In December of 1775, the text of King George III’s October speech to parliament regarding rebellion in the American colonies arrived on this continent and was distributed among a people toying with idea of independence. Prior to this revelation, many citizens, members of Congress, and even Washington himself were not entirely sure that a new nation would or should be ...

If the TPP is secret, how accurate are its biggest critics? I can’t claim expertise (or even substantial knowledge) on the subject of international trade, but can you?  When was the last time, you followed a trade negotiation like a sports fan?  Yeah, me either.  But consistent with our conspiracy-rich times fostered by overvalue of context-free leaks and well-funded fear ...

In 1997, the Electronic Frontier Foundation bestowed its prestigious Pioneer Award upon an 82-year-old movie star and posthumously to an avant-garde music composer.  The movie star was Hedy Lamarr, the composer was George Antheil; and their collaboration as amateur inventors during the early days of America’s entry into World War II led to a working model for a signal transmission ...

This week, I paid a small fortune to have the instrument cluster replaced on my car, and the mechanic, sympathizing as I wincingly wrote out the check, said, “The days of mechanical failures are over.” By this he was of course referring to the reality that everything we depend on is supported by integrated electronics and computers, the downside of ...

Did you hear the echo? This past weekend, as many people know (and even more people don’t), Saturday marked the two-year anniversary of the event known as SOPA Blackout Day.  In case you don’t remember it or missed it altogether, it was January 18, 2012 when various websites, most notably Wikipedia, went dark or semi-dark for the day in order ...

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)