Call That the Really Old-Fashioned Kind There are hardcover dictionaries (just like always). There are online dictionaries, including the now-ubiquitous Wikipedia (more of an encyclopedia, actually — not that there’s much difference anymore). And then there’s what I’ll call “the Daddy Dictionary.” After my 9 year-old asked me — for the umpteenth time — to...Read More
Hiding in Plain Sight Depending on how long you’ve been driving, you’ve probably looked directly at it on your car’s dashboard 10,000 — or 100,000 — times . . . and never seen it (I certainly didn’t). What exactly am I referring to? The little arrow on the gas gauge indicating whether the car’s tank is on...Read More
If the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury were coordinating the response to the cruise ship disaster off the coast of Italy, here’s what they would be doing: –the Captain and senior officers would all be given multi-million dollar bonuses (actually, their regular, annual multi-million dollar bonuses). –Carnival Cruises, the ship’s owner, would transfer title to the...Read More
David vs. Goliath(s) Once upon a time (like in the ’90’s), my Op-Ed pieces, letters to the editor, etc. were regularly published by The Star Tribune, City Business, and even The New York Times. I stopped counting, but not before the tally reached several dozen pieces. In the intervening 20 years or, I don’t think that I’ve become a worse writer,...Read More
Or Was It, “Lend for Free on Crap Collateral?” It’s one thing to encounter distortions and ignorant drivel in some blogosphere backwater. But when it appears in The New York Times . . . it’s more than a little dismaying. In a nutshell, that’s my reaction to Adam Davidson’s piece, “What Does Wall Street Do For...Read More
The Microsoft Precedent What turned Microsoft from the preeminent company of the early Internet era (circa 1999) to a company that is now eclipsed by such juggernauts as Google, Apple, and even Amazon.com? One theory is that its focus on “legacy” products — operating systems and applications software — caused it to miss such innovations as Internet search, smart phones,...Read More
