Category Archives: Uncategorized

Finding One’s Tomorrowland Pin

Posted on June 21, 2015 by jlredford

“Tomorrowland” is an epic disaster of a movie, with annoying characters, a nonsensical plot, and a ridiculous premise – that the problems of the world are because people are no longer inspired by the utopias pushed by Disneyland and the … Continue reading →

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“The Affinities”: Weaponized Psychology

Posted on June 9, 2015 by jlredford

“What will be the next big technology?” is a question that gets constantly asked.   The answers are usually boring: smaller and more prevalent computers, some new energy source, some advance in space tech, or maybe something will finally happen with … Continue reading →

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The History of Computing in Lego

Posted on April 26, 2015 by jlredford

The family and I were just at Legoland San Diego, which was big fun.  It’s a cheery small theme park filled with LEGO creations, and with boxes of the blocks everywhere for the kids to create with.   Yet in this … Continue reading →

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Who Are the Most Inventive People?

Posted on March 12, 2015 by jlredford

In What Are the Most Inventive Countries, States, and Cities, I described how the inventors listed on US patents granted in 2014 were distributed geographically.  The data came from Google XML files here, with a pile of Perl post-processing.  Let’s … Continue reading →

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Robot Intimations in Pleasant Palo Alto

Posted on March 2, 2015 by jlredford

I was in the Bay Area last week for a conference, and was able to take some time to visit my friend Ted Selker, an inventor living in Palo Alto.  It was a sunny day in the 70s.  In February.   … Continue reading →

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What Are the Most Inventive Countries, States, and Cities?

Posted on February 17, 2015 by jlredford

That is, in what places do the most inventors live?   Let’s define an inventor as someone who gets their name on a patent.   Let’s restrict it further to names on US patents, since the US system is much the largest … Continue reading →

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Dealing With Threats From the Sky

Posted on January 28, 2015 by jlredford

Two days ago Boston was hit by a fairly serious snowstorm.   The city got 24″, while surrounding towns got up to 30″.   It was the 6th heaviest snowfall since the National Weather Service started tracking these things in 1935.   The … Continue reading →

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Deep Time Geology and the Fermi Paradox

Posted on November 25, 2014 by jlredford

A few weeks ago I went out for a beer and some geology, and learned one reason why the sky is so dark.   The beer came from The Burren, a rundown Irish bar in Somerville MA.   The geology … Continue reading →

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Saving Whales With Quadcopters

Posted on November 18, 2014 by jlredford

A few weeks ago there was a horrifying story on the front page of the Boston Sunday Globe – Chasing Bayla by Sarah Schweitzer.   It described the desperate efforts by Michael Moore, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceangraphic Institute, … Continue reading →

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Lovecraft is Winning

Posted on October 28, 2014 by jlredford

I was standing in the SF section of a bookstore the other day, looking at the anthology shelves.   Of the 74 short story collections they had there, 7 were based on H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthuhlu Mythos.   “The New Cthuhlu”, “Shadows … Continue reading →

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