What is the size of the “Standard American?” It’s a standard that matters more than you might think. And when Americans get larger, then its time to revise the standard.
OBJECTIVITY AND MY SECRET LIFE AS SIMON HOGGARTS
On this New Years Day weekend, I am forced to reflect not only on the responsibilities of bloggers to be accurate in their reporting, but also on the timeless question posed in 1969 by the Firesign Theatre, “How can you be in two places at once, when you’re not anywhere at all?”
THE WAY AIN’T FAR, BUT YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE
Where you end up has a lot to do with where you begin. When people start too far apart, that’s likely where they’ll end up as well.
DO STANDARDS MATTER?
Of course they do. Here are three reasons why that you’ve probably never thought about before
CLAY TABLETS, IPODS AND EVO/DEVOLUTION
Your daughter’s new iPod Nano is insanely cool. It will also be useless sooner than she thinks, when the technology becomes obsolete — unlike that 4,000 year old cuneiform tablet in the museum, or the books in the library. How about your data files?
HOW DO YOU DEFINE A WILDERNESS?
Definitions may seem like simple tools. But when they are incorporated into statutes, they become powerful legal standards that can have profound impacts on our lives.
STANDARDS RELATIVITY AND THE RETURN OF THE SHUTTLE
Standards are useful because they’re supposed to provide fixed reference points. But often those points are based on fixed assumptions. So how do you use standards when the assumptions never apply to where you are?
The Devil’s in the Cloud: It’s Time to Stop our Headlong Rush into Cyber Insecurity
Ten years from now, most of the data, hardware and software in any nation will be housed in a few hundred enormous data farms, heavily defended against cyberattack — and completely vulnerable to kinetic weapons. Remember something called “war?”