Colin Powell I have long admired Colin Powell. I always wanted him to run for President of the United States. I wasn’t too concerned about his stance on specific issues; I knew he was a measured, intelligent man of great integrity, and that was enough for me. I was surprised and saddened to hear that […]
Watching Tennis Why would anyone care about how I watch a tennis match? That is an excellent question. That is about all I can say. I have no idea what the answer is. Of course, I hope that others might gain some insight into the game by reading about how I watch tennis matches on […]
Even More Collatz You know, the reason we have so much trouble trying to prove The Collatz Conjecture suggests to me that it might not be true. Buford Lister, personal communication How many posts can I write based on something as simple as The Collatz Conjecture? Apparently, at least one more. If you are unfamiliar […]
Three Lists People like to rank things. Who are the top ten basketball players who ever lived? Which rock group is the greatest? Or how about the greatest pitcher or the best soccer player? You get the picture. This post is about three of my personal lists: my favorite actor, comedian, and drummer. I just […]
An Unusual Unit of Measurement About 35 years ago, I went for a run in Boston. Sure, I ran a lot back then, but this day was special. I started at my Somerville apartment, made my way to Harvard’s campus, turned left, and ran along the Charles River until I arrived at MIT. There is […]
A Special Kind of Consciousness Come on, what have you got to lose? The first stick is free. Here, take it… Trust me, it is going to change your life. You are going to love it. One day you will thank me. Go on, go on… A short conversation (that I happened to overhear) between […]
A Tale of Two (Make that Three) Drummers “Please, if you would be so kind. I want to ask you a bit of an unusual question. Why do you bother to get up in the morning after all you have seen and experienced? I have known many people who have simply given up after seeing […]
Some News About The Collatz Conjecture As many of you know, I spend a fair amount of time writing about and researching The Collatz Conjecture. I have a computer running 24/7 whose only purpose is to find a counterexample to this insanely complex yet straightforward problem. For those of you unfamiliar with the conjecture, it […]
Hayes I have a few thoughts on getting older. I know, I know…we all are aging. Time and entropy have a stranglehold on life on Earth. I am concerned with what happens when the order turns to disarray and the imperceptible daily changes accelerate. I am interested when we look in the mirror and ask, […]
Westworld What is the biggest unanswered question facing science? For me, the answer is an easy one. No one, not even your anesthesiologist, understands the first thing about consciousness. Anesthesia is particularly interesting in this respect, the highly paid practitioners know that it works, but they haven’t the faintest idea how or why it works. […]