Writer/Author
“For the 14th consecutive year, Fox News led in total viewers and in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic crucial to advertisers. The network’s average of 1.8 million viewers in prime time placed it second among all cable channels, the highest finish for…
“I’m not a politician,” said (fill in the blank). Both leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination repeatedly deny being politicians. Former pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson this week overtook reality television star Donald Trump in national polls to lead…
GPS satellites broadcast passive one-way signals that by themselves can do no harm. But bad actors can use the power of GPS in frightening ways. “Driverless vehicles could easily be perverted into a ghastly weapon—a guided missile making full use…
Forecasters at the United Nations last fall updated their projections for the growth of cities across the planet over the next 15 years. World Urbanization Prospects is the type of report that fuels worry about teeming masses huddled amid poverty…
“A small group of neo-Nazis have staged an anti-Semitic rally in London, but were hugely outnumbered by counter-demonstrators….The group, waving Palestinian and Confederate flags, stood surrounded by police in a fenced-in area near Downing Street on Saturday. A counter-demonstration drew…
Maps of territory held by the Islamic State, or ISIS, bugged me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then, I realized, they look like scans of brain tumors. Unfortunately, the similarities go much deeper. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the…
As the days grow shorter and colder, something stirs in us humans—a fear that traces straight down to the bone, maybe into our DNA. We associate winter with death for good reason. It brings death for many plants, creatures and…
“A White House official said on Thursday that the administration was considering a ‘proportional response’ against those who hacked into Sony Pictures computers, a retaliation that could thrust the United States into a direct confrontation with North Korea.” –Peter Baker,…
The moment I saw the robots in Interstellar, I thought Stanley Kubrick must be rolling in his grave. By the end, it seems he channeled them from the future. That’s as much of a spoiler as I’ll make in this…
In my last post, I commented on the profusion of tourists in Paris taking selfies with arms outstretched and their backs to the very sites they had traveled so far to see. Making your travel photo in front of landmarks…