Category: Uncategorized

Today Dick Van Dyke turns 100. I know that I join many others in wishing a very happy birthday to a man who has brought so much joy to so many.

I hope he will still be around for another hundred years, so that we can all wish him a happy 200th birthday.

There is a department in the NYU Engineering School that teaches engineers how to be artists. There is another department at NYU in the School of the Arts that teaches artists how to be engineers.

This week, both of those programs are having their end of semester shows. Today I saw one of them, and over the weekend I plan to see the other.

As I was taking in the various projects today, I turned to a colleague and said “There is nothing more powerful than an artist and an engineer living within the same mind.” My colleague happily agreed.

Douglas Adams once said that there is a theory that if we ever figure out how the universe works, it would immediately be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

He also said that there is another theory that this has already happened.

When I wake up these days and read the news, I begin to think that he was on to something.

The reason the U.S. government switched its font to Calibri in 2023 is that it is easier to read than Times Roman. Not everyone has great vision. For those who don’t, a simpler and more rounded font is very helpful.

But today our U.S. Secretary of State decided that Calibri is “too Woke”. So now the government is going back to using a font that is harder to read on screens, and more challenging for anyone with reading difficulties or dyslexia.

At this point, I think this government is just being cruel for the sake of being cruel. And every time they do something incredibly stupid and damaging that harms innocent people, they claim they are being “anti-Woke”.

So much depends on
That dream you forgot as soon
As you were awake

There is a good chance, after the U.S. returns to having an actual government, that today’s cars will eventually be replaced by self-driving cars. Once there are no longer any human drivers on the road, transportation will change in many ways.

For one thing, the absence of human drivers will mean that deaths from automobile accidents will dramatically plummet. Countless human lives will no longer be needlessly lost each year.

But another consequence will be that cars will most likely become a kind of utility — a highly granular cousin to buses. It might no long make economic sense to own a car, if you can simply call one up whenever you want.

And that means home garages — currently a large part of the footprint of many houses — will no longer serve their current function. So what will happen to those garages?

Will they all be converted into storage rooms? And if so, will future generations eventually forget that those storage rooms ever served any other purpose?

A century from now, I can imagine a history teacher trying to explain to children the original use of that odd storage room attached to their house. And those children might not believe it. How could something which sounds so crazy actually be true?

I realize that this day in history is best known to Americans as the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, prompting the United State to enter World War II.

But it seems to me that in this time when our own U.S. Government is trying to create fear and division between us, it would be productive to remind ourselves that we are all bound together by our common humanity.

And so I give you this beautiful and inspiring picture, taken on December 7, 1972 from the window of the Apollo 17 spacecraft.

I hope it will inspire you to remember that we are all brothers and sisters on this planet, and that at our best, we possess the moral courage and the spiritual awareness to care for one another.

The U.S. federal administration just released its new security doctrine. The basic thrust is that Europe is facing an existential threat because of immigration from non-European countries.

This is essentially the “Great Replacement” theory, the same one used by the Nazis to justify their, um, “policies”.

This sad episode helps me to understand why it is important for Europe to continue to receive all those immigrants. After all, on very public display right here in our own country is a sad example of the alternative.

You can find that example in the White House, which is currently housing a low functioning, knuckle dragging genetic throwback. Alas, too much inbreeding can lead to bad outcomes, or even existential threats to a nation’s well-being.

Europe, in contrast, is getting the benefit of the kind of cultural and genetic diversity that until recently was the greatest strength of the United States of America. It’s nice to see that a least somebody is still doing it right.

Sometimes you have technical breakthroughs. And sometimes you have conceptual breakthroughs.

Today I had a conceptual breakthrough. I realized that an important research concept had been staring me in the face for months, waiting for me to stare back.

The good news is that now I know what direction to go. The bad news is that now I’ve got lots of work to do.

Or maybe that’s also good news.

Today at a conference at NYU I learned all about the Oura ring, that $350 health-monitoring device you wear on your finger. For example, one colleague told me that it can continually monitor your heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen level and breathing rate. It even has a linear accelerometer.

Another colleague told me that it can also be used for family planning. When I asked her how, she explained that it can track your menstrual cycle.

I told her that you could also use a VR headset for family planning. “Why can a VR headset do that?” she asked.

“Because,” I replied, “it gives you a headache.”