Month: December 2009

Strangle the Future

I’m glad I went to university when I did. I had some of the most amazing professors! In 1960, 75 percent of college instructors were full-time tenured or tenure-track professors; today only 27 percent are. The rest are graduate students or adjunct and contingent faculty — instructors employed on a per-course or yearly contract basis, usually without benefits and earning… Continue reading

And Along Those Lines…

I’ve whined before about my dislike for visual clutter and advertising trying to capture my attention on the web and in the news papers. Well, here’s a nice little tool that won the New York Times Pogie Award for the Year’s Best Tech Ideas: Readability. Set your preferences: pick a style, select the font size, and select the width of… Continue reading

Bad News Ahead?

Animals have the ability to sense natural disasters before they happen. I hope that’s not why all of the sea lions inexplicably left Pier 39 in San Francisco. I’ve been to Pier 39 and saw the smelly barking creatures. They were rather fascinating. If you’ve been to the Fisherman’s Wharf part of San Francisco in the past twenty years, chances… Continue reading

Hell Just Got Hotter

So apparently, the wretched experience that is international travel just got even worse: no getting out of your seat for the last hour of flight, no electronics for the entire flight, and only one carry on bag, every passenger gets a full body pat down. Who the hell wants to put up with this! I’m sick of the hassle! It’s… Continue reading

You Know You’re a Zombie When…

Your eyes glow hot pink (because your blood glucose is too high), and your clothes shimmer brightly in the night (because the air pollution is too high). Jin Zhang, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, is developing contact lenses that change color with the user’s blood sugar level. This could allow diabetics to monitor themselves without frequent blood… Continue reading

Missing a Photograph

I’m visiting here in Arkansas. This community has its share of poverty, especially in these difficult economic times. In addition to the poverty, this state has experienced torrential rains this year–exceeding all records since they began keeping them in the 1800’s. Getting around has been even more challenging than when I visited Ireland this year. Many roads are flooded and… Continue reading

The Challenge of Charity

Last night I was blasting through the TV channels here at the hotel trying to find something of interest to watch. I stumbled upon a reality TV show playing the surveillance video from a convenience store where a bat-wielding thief came toward the man at the cashier demanding money and threatening to kill him. The cashier reached down and pulled… Continue reading

Thank Goodness

Here’s a bill I love! I hate the annoyance of advertising. Frankly, I’d pay to do without it altogether. Under the measure, advertisers and production houses would have one year to adopt technology that modulates and sets sound levels — and apply it to TV commercials. Source: CNN… Continue reading

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. It seems rain and floods are following me wherever I go these days. Arkansas has had record rain fall this year, and many of the roads have been seriously flooded. Seeing the side roads out into the woods all flooded and closed gives new meaning to “over the river and through the woods…”… Continue reading