Because we live in a chaotic universe, Robert Lowenstein believes we invent narratives to make sense of our surroundings.   (“The Stories We Fall For,” by Roger Lowenstein, Fortune, March 15, 2017, pg. 30).  I’m inclined to believe him. The world really is of our making. Here

Like Paul Revere,  I and others have spent time shouting, “The robots are coming.  The robots are coming.” I’m unsure what to do about it, but as writer  Jennifer Alserver notes, these machines are becoming smarter, more people sensitive and more versatile.   (“Is This Ro

The article reads like a John le Carré spy thriller. (“Chasing the Phantom,” by Garrett Graff, Wired, April 2017, pgs. 52-63)  Writer Garrett Graff recounts the hunt for the world’s most successful and notorious hacker, who, with his code, walks through bank vaults as if they

The current political climate in the United States can only be described as jaw-dropping.  At the moment, all eyes are focused upon our newly elected president who seems to have come from nowhere to gain both the nomination of the Republican Party and the White House. By no means sho

When politics gets  tough, American’s cope by using laughter. John Stewart and Stephen Colbert lead the way, of course.  Michael Moore and Rachel Maddow get in a few good licks, as does Garrison Keillor.  But for street genius, there’s nothing like a protest sign. Here, I’ll

Experiments are always happening in public education.  During my brief years in the classroom, I remember fads like team-teaching, schools-within-schools, open classrooms,  magnet schools, alternative schools and, finally, charter schools.  What these variations held in common was

Just as science and art have long debated the social consequences of their activities, (Blog 2/10/17), it’s time for technology, the Sixth Estate, to grapple with its responsibility. Not only are its innovations transforming society, but they are doing so faster than in the past, ef

My Facebook page is rife with pictures of crocuses and daffodils springing from the damp soil.  Temperate weather is ahead, my friends want to assure me   I see their selfies as they stand in waiting lines at airports or pat a camel somewhere on the African continent.  Winter is l

Writer Keven Baker’s modest proposal, tongue-in-cheek, is spiked with enough telling arguments to make me wonder why blue states go on funding the insanities of red states.  (“Bluexit,” by Keven Baker, New Republic, April 2017, pg. 19-25.) In 2015, when Texans circulated t

My Yahoo news page came up with the following headline, recently: “Bernie Sanders followers are among the smartest…  They don’t believe anything.  The post must have proof…”   I didn’t read further. I’m not a Bernie Sanders fan, though some of my Facebook friends hav