For the past ten years I have worked from home. Although I interacted regularly with students and other faculty, those interactions generally took place by email (my preferred method) or, when interactivity was required, by phone, Teams, or Zoom. Actual face-to-face interaction was very limited. I liked it that way for, as odd as it may seem, I don’t actually like dealing with people directly. I say that’s odd because I have spent my entire career in a field that required not only face-to-face interaction but, as a nurse, often that interaction required intimate contact with others. And, while I did need to interact on a one-to-one level in the hospital, teaching allowed me to interact with students on a more generic level. Speaking to a class or conducting on on-line lesson is easier and less stressful for me than meeting one on one with an individual.

Using the Right Tool for the Job

Back in the late 1980’s, when I first began working with computers, there were a fairly wide variety of devices and OSes from which to choose. TRS-80, Commodore (I had the C-128), MS-Dos based PCs, Apple, Amiga, and so on. The challenge was to determine which device worked best for your intended use. DOS based PCs were best for office type work, Apple was the choice if you were doing multimedia, Amiga for gaming, etc. While you could do anything on most of those devices, each had particular strengths and weaknesses. The question you faced in making a purchase was, “which device is best for what I want to do?”

Confusing Fiction with Fact

I swear some people can’t keep track of reality.

While browsing Amazon for something to read in the vein of philosophy I ran across a book entitled The da Vinci Fraud: Why the Truth is Stranger than Fiction by Robert M. Price. The book purports to debunk the “many misleading claims found in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code” according to one reviewer. That statement and several others made by various reviewers suggest that somehow Brown was intending to provide accurate historical information regarding the Christian Church. Funny, having read The Da Vinci Code I don’t recall Brown ever claiming that the book was historically accurate. For someone to take the time to write a book to refute claims that were never made seems, well, stupid. Apparently, Mr. Price (or I should say Doctor Price, given his PhD) has difficulty comprehending that fiction is by definition not fact. Fiction writers often base their works on some variation of an idea or concept and follow the “what if” process. That is, “what if” there really is an Opus Dei ¹ with sinister underpinnings? “What if” Jesus and Mary Magdalene really did have a child together? and so on. Fiction writers take some fact and embroider it with the lace needed to paint an enticing picture that tells an entertaining story. Few set out to present history (or any other topic) factually.

My Wife Always Wanted to Marry a Pilot

A Bit of Background

I became interested in drones in the spring of 2021. My wife was preparing to retire from her teaching gig and considering a new career in real estate. After 15 years in our relatively small town in the mountains of North Georgia, we were planning a move to a little larger town with fewer challenging hills and more conveniences. We were building a new home in our soon-to-be new town. This was, I thought, a great time to explore my interest in drones. After all, I could document the progress of our new home and, if she did go into real estate, I would be positioned to do some of her photography. Win!

Why I Think Crypto is Stupid

I recently read an article on Wired about Faruk Ozer, The CEO of Turkey’s biggest Cryptocurrency business. That article outlines how tens of thousands of Turkish people were victims of Ozer’s theft of their crypto wallets and all of their assets. The thing that stood out to me is how easy it was for him to simply download their accounts onto a thumb drive and be off with their money. In the wake of the crypto crimes of Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX) and Changpeng Zhao (Binance) I fail to understand why anyone would trust their financial assets and future to something so easily stolen. Unlike banks, there is no FDIC insurance. Unlike stocks and bonds there is no physical document to show ownership. (Yes, I realize that most transactions exist in the ’ether’ but using a reputable trading house provides a level of safety that they are unlikely to steal your money.