SINGULARITY
Reaching AI singularity is the moment when machine intelligence becomes equal to, or surpasses, human intelligence. It is a concept that visionaries like Stephen Hawking …
LONDON STRETCHER RAILINGS
One of my readers, and a close friend, sent me this story of London Stretcher Railings, which I had never heard before. I’ve walked by …
CIVILIZATIONS
Historically, as civilizations developed, they became more and more reliant on people from somewhere else to keep their economies and their lifestyles growing. The longer …
NALANDA
Founded in 427 CE, Nalanda is considered the world’s first residential university, a sort of medieval Ivy League institution home to nine million books that …
GOLDEN FLEECE AWARDS
These are the first Golden Fleece Awards I’ve given for quite some time. That doesn’t mean that public officials have made less stupid decisions, or …
PERSON OF COLOR
A “Person of Color” has become a popular media term to cover all minorities, but that term is so general that it becomes somewhat meaningless. …
ROMAN CONCRETE
I have written several blogs on the mystery of Roman concrete, and why it appears so much better than the concrete available to us today. …
FOLK FESTIVALS OF BRITAIN
The weird and wonderful folk festivals of Britain are largely unknown outside of the rural locations where they are practiced. They are performed by the …
MEDIA STORM
The recent media storm about Advanced Placement (AP) courses in U.S. high schools triggered a concern I have had for many years. This particular recent …
OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
We have all heard about how climate change and pollution are affecting our oceans but rising ocean acidification has rarely been part of those discussions: …