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Are you smarter than a 1912 eighth grader in Kentucky? Below is a link to a test given to eighth graders in Bullitt County, Kentucky. It is humbling. Funny how well students learned in old-fashioned, frequently one room, schools. Farm kids such as my parents, rarely went to "high school", and...

"How The Movies Are Preparing Us For Our New Robot Overlords." Below is a link to a Washington Post article having the above title, using a review of four movies to discuss the growing unease over "strong AI" machines. The movies are "Ex Machina", "Chappie", "Interstellar", and "Her". Worth...

The Senate is getting ready to vote on fast-track authority for Obama to finalize the TPP and present it to Congress on an up-or-down vote, with out debate or amendment. Obama spoke this morning on why he should get this authority, and why the TPP would be good for Americans. He is obviously...

Here is a clip of George Lewis and his New Orleans band in concert in Tokyo, 1954, blowing the house down with "Ice Cream". This should get your feet moving and your butt shaking. As usual, the Japanese crowd was considerate in waiting to the end to applaud. Recordings can't put you in the...

It appears that progress is being made in the development of artificial intelligence software programs to operate machines that can learn from experience and modify their software to improve their performance. Below is a link to a report on some recent research. This may start to get scary...

The L.A. Times had a front page article today on how the GOP is impeding, if not stopping, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act through actions by state legislatures to reject the expansion of Medicaid to provide coverage for the poorer people in those states. We are still hearing...

LESSONS OF HISTORY, by Will and Ariel Durant (Smon & Shuster 1968). I read this book some time ago. Perhaps I was not in the right mood. It was a bit disappointing. I found it to be somewhat pedestrian. Somehow I expected more from a purported distillation of what the Durants had learned from...

"Looking For Chet Baker", by Bill Moody. This is a book which I had to read. Chet Baker was my favorite trumpet player in the Fifties. I enjoyed his playing on numerous occasions, first with Gerry Mulligan’s piano-less quartet at the Haig, a jazz club across from the Ambassador Hotel, at the...

As we enter the new year, and a new Congress which appears bent on undoing whatever regulations are left on Wall Street is about to go into session, here is a a look back on the mess we were in in 2009 when Obama took office, and proved to be the wrong man for the job. Below is a link to...

Among the problems with the omnibus budget spending bill passed by the House last night in spite of a revolt by a large majority of Democrats against the White House, is a provision written by Citigroup which will repeal (assuming that the Senate caves and passes the funding bill as passed by...