I just finished writing an article on customer help desks, and after researching six large companies, speaking with their various employees, and examining their methods, all I can say is “sitcom”. If any of these companies hired Charlie Sheen, they could branch out to reality TV and have the hottest new show of the decade…. Read more »

Email is a great invention, even though it may one day end the long and happy life of the US Postal Service. With the ability to send unlimited letters, to unlimited recipients, and copy superfluous people, the user that seems to truly suffer, is the job seeker. Twenty five years ago, if you wanted to… Read more »

You may remember a few years back there was a battle for high definition video. There were two competing formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray. In North America and Europe, Blu-ray won out, and the less expensive HD-DVD is the most widely used format in China. But before the disk wars, there were the video cassette wars…. Read more »

As Rodney Dangerfield once quipped, “I bought a book called How to make it big…it was all about business!” Titles are important. They can make or break a book, a movie, or even a video game. So when it came time to choose a name for my book, I really gave it some thought. The… Read more »

As an IT person, the one rhetorical question I hear all the time is “I wonder what Einstein could have done with a modern computer?” Most people think a computer is superior to a human brain. They cite such mundane facts as “the computer always beats the human in chess”, or “Watson (an IBM computer)… Read more »

As part of my research on California history, I came across some fascinating state laws that are still on the books, even today. I would like to share a few of these with you…. Detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results is a $500 fine. Yep. There is nothing worse than sitting down… Read more »

Yesterday, my hairstylist (ok, the dog groomer who does my hair) asked me if I was a PC or a MAC. I told her I was definitely a PC. In fact, I wondered to myself if there really is a computer “type”. Turns out there is. MAC people tend to be left-brain, while PC people… Read more »

For those of you who watch the TV show Castle, you are probably aware that even though Richard Castle is a fictitious character, you can actually purchase his Nikki Heat books in real life. Sales figures from stores such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon illustrate just how popular his books are with Castle fans…. Read more »

I decided when I began this blog that I would keep political commentary to a minimum. I really didn’t expect to post my first political blog so soon. I’ll keep it short. Last week, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, was constitutional. That’s great. But let’s talk about Mitt… Read more »

So you’ve decided to visit the grandchildren. They won’t be born for 50 years, but you’ve borrowed a DeLorean from the scientist next door, and you’re armed with enough Plutonium to get you to 2062 and back, with enough leftover to make your own low-grade, dirty bomb. But is travelling to the future even possible?… Read more »