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Joel
Interests: international affairs, current events, coffee, science, technology
Recent Activity
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The "Hunger Games" movie has dominated the box office for the last few weekends and it will be interesting to see if the trend holds this weekend. It's a great movie and a great book. What do The Hunger Games... Continue reading
Posted Apr 22, 2012 at Event Horizon
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I've been reading all the news and commentary about the death of Steve Jobs and I've been impressed by how well the media have explored all the facets of his life and his legacy. What really can I add to... Continue reading
Posted Oct 8, 2011 at Singularity Sunrise
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The Netflix price hike kicked in this month and I'd decided to keep both plans. When Netflix announced the price increase I was right there with everyone else voicing outrage on social networks. Because I was a customer long before... Continue reading
Posted Sep 20, 2011 at Event Horizon
So 9/11 has come around again. I'm feeling a mix of emotions as this anniversary is commemorated. I feel relief that there have been no new terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. This relief though is tempered by the knowledge that... Continue reading
Posted Sep 20, 2011 at Event Horizon
I watched the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis Friday with a mix of pride and sadness. Pride at this amazing accomplishment that we have come to take for granted. Sadness at the impending end of the American manned space... Continue reading
Posted Jul 10, 2011 at Event Horizon
I write a blog for a professional association and wrote the following to honor and lament the U.S. manned space program: As you may have heard, the space shuttle Atlantis will launch tomorrow for the last time. This launch will... Continue reading
Posted Jul 8, 2011 at Lunar News Network
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Artificial intelligence may be a fact of life for modern consumers, operating behind the scenes in a myriad of ways, but the public awareness of it is rather minimal. Predictive algorithms, after all, rarely make the headlines. That all changed... Continue reading
Posted Feb 20, 2011 at Singularity Sunrise
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The year 2010 was the year the dream ended. President Obama submitted a NASA budget that eliminated the ambitious program to return Americans to the Moon and build a scientific outpost there as a first step toward going to Mars... Continue reading
Posted Feb 8, 2011 at Lunar News Network
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You may have heard that Verizon will start selling the iPhone 4 tonight to existing subscribers. Verizon sent an e-mail (above) to all current subscribers inviting them to upgrade to the iPhone 4 but there's a catch that you should... Continue reading
Posted Feb 3, 2011 at Event Horizon
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I remember wondering over New Year's weekend what the first big news event of the year would be. Major news events have a way of setting the tone, for better or worse, for a specific time in our lives. Last... Continue reading
Posted Jan 11, 2011 at Event Horizon
A Letter from Grandpa in 2040: Listen up kids and I'll tell you about a time long ago, a time when cars were not smart. You could get into your car and tell it to start and it would just... Continue reading
Reblogged Dec 2, 2010 at Singularity Sunrise
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As you know, it's a post-election frenzy in Washington, partisanship is back and threatening to tear apart our tax system. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it's close. The Democrats want to extend the Bush era tax cuts... Continue reading
Posted Dec 2, 2010 at Event Horizon
Future historians will surely note that it's one of the great ironies of the era that just as the U.S. ended it's manned space program and any plans to colonize the Moon, scientists conclusively proved that there's more water up... Continue reading
Posted Oct 21, 2010 at Lunar News Network
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The free and open nature of the internet is under attack...again. On the surface, this looks to be yet another battle in the long running war against piracy and copyright infringement. But if you dig deeper you find that it's... Continue reading
Posted Sep 30, 2010 at Event Horizon
Bo, no posts, sorry. I won't be able to attend the summit, so I'd have to write a post expressing my regrets, and that would be boring, don't you think?
1 reply
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Amazon announced this week that they have passed an important milestone in sales of their Kindle e-reader. As The New York Times reports: Amazon.com, one of the nation’s largest booksellers, announced Monday that for the last three months, sales of... Continue reading
Posted Jul 24, 2010 at Event Horizon
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The New York Times recently offered a well-written introduction to the technological singularity for the average reader. In this report the Times notes the role of Google and Silicon Valley in promoting research and scholarship, as well as the founding... Continue reading
Posted Jul 17, 2010 at Singularity Sunrise
Posted May 31, 2010 at Event Horizon
I voted today to raise taxes. No, I'm not ashamed of it. In fact, I feel pretty good about it. See, my state, like a lot of states in these United States of America, is in trouble. See the below... Continue reading
Posted May 18, 2010 at Event Horizon
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I've been watching the national media coverage of the Arizona immigration law with a mix of amusement and dismay. As a resident of Arizona, I don't recognize the state they are describing and I'm shocked at how the national media... Continue reading
Posted May 1, 2010 at Event Horizon
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Sorry for the lack of posts, it was either a blizzard of small posts reacting to President Obama's visit to the Kennedy Space Center last week or one final post, so I'm choosing one final post. It is obvious now... Continue reading
Posted Apr 21, 2010 at Lunar News Network
Like cowboys riding to the rescue, some well known NASA veterans are hoping that their public support and personal pleas to President Obama will help save the manned spaceflight program: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about... Continue reading
Posted Apr 13, 2010 at Lunar News Network
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, conference travel and start of the year busyness has cut into my blogging time. I'm hopeful that things are settling down a bit now and I'll have more time for blogging. I noticed... Continue reading
Posted Mar 4, 2010 at Singularity Sunrise
In recognition of National Grammar Day, I'd like to call attention to the alarming rise of free floating parenthetical statements. This shocking and illegal activity is a national epidemic (you can catch it from doorknobs!) and needs to stop now.... Continue reading
Posted Mar 4, 2010 at Event Horizon
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It's all over. The U.S. is getting out of the manned space exploration business. The Obama Administration has decided not to fund the Constellation program. NASA will not return to the Moon and go on to Mars and beyond. The... Continue reading
Posted Jan 28, 2010 at Lunar News Network