Like a person in a drunken stupor, I careen between bouts of messiness and sterile order.  My physical work environment is becoming more and more sterile as I gain skills that allow me to file documents on my computer.  The evolution poses a new problem, however. I sometimes get los

Compared to the growing dangers to the virtual world, the wild west might look like a sanctuary for kittens.  Having my blog hacked by Russians, I know what I’m talking about.  A common threat are emails  that appear to come from friends.  I fell for one the other day and my scr

In an earlier blog (10/27/16), I referred to an article by Clive Thompson about artificial intelligence.  He warned we know so little about what’s going on inside those wired machines, we should consider what this lack of transparency means.  Are we being foolhardy when we put too

Change in technology isn’t surprising. Internet companies must evolve or die. Television is different.  Not much change seems to take place there.  We can choose a channel or stream a program. We can watch a new series or an old one.  These are the menus.  Speaking for myself, �

If I plan to buy a car, I want to drive it first.  It’s the same with a new pair of jeans.  I want to try them on before I make a purchase.  Many consumer have given up this touch-and-feel aspect of merchandising, preferring the convenience of online shopping. To counter this tre

While I was working late last night, a message popped up on my computer.  In an hour, I would lose control of my machine while Microsoft performed an upgrade.  Or, if I chose, I could upgrade immediately.  I must have hit the wrong button because the screen went black before starin

My blog  was hacked by the Russians.  I know.  When I admit the breach,  I can hear people thinking, “Who would want to hack her blogs?  Who reads them?” Well, I was hacked.  But why, I don’t know. As to the number of people who read my blogs, let’s say it’s more than

“The universe is not only queerer than we suppose but queerer than we can suppose.”  So observed J. B. S. Haldane, a scientist and popularizer of science who died in the 1960s.  Thinking about existence, I can imagine no statement more accurate than Haldane’s.  Not only are h

When Prerna Gupta decided to take a year off to write fiction with her husband, the couple experimented by crafting stories for cell phone apps.  Though the pieces were short, no more than a 5 minute read, only 15% of viewers finished them. That’s when the pair decided to experimen

Passing from the popular scene without much fanfare is the VCR.  Japan’s Funai Electronics has announced it will stop making the machines because it has difficulty finding parts and because sales are on a sharp decline.  In its heyday, Funai sold up to 1.5 million units annually.�