by Dr. Keith Nemec
You’ve probably been on a team — at work, or even at home with your family: most of us have experienced teamwork. And you’ve probably seen problems within the team, where the teamwork could have been better — perhaps a lot better. Sometimes individuals on the team...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
What do movies, video games, flight simulators, and the newcomer on the scene — Virtual Reality (VR) devices — have in common? They are all meant to provide an experience that doesn’t exist, which they do through your senses. They draw you into their world to such an...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Have you noticed changes in driving habits, such as more people making U-turns in traffic these days? Does it seem that U-turns are more frequent than a few years ago? Have you noticed other subtle changes in traffic patterns? There’s a simple reason for recent...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
In 1964, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on Poverty.” This program launched a number of anti-poverty initiatives, and the social safety net across the country has continued to expand. However, poverty, by the official government definition, when adjusted...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Albert Einstein is regarded as one of the most brilliant mathematicians of all time, but he is not so well known as a philosopher. Yet he made some profound and totally non-mathematical statements. Here is one: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart could possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
What is considered to be the most stressful job in the world? That title usually goes to the job of air traffic controller, or ATC for short. ATC’s are expected to coordinate airplane traffic in three dimensions, be responsible for thousands of lives, and be able to...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Someone walks into an IKEA store looking for a job. The manager invites the applicant into the office by saying, “build a chair and have a seat.” IKEA is well known for making furniture. More precisely, they are known for selling furniture kits, where you buy a box of...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Unless your car is an antique, it likely has an OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) port connected to your car’s computer. Modern vehicles have computers constantly controlling and monitoring the engine and other aspects of the car. This computer has sensors throughout the...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Details of most television shows and movies are quickly forgotten, but occasionally something is so memorable that it outlasts the show, and some of the most memorable become iconic. One iconic race of fictional characters from the Star Trek series was the Borg. The...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Brandon Tsay was working in his family’s ballroom dance studio, which would be closing for the day shortly, when an armed man entered the lobby and threatened to shoot everyone there. Brandon froze. He thought he was going to die right then, but as the gunman’s...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Crystals hold a special fascination for us. They are beautiful to look at: diamonds are crystals, and other natural crystals are also used in jewelry. Crystals were once thought to have healing effects, and some still believe that they do, because of how they resonate...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
We all have a fascination with coded signals. If you had siblings while growing up, you likely developed special signals, maybe a special little language, that the adults would not understand. You’ve probably seen movies where someone would notice some rhythmic...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
We honor those who sacrifice their own interests to help others. Healthcare workers during the COVID period, philanthropists, emergency response personnel, heroes in battle, and everyday heroes who help others in trouble — we are attracted to them for following their...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Science fiction shows have long been popular, and one of the most popular was Star Trek. As with happens with any popular show, spoofs were also made to poke fun at it. One such spoof was a movie called Galaxy Quest. In one scene of that spoof, the starship was trying...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Consider a typical cancer patient: we will call her Val. She is in her mid-50’s, a bit overweight, and hasn’t been feeling well for a few months. She goes to her doctor, gets some tests, and learns she has advanced cancer. She is told she should start chemotherapy...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
The United States-Mexico border has become very porous. Millions of migrants have come across, immediately requested asylum, and melded into the U.S. landscape. But they are not all that is coming across the border: black market products and deadly drugs are also...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Lee Zeldin was running for governor of New York when his life almost ended. While delivering a public outdoor campaign speech and surrounded by a large audience, a man walked up to him onstage. Lee attempted to continue his speech until the man reached out towards...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
A new technology is making the news. It is literally making the news, because it is writing the news. Fading away are the days when news articles, documentaries, and even educational curricula are written by humans. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced to a level...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
If you are like most Americans, you have an investment account. At least some of your nest egg is in the stock market, bond market, or maybe real estate. And if you are successful in growing your nest egg, you are investing with a long-term perspective: the average...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Do you have a modern home with the latest gadgets — home security system with cameras, heating and cooling controls through your phone, remote garage opener and remote car starting, and of course internet and TV? Without moving more than a few fingers, you can control...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
One of the greatest storytellers of all time was Paul Harvey. He was known for teasing the audience with a short narrative, pausing, and then telling “the rest of the story” which veered into an unexpected conclusion. He did this constantly, so listeners would wait...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
“Good as new” — that’s what we say when something is repaired so well that we can’t even tell that a repair was needed. Yet, if you look closely enough, a repair rarely as good as new: a sewed piece of clothing has stitches, a rust patch on the body of a car has seems...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
When you use a mapping app on your phone, you may see multiple routes to get to a certain destination. One is the estimated fastest route, another may avoid tollways, and a third may show less turns. Your app may work a bit differently, but yours will likely give you...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Football is America’s most popular spectator sport. We get irrationally passionate about this game. Football has plenty of competing sports vying for our attention, yet it wins. Why? Is it strategy? No doubt there is a lot of strategy in the game, but that is true of...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Do your own reactions ever surprise you? Do you get angry at some offhand silly comment, obsess over finding some little item you lost that you really don’t even want, or get in a down mood when everything around you is going great? Do you ever wonder at your thoughts...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
In this modern world of instant messaging and rapid communication, actually getting a message across to another person is harder than ever. In more primitive times, a face-to-face contact was the prime way of communicating with another person. In that interaction,...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
In the early days of video games, when players didn’t have cell phones or powerful computers, to get the best play experience they often went to arcades, which were public places that housed pay-for-play machines. Arcades could only house a few machines, and the...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
In today’s hectic world, we may long for a simpler life. With the accelerating advance of technology, we may find life overwhelming and just too complicated. Henry David Thoreau’s famous quote, now nearly a couple of centuries old, of “simplify, simplify” still...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
“There is no such thing as a free lunch.” While no one knows who started this saying, it was apparently coined at a time when saloon owners were advertising free lunches, with the catch that the patrons had to buy drinks at a high cost. The saying caught on, and now...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
In past U.S. election cycles, allegations have been flying furiously about cheating and election integrity. Both sides have alternately claimed that the other side cheated while their side was guiltless. The result has been a lot of confusion over whether close...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
When you see vehicles on the road, you just think of normal transportation, but in a kid’s imagination, they are powerful robots in disguise — that’s because Transformers have been a major cultural phenomenon, capturing the minds of generations of kids ever since the...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Homelessness has been a problem in America throughout its history, but modern homeless tent cities are becoming particularly common. These cities are increasingly accepted in certain cities which have decided that they have no other option. A tent city may actually be...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
If you have pets, you don’t appreciate the “presents” that they may leave. Cats have instincts to use soft ground or sand which you can simulate with litter, and that saves your house, but it’s also frustrating to have to clean the litterbox frequently. Still, that...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
Have you ever owned a fish tank / aquarium? If you did, or do, have one, you know how much work is involved to keep it looking the way it does when you first set it up. You start with the right mix of fish so they won’t eat each other or spawn out of control, you get...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
The concern over the environmental impact of fossil fuels has caused a rapid, though largely unsuccessful, shift towards wind and solar options. It is unsuccessful in that fossil fuels still are the majority energy production source, by far. We are discovering that it...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
In what now seems like ancient history, people would record TV Shows and family movies on a VCR (Video Cassette Recorder). In the first years of the VCR era, there were two competing cassette tape formats: Betamax and VHS. Although Betamax was available almost two...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
What type of music do you prefer? Although musical tastes vary widely, odds are that you gravitate towards music similar to what you grew up with. Often we get used to a particular style, and new styles are less attractive than those we heard in our young years. It’s...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
If you have a lawn, you probably have dandelions. The common dandelion is well suited to compete with grass, and can easily take over your lawn. Its seed-spreading technique is very efficient and far-reaching, its tap-roots make it a hardy perennial, and it is quite...
by Dr. Keith Nemec
When you are buying or selling a house, how do you know what the fair value of that house is? The way the real estate agents do it is to look at “comparables” in the neighborhood — what are similar houses in the area selling for? This assumes that your house will be...
