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Marking a Half Century…
Today, May 10, I turn 50. Like many milestones it was both looked forward to and dreaded at the same time. I was working on a long, sappy, post, but screw that. I kind of remember turning 30. I was working at Read Rite as a process engineer, having fun, but still felt young. Life…
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WordPress musings
My first flirtation with WordPress was in 2009, and I have been a regular user since. It has mostly been an enjoyable experience. Initially, I created a free site on wordpress.com, and quickly dove into the self hosted solution. Early on (pre 2.0 era) I got hacked. Entirely because I used sketchy plugins from authors…
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Passing of the torch – EA Sports Pro Tour
I have an Xbox 360, I play only two games with any regularity, Forza Motorsports, and the Tiger Woods Golf franchise (actually, I play that with my wife, and we enjoy it). I haven’t kept up with the franchise lately, because the 2012 edition was pretty good, and we really didn’t feel the need to…
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Saying goodbye to a friend – Braun Oral B 3D
In 2003, shortly after moving to Tucson, we got a pair of Oral B 3D electric toothbrushes. I was hesitant of this new fangled technology, but since we had them I used it. Then a strange thing happened … I liked it. At first it had just the standard brush heads, the round ones. As…
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Innumeracy and the cult of anti-vax
The last post was about an innate understanding of scale and scope, and how this lead to a general understanding of magnitudes. A real world example, and one that is top of the news lately is the whole “anti-vaccine” movement. This is the increasing tendency to choose to not vaccinate your children due to the…
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Numeracy, the common sense of numbers
When I was in school, calculators were new enough, that they really weren't something that the average student had. They were expensive, and quite limited. Hence, we learnt how to do arithmetic with pencil and paper. In those days, the lesson plans were written to be approachable in a reasonable time frame to students to…
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Blacklist – TV Show
Netflix has sabotaged my time again. This time with the drama “Blacklist)”, a show about a US Naval Officer who dropped off the grid, going rogue and criminal, and then becoming a high value informer for the government. Spoiler alert: if you haven’t watched, and are interested, you might want to stop here and move…
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Vietnam in HD – History Channel series
I love Netflix streaming. There is a constant stream of recommended shows that are hit and miss. One, “Aliens on the Moon, the Truth” was a miss. However, “Vietnam in HD” was outstanding. It is a series, 6 episodes (40 minutes each, so originally broadcast, they were hour episodes) of commentary and footage from home…
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The Middle Class – The 20th century and the rise of labor
Continuing on in the vein of the concept of the “middle class” that politicians and pundits love to banter about. Prior episodes highlighted the rift between the nobles and the serfs that gave rise to the powerful merchant and professional class that was the genesis of the “middle class”. The formation of the United States,…
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The Middle Class – The Industrial Revolution
The last post I explored the rise of the talented, educated professional and how their roots were in the guild system. This time, I will start with the industrial revolution, and how that upended the rising of that middle class. The Industrial Revolution While the shift from craft based manufacture of goods was well underway…