Tag: General nonsense

A lot of what passes as creativity is just combining things that aren’t normally combined. For example, my parents are in town this week, at the same time the iPad was launched, which made me think a lot about the physical form that products take. And because of the iPad…

I wonder what kind of tricks the CIA is using against Al Qaeda these days.If I were in the CIA, I would try to flood the terrorist communication channels with false orders. Some of the false orders would be simple stuff, such as “Everyone gather by the big rock and…

Humans are obsessed with their weight. I think a big part of that obsession is the simple fact that weight is easy to measure. Scales are relatively cheap, accurate enough, and sitting right on the floor next to your shower when you need them. And you don’t even need a…

Technically, you’re already a cyborg. If you keep your cell phone with you most of the time, especially if the earpiece is in place, I think we can call that arrangement an exobrain. Don’t protest that your cellphone isn’t part of your body just because you can leave it in…

What’s the coolest thing you own? And by coolest I mean the object that makes you just a little bit happy every time you think about it, but not because of any sentimental value. Maybe it looks cool, or it works really well. You decide. This isn’t an advertisement, in…

What the world needs is software that makes it easy for senior citizens to use e-mail. Assisted living facilities for seniors already have computers. But how many 80-year olds can navigate Gmail or Outlook? What we need is software that acts as a “mask” and sits on top of, for…

There’s a natural limit to how happy a person can be at work. If work becomes fun, your boss will stop paying you to do it and start charging other people to have that fun in your place. So let’s agree that work has to be a little bit unpleasant,…

Shopping is broken. In the fifties, if you wanted to buy a toaster, you only had a few practical choices. Maybe you went to the nearest department store and selected from the three models available. Or maybe you found your toaster in the Sears catalog. In a way, you were…

I saw in the news today that The United States is going to withdraw most of its military forces from Afghanistan. Okay, the news didn’t say that in so many words. But they did say, “The cat is on the roof,” which means the same thing. Allow me to explain…

Researchers tell us that we find other humans beautiful when those hotties appear as if they could produce healthy offspring. In other words, our minds translate the perception of species survival utility into the perception of beauty. I wonder if survival utility is the ONLY thing we find beautiful about…

It’s hard to be a teenager and get away with anything these days. Parents can determine from the phone bill who the teens have texted and when. Parents can even read the teen’s text messages if the phone is left unattended. Parents can see e-mail messages, check what web sites…

I’m fascinated by the debate over fixing/expanding the healthcare system in the United States. The issue is so complex that people understandably fall back on basic philosophies of the free market system to reach an opinion. For example, if you think the government tends to screw up everything it touches,…

Lately I have been looking at the moon and wondering if it will someday kill me. If I live another 50 years (which is entirely possible) I assume I will eventually be a robot, having shed my old skin and bones body and uploaded a scanned and digitized version of…

Recently I had an idea that seemed patentable. I’ve been through the patent process a few times, once successfully, but it has been a number of years. So I wondered what it would cost to run my new idea through the system. What do you think it costs to use…

As regular readers know, I believe that the most likely explanation for our existence is that we’re holographic computer simulations created by humans who came before us. And we don’t appear to be randomized. It seems as if there are clear themes to every life, as if we are programmed…