Hindsight is 2020, literally. What was that all about anyway? I mean who woke up on New Years Day 2020 mindful there would be a pandemic, rioting in the streets, Seattle downtown destroyed and abandoned, food shortages and more people passing away daily due to disease than we thought possible in the modern era? Not … More 2020 Vision
Thesis: For self driving cars to work, everyone must use them such that the software can adequately predict the behavior of other vehicles. No exceptions. This requires a wholesale change of our American concept of Liberty, resembles the promises of a utopian world that always seems to degenerate into totalitarianism, and Americans are not … More Self Drive, Drive Self
In line with the notion that folk songs all need to be updated, this tune came to mind driving through Ballard, the formerly Norwegian town which was consumed by Seattle at one point. Like Ballard, the song is completely original. It starts with a the Chorus: I want to go down to Condo Canyon. … More Condo Canyon
Road sign English is bad, bad, bad. Take warnings of children at play for example. Shouldn’t there be a comma after the command: “slow”? Otherwise we are singling out children of diminished capacity for warnings which seems unfair, even derogatory. Or how about this expression to warn drivers their cars are a bit … More Bad Road Sign English
What was Glacier Peak Brewing, then the Flying Pig, and then the late Majestic Diner is now a pool hall in the middle of our town. What is the world coming to? Well my friends you have trouble, right here in River City, right here on Colby Avenue. Look what it says on the sign … More Trouble in River City
So we now finally have to take up Mr. Trumps campaign promise to build a wall on our southern border. Of course this has been tried before. The Ming Dynasty put considerable effort into precluding the Mongol hordes from running roughshod over their social services and food banks, or whatever it is Mr. Trump worries … More Walleyed: The Great Wall of Mexico
I lead a lot of men and women in a desperate battle. I did not ask for the post, it is just the way it is in times of what appears to be civil war; talents emerge that otherwise would have never been known. We set our defense as many hastily collected elements of like … More At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming
Most of the time we go through life, day in day out, not thinking at all about the Big Questions or whether there is an end to all of this. Then one day the question is called. And you have to ask yourself; what have I achieved? While hospitalized this spring with a serious infection … More The Hero with the 1000 Cases
Please excuse us in the USA. We have gone a little bit arrogant this last election season and the fallout appears to have damaged our relationship. I am dreadfully embarrassed. I am here, cowboy hat in hand, to apologize. I am sorry our President has insulted your Prime Minister, and repudiated agreements he had just … More A Love Note to My Canadian Cousins
This past week we saw the President of the United States fly to the far side of the world to meet with the leader of a small, hermit country lead by a man whose family has generated, at great cost to his people, nuclear weapons which threaten his neighbors and now apparently, the American mainland. … More Real Nuclear Hardball- “Don’t Wait for the Translation, Answer the Question”
