Jack Michaels had the day off. He put on his jacket and walked out the door at a little past eight in the morning to run a few errands. His first stop was the hardware store, where he had to buy some paint and caulk to do some work on his bathroom. “Good morning, James,” […]
1,000 Ideas and a 10-Year Plan
Since I was about thirteen years old, I kept a running list of good ideas. I’m forty right now, so that’s almost thirty years of ideas. At its height, the list had over a thousand ideas. After some honing and pruning, it now stands at 647. Now, all of these ideas were “good” ideas at […]
We Live in a Quantum World
In quantum mechanics, there is a theory that the mere observation of a phenomenon inevitably changes that phenomenon. It’s called the Observer effect. I think it not only exists at the atomic level, but also plays out in all aspects of our world. Earlier today, I tweeted an observation on Twitter: If enough people see […]
Ultimate Water Physics Novelty Device
Water is a remarkable compound. It expands and floats instead of sinks when it becomes a solid. It will pull itself through a siphon. It’s a universal solvent. Because of its unique and amazing properties, water can do a lot of things that don’t make sense unless you understand the science behind it all. There’s […]
COVID-19: Why Some Places Fare Better Than Others
The global COVID-19 pandemic has not affected all countries equally. Some countries are doing a better job containing it than others. Why is that? There are many factors at play: Experience: Remember SARS back in 2003? That was a type of coronavirus. East Asian countries were particularly hard-hit by SARS, but they overcame it. Maybe […]
How Should Copyright Work for AI?
Can an Artificial Intelligence (AI) be a copyright holder? Can an AI get a patent? I think the answer is pretty clearcut. No. Let me explain. When a writer writes a novel, he or she owns the copyright. When a writer writes a novel in Microsoft Word, the writer still owns the copyright. Microsoft does […]