. I don’t have anything against Apple, in fact I love their products. I agree that the iPad is an engineering marvel, both of hardware and software. It’s elegant. It’s responsive. It’s just plain fun to play with. But I don’t own one. I don’t [...]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Stanislav Petrov Day
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Many people say Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November. I disagree. If there is any day of the year on which to give thanks, it is September 26th. Why? Today is the 27th anniversary of when Stanislav Petrov chose not to destroy the world. When an early warning system reported the Americans had launched [...]
Good Design in a Boring Appliance
Friday, April 16, 2010
I’m impressed enough with a rice cooker that I’m writing about it. Yes, I think that’s weird, even for me. Rice cookers are boring, right? That’s what I thought when I ordered one last month. When I pulled the thing out of the box I was impressed with how pretty it was. Then I was [...]
Beggars
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Living in a large city, I’m sometimes approached by people asking for money. I politely refuse, since I can’t be sure they’ll spend it on something helpful. For all I know they could use it to buy alcohol or other drugs. Still, I feel guilty about not helping these people. Recently I adopted a policy [...]
Deal or No Deal is a waste of an hour.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
My mother always liked the show Deal or No Deal, and I noticed it’s airing again this week. I don’t have a problem with the actual game show program, just NBC’s implementation. First, the show is incredibly drawn out. Also, the show relies on suspense to keep viewers watching through the commercials. The optimal strategy [...]
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