Schedule Note
I’m moving to two articles a week to give myself more time to explore the subjects—and occasionally do something worth writing about.
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My Dentist Is Building a Better Toothbrush.
Artificial intelligence may now allow him to approach the problem differently.
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I used to own my music. Now I just ask Alexa.
Today I subscribe to Amazon Music, Spotify, and Pandora.
I have accumulated playlists and preferences on all three. They have gradually learned what I listen to, what I skip, and probably what I tolerate longer than I should. -
Before You Downsize, Decide What Problem You Are Solving
At some point, many people look around their house and realize that it was designed for a life they are no longer living. The bedrooms that once contained children, clothes, school projects and objects nobody was allowed to touch are now occupied by exercise equipment, unopened boxes and furniture retained largely because nobody knows what else to do with it. The dining room may be used twice a year. The yard still grows at its accustomed rate, apparently unaware that maintaining it has become less entertaining. The house has not changed very much, but the people living in it have. That is usually when someone begins looking at smaller houses, condominiums, apartments or retirement communities. It also may be several steps too early. Before looking…
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Maybe We’re Not Alone. But We’re Probably On Our Own.
Last July I wrote a piece called Maybe We Are Not Alone. The basic idea was that the universe is so large, and there are so many stars and planets, that it seems increasingly difficult to assume Earth is the only place where life ever developed. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s new book, Take Me to Your Leader,–– does not exactly disagree with that. What it does is make the next question much harder. Even if intelligent life exists somewhere else, what are the chances that we will ever meet it? That turns out to be a very different question, and Tyson manages to make the answer both funny and fairly sobering. The Universe Is a Terrible Neighborhood Science fiction has trained us to think about space…
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Labor Day Isn’t Really About Labor Anymore
Most of our major holidays have a reasonably clear identity. Ask someone what Thanksgiving is about and they will probably have an answer. Ask what Memorial Day is about and most people know that too. Ask what Labor Day is about and the answers may be a little less certain. A three-day weekend?The end of summer?Barbecue?Football?Back-to-school sales?Mattress discounts? That seems a little odd for a national holiday whose name tells us exactly what it is supposed to celebrate. Labor Day was created to recognize workers and the labor movement. It grew out of an era when industrial work was central to the economy and labor itself was highly visible. Factories, railroads, mines, construction, manufacturing and organized trades were not peripheral to American life. They were…
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Whatever Happened to the Next John Grisham?
I read a lot. Usually somewhere between 45 and 55 books a year, which creates a problem I suspect most people don’t have. I am constantly running out of books I want to read. Most of my books now come from the public library and arrive on my Kindle. That works remarkably well and saves me a small fortune. But the library can’t solve the first problem: I still have to figure out what I want to read and request it. So, I am constantly looking. I scan BookBub. I look at Goodreads. Amazon recommends books based on what I have read before. There are newsletters with editors’ favorites, best books of the year, best mysteries, best thrillers and books everybody supposedly ought to be…
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A Book I Wish I Had Read Twenty-Five Years Ago
Every once in a while, you read a book that makes you stop and think, “I wish someone had handed me this years ago.” For me, that book is The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. I’ve spent a lifetime around business, investing, technology, and finance. I’ve watched markets boom and crash. I’ve seen fortunes made and lost. Yet this book reminded me that success with money has surprisingly little to do with complicated formulas or finding the next great investment. It has much more to do with human behavior. That simple idea is what makes this book so valuable and something I should have paid attention to decades ago. Interestingly, there wasn’t much in the book that I hadn’t heard before. Most of us…
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The End of Tiny Decisions
How Everyday Software Is Quietly Changing the Way We Think Last Friday I wrote about some of the things we no longer do. I no longer buy printer cartridges because my printer orders them automatically. I don’t balance a checkbook anymore. I rarely walk into a bank. My online pharmacy reminds me when it’s time to refill a prescription. Before we arrive at the theater, our movie tickets and seat assignments are already waiting on our phones. After I finished writing that article, I realized I had missed the bigger story. Those weren’t simply examples of chores disappearing. They were examples of decisions disappearing. None of those changes happened overnight. Each one seemed small when it arrived. None felt revolutionary. But together they quietly changed…
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The Things We Quietly Stopped Doing
And What May Quietly Disappear Next The other day I realized there are a surprising number of things I simply don’t do anymore. Not because I made a conscious decision to stop doing them. They just quietly disappeared from my life as technology made them unnecessary. Some changes happened so gradually that I hardly noticed until I started making a list. I no longer buy printer cartridges. My printer keeps track of how much ink it uses and automatically orders replacements before I run out. I no longer have to remember when to refill most of my prescriptions. My online pharmacy knows what medications I take and how often I should need them. When it’s time for a refill, I receive a notice and, with…
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Saying Goodbye to My Doctor
For more than twenty years, I have had the same primary care physician. When you keep the same doctor that long, something happens that goes well beyond medicine. He learns your medical history, your habits, your family, and your concerns. More importantly, he learns who you are. The relationship works both ways. Over the years, I also learned about him—his interests, his sense of humor, his opinions, and the way he approached medical problems. I came to understand not only what he recommended, but why he recommended it. That mutual understanding became an important part of the care I received. Our appointments weren’t just about blood pressure, prescriptions, or lab results. We talked about travel, writing, economics, family, how our activities were changing as we…
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The Day Customers Started Working Here
Welcome aboard. You may not have noticed it, but sometime over the past thirty or forty years, many of us took on a second job. We’re now helping banks, airlines, retailers, restaurants, hospitals, insurance companies, and even gas stations perform work they once paid employees to do. What’s remarkable isn’t that businesses changed. Businesses have always looked for ways to reduce costs and improve efficiency. What’s remarkable is that most of us gradually accepted our new job descriptions without even realizing it. I first noticed it at the gas station. When I was growing up, you pulled up to the pump and someone came out to greet you. “Fill it up?” While the tank filled, they checked the oil, cleaned the windshield, looked at the…
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What Is the Hall of Fame For?
The All-Star Game celebrates greatness.The Hall of Fame decides how greatness should be remembered. Every July, baseball pauses for a few days to celebrate its brightest stars. Fans debate who should have made the team, who deserves to start, and who was unfairly left off the roster. The All-Star Game has always been baseball’s celebration of greatness. Watching those discussions each summer reminds me of another question that has bothered me for years. What exactly is greatness? Or perhaps more importantly: What is the Hall of Fame actually for? For me, that question always comes back to two players. Willie Mays. And Barry Bonds. Willie Mays was my childhood hero. Growing up in the Bay Area, I watched him play with a combination of athleticism,…
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What’s Happening in My Garden For July
July is when summer really settles into Northern Nevada. Temperatures climb into the 90s and often stay there. Yet gardening here has a way of keeping us humble and on our toes. This year was no exception. March was unusually warm. April turned cold again. May hinted at a great growing season, only to have June refuse to cooperate. I planted seeds. I planted vegetables. I wondered if some of them had simply given up. Then, almost overnight, things changed. Seeds I thought were gone suddenly began germinating. Plants that looked unhappy finally decided they liked where they were growing. Gardens have a wonderful way of reminding us that nature usually works on its own schedule rather than ours. Now July has arrived, bringing its…
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Can America Still Get Big Things Done?
“We have become remarkably good at analyzing problems.
The harder question is whether we have become equally good at solving them.” -
A Fourth of July Cookout—With a Few Surprises
Ask someone what belongs on a Fourth of July menu and you’ll probably hear the same answers mpst of the time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that menu. In fact, it has become as much a part of the holiday as fireworks, parades, and neighborhood gatherings. Years ago, when I was publishing my cooking newsletters, I probably would have followed that list with a dozen recipes, complete shopping lists, and detailed cooking instructions. Today, I find myself thinking a little differently. The best Fourth of July meals are rarely remembered because of a particular recipe. They’re remembered because of the people sitting around the table. Our friends host a Fourth of July cookout every year, and over time they’ve quietly expanded the traditional menu…
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Drones Are No Longer Just Toys
[First of a series] A few years ago, drones mostly felt like novelties. Something you bought for your pre-teen to play with in the backyard or a gadget your realtor used to get aerial pictures of a property listing. They appeared briefly over parks, annoyed airports occasionally, hovered over neighborhoods taking photos, and entertained hobbyists who liked flying cameras around the sky. For many people, drones still fall into roughly the same mental category as remote-control airplanes or expensive gadgets purchased by technology enthusiasts. And for most of those uses, there is still a person controlling the drone — establishing the flight path, making adjustments, avoiding obstacles, and eventually bringing it safely back to earth. But lately something seems to be changing. Drones now appear…
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Memorial Day – The Start of Summer and Outdoor Entertaining
Memorial Day is arriving in just a few days, so I reached back to my Your Smart Kitchen newsletter to get some useful and interesting recipes that I hope will give you some hints for something a bit different but still fit into the holiday activities. I start with a variation of a burger the should elicit some comments. And there are a couple taco options, a easy vegetable and some dessert suggestions, Have a terrific holiday weekend. Look forward to more articles in topics that I hope are interesting and useful. Terry Burgers with Blue Cheese Mayo and Sherry Vidalia Onions Yield: 4 servings Ingredients Preparation Grilled-Chicken Tacos Makes 12 Tacos Ingredients Preparation Beef Tacos: Tacos de Carne Asada Total Time: 36 minServes…
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May Gardening To-Do List
May kicks garden season into high gear — nothing is really off-limits this month. Get out and dig into gardening before the summer heat arrives. Here are a dozen suggestions you can start on if you haven’t already. Plant Warm-Season Veggies By month’s end, warm-season vegetables should be in the ground in all but the northern-most regions. This includes pepper, tomato, eggplant, squash, corn and cucumbers. Okra, black-eyed peas and melons are also on this list. Plant beans, too, growing several varieties so you have beans for fresh eating and drying. Direct sow seeds into the garden, or tuck in transplants. Once soil is warm, seeds quickly catch up with transplants. Look for Healthy Roots Healthy plant roots are white and fill the soil volume…
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We’re Closer Than We Thought
And Still a Long Way From Leaving A few days ago, I wrote about how much of the technology imagined in Star Trek has, in one form or another, found its way into the real world. Not everything—and not always in the way it was portrayed—but enough to make the comparison feel less like science fiction and more like a long-range preview of where we might be headed. That kind of progress is easy to underestimate while it’s happening. But there’s another side to that story—one that’s less talked about. Some technologies don’t arrive on schedule. Some remain stubbornly out of reach, even when the underlying physics suggests they might be possible. I was reminded of that while reading a recent piece by Ethan Siegel,…
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$10 Gas: It Won’t Hit Everyone the Same Way
When fuel costs rise, people adjust differently—and systems follow In a recent post, I explored what might happen if gas prices reached $10 per gallon—a scenario that feels extreme, but not entirely impossible under the right conditions. The most interesting part of that article wasn’t the analysis. It was the reaction. Or maybe more accurately, the shape of the reaction. There were responses. Quite a few, actually. Some thoughtful, some dismissive, some practical, some a bit off to the side. But after reading through them, one thing stood out: It was hard to tell what people actually think—and there certainly was no consensus on what would happen or even what should happen. What Was Said The comments fell into a few general categories. Some people…
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We’re Closer Than We Realized
Revisiting Star Trek and the Future That Quietly Arrived I recently finished reading Treknology by Ethan Siegel. The book is about ten years old now, which makes it interesting for a different reason than originally intended. It’s no longer just about the progress that had been made a decade ago. It’s about what has happened since—and how much of it has quietly worked its way into everyday life. A Familiar Future I’ve been a Star Trek fan since it first came out—not a fanatic, never went to conventions or collected memorabilia, but the concept always resonated. When it first aired, I was working on the Saturn V program. We were building real rockets, pushing toward the moon, and Star Trek showed something beyond that—a longer…
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The Coming Tug-of-War Between Utilities and Rooftop Solar
Four years ago, I turned my roof into a power plant. At the time, it felt like a small step—practical, maybe even a little ahead of the curve. My electric bill dropped to almost nothing, replaced mostly by a fixed service fee. Not a quick return on investment but will pay off in time. For a while, it seemed like a simple equation. Generate your own power. Buy less from the utility. Everybody wins. But systems don’t usually work that way for long. The Shift Utilities are beginning to adjust. Not dramatically. Not loudly. But steadily. Rates are changing. Fee structures are evolving. Fixed charges are creeping upward. Net metering rules are being revisited. In Nevada, this has been less visible—utilities never paid for excess…
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What Happens If Gas Hits $10?
You Don’t Replace 300 Million Cars Overnight We have two cars—a 2019 SUV and a 2016 sedan—and we have no plans to replace either one anytime soon. Years ago, I made a simple vow: never buy a car that costs more than my first house. That house cost $38,000 in 1971. At the time, that seemed like a reasonable line to draw. It’s getting harder to keep. New cars are now pushing $50,000. Even used cars are commonly in the $25,000 to $40,000 range. And that doesn’t include electric vehicles, which often come with additional costs—like installing a charging system at home. At this stage of life, I may not need another car at all. I drive less than 5,000 miles a year. My car…
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Gardening Tasks for April
Gardening Tips We have had Spring all through March and now it is looking like we may be the last remnants of Winter for the start of April. So many of the garden tasks normally targeted for April may have already been completed. Successful gardening amounts to paying attention and following through with what needs to be done at any one time. Regardless, here are some of the tasks for your garden which should be considered for April. Beware of insects and other pests in your garden. Keep an eye on your garden for aphids, spider mites, etc., and take action when necessary to eliminate the pests If you don’t have enough garden space, you can always create more by growing crops in pots! For example,…
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When Prevention Actually Works
Note: I usually cover men’s health topics but this seems interesting and important. We spend a lot of time talking about what might happen.This is a story about something that actually did. We spend a lot of time talking about what might happen. AI might change everything.Robots might take jobs.New technologies might reshape industries. This is a story about something that actually did. According to a study published in The Lancet Public Health, Australia is on track to become the first country to effectively eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem—potentially as early as 2028. Not reduce it. Not manage it. Eliminate it—at least to the point where it becomes rare enough that it’s no longer considered a major public health issue. That threshold…
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Robots Are Coming — But They Haven’t Met My Plumber Yet
Where Automation Meets the Real World A few weeks ago, I had a plumbing issue. Nothing dramatic. Just one of those problems that starts small and then slowly reveals itself to be something else entirely. At first glance, it looked straightforward. A leak. Maybe a fitting. Possibly a simple replacement. That lasted about five minutes. What the plumber actually found was a piping system that had been installed throughout our neighborhood when the homes were originally built. In our case, we had made only minor changes over the years—a split pipe at the water heater and a failed bathtub drain. Otherwise, the system had been left alone. Which sounds fine… until you realize what it means. We are essentially sitting on a potential time bomb….
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Easter Dinner:
What People Expect vs What Actually Works A Slight Upgrade Without Starting a Family Debate Easter dinner is one of those meals where expectations matter. Not in a loud, demanding way. No one sends out a formal menu in advance. There are no official requirements. But everyone shows up with a quiet assumption about what will be on the table. And if it’s not there, people notice. They may not say anything. But they notice. Easter is not the time to experiment with something completely new or surprising. This is not the moment to introduce a bold reinterpretation of the holiday meal or a dish that requires explanation before it can be eaten. Easter dinner works best when it feels familiar. But that doesn’t mean…
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When the Game Becomes the Casino
March Madness, Smartphones, and the New Business of Sports I live in Nevada, so I am not opposed to gambling (even though I don’t gamble). It has been part of the state’s economy for decades. But I do worry about what it is doing to sports and some of the institutions and activities surrounding them. NIL has already changed college athletics, and not necessarily for the better. Sports betting companies are now major sponsors of professional leagues and broadcasts. Increasingly it feels as if the conversation around sports has shifted. It is less about who wins or loses and more about who scores what and when. Every March the country turns its attention to college basketball. Brackets appear in offices. Games run all afternoon. Upsets…
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How St. Patrick’s Day Became More American Than Irish
Every March the same ritual unfolds. And being about 1/8th Irish myself (may be questioned), I look forward to the day. Green clothing appears. Parades roll through city streets. Beer mysteriously turns green. And somewhere in the festivities a cheerful leprechaun usually shows up carrying a pot of gold. Most of us assume this is an ancient Irish tradition stretching back through the centuries. It isn’t. At least not in the way we think. Like many holidays, St. Patrick’s Day is really a layered mixture of history, legend, immigration, and a little creative reinvention along the way. The historical Patrick himself would probably find the modern celebration rather surprising. Historians generally believe Patrick was born not in Ireland but in Britain near the end of…
