Why I’m Not a Fan of Compromise I know it’s not popular to say, and I hope you won’t misunderstand me, but I’m not a fan of compromise—not in the…
We Need TouchLM and SmellLM: Expanding AI Beyond Sight and Sound Artificial Intelligence has come a long way. We’ve got Large Language Models (LLMs…
Shoulders of Measurement Giants—Small Humanity has spent centuries peering deeper into the microscopic realm, evolving from simple magnifying glasses…
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Isaac Asimov in 1964, in an essay he wrote for The New York Times titled “Visit to the World’s Fair of 2014.” made a buncha predictions. How Accurate…
The Parking Lot Problem Parking lots. We’ve all used them, but how often do we stop and consider the true cost of a parking space? For most of us…
There Is Not a "Yes" or "No" in Chinese (Sorry to HK-ers, I have used simplified Chinese - but prefer tradtional). We often assume that the simplest…
Ways We’re Still Just Cavemen Despite living in modern cities brimming with technology, our brains are still wired much like our cave-dwelling…
In order to create, artistic people often need to be sequestered or be alone. Isolation is key. You may have to be a little alone to be free. So Be…
Different Table Manners Around the World Table etiquette doesn’t just tell us how to eat—it reflects deeper cultural values about sharing food and…
Why We Feel Disgust: From Rotten Food to Moral Outrage When you recoil from a foul smell or gag at the sight of spoiled meat, you’re experiencing a…
The Evolution of Data Integrity: From Databases to ETL to Abstraction Layers Over time, data integrity has shifted from being strictly enforced at the…
Who’s Really in Control: Us or Fermentation? We like to think we invented fermentation. We talk about brewing beer, baking bread, fermenting kimchi…
The Role of Red Pockets: Amazing and Confusing If you’ve ever been in a place where red pockets (or “hongbao”) are exchanged, you know there’s…
Who’s Really in Control: Us or the Plants? Take a moment to think about how much time, energy, and money we invest in our lawns, gardens, and flowers…
“This Tuesday” vs. “Next Wednesday”: Why the Confusion? Ever had someone say “next Monday,” and you weren’t sure if they meant the Monday just a few…
From Spoiled Food to AI Sensors: The Evolving Science of Disgust Disgust is that jolt of revulsion you feel when encountering spoiled food or a foul…
The Speed of Light Is SO Slow We often marvel at how light travels at (3 \times 10^8) meters per second, zipping around Earth seven times in a single…
You Humans are weird as shirt: You Take the Perfect Dessert—Ice Cream …and Ruin It Just a Little, Just Enough, So You Can Have More Adopted from a…
Could We Evolve Out of Our Own Quirks? We’ve come a long way since we were dodging saber-toothed cats and picking berries for a living. But, let’s…
Which Thinker Are You? Exploring the Big Questions of Reality Ever caught yourself pondering whether God is a thing or if everything that can be known…
As I continue this journey of writing and sharing, I contiue to be inspired by new ideas and perspectives. Here’s a collection of blog titles—some…
You have To be more than half of every relation you want to keep active. Why? We humans do a poor job of understanding the other person and of the…
“Buy land, they're not making it anymore.” — Mark Twain Every inch of the world belongs to some country—sometimes disputed by two or more nations. But…
Things We Don’t Know: The Matter-Antimatter Mystery According to our best theories, the universe should have equal amounts of matter and antimatter…
The Speed of Light, Electricity, and the Electron We often hear that light travels at (3 \times 10^8) meters per second—that’s about seven laps around…
Phatic Phrases: How Are You? We say it countless times a day—“How are you?”—but do we really want the answer? In most casual encounters, the question…
There’s little in life where two people are brought together in such a unique, singular way to create something random, collaborative, and beautiful…
In 1900, Ladies’ Home Journal published an article by John Elfreth Watkins Jr. titled “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”, predicting what…
Science often gets painted as a realm of complex equations, particle accelerators, and endless data crunching. But when we pause to consider pursuits…
Coats in Hong Kong Winter Hong Kong winters might not seem severe by some standards, but the chill can still bite — especially with the city’s humid…
Do We Suffer If We Can't Recall? If you can’t remember the pain, did it really happen? It’s a question that tiptoes into the realms of consciousness…
We Stand on the Shoulders of Measurement Giants For centuries, humanity has refined the tools and theories that let us measure everything from Earth’s…
My Hopes for This Blog When I first set out to start this blog, I had a lot of thoughts running through my head. What did I want it to be? What…
That time: Kennedy tried to stop the moon shot. We all know Kennedy wanted to race against Russia and land a man on the moon. But what you might not…
A Meow Is for Us, the Nose-Rub Is for Them Have you ever wondered why your cat meows at you, but when she’s with other cats, she’s oddly silent? Adult…
Chinese Food Customs Eating in China is about more than just the food—it’s a cultural experience packed with traditions that might surprise newcomers…
What could Cities like New York or Boston be without cars? Maybe a new lower rent/o
Blame, Guilt, and Shame: Are We the Only Ones? We humans have a knack for pointing fingers—“You did this wrong!”—and that’s blame in a nutshell. It’s…
Curious Quirks in Everyday Language Alarms & Planes An alarm goes off when it starts making noise, and you turn it off to stop the sound. But at night…
Don't Apologize for 'Long Thought' In a world that values speed and brevity, there’s often pressure to rush through our thoughts and conversations…
Futurist: Ray Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil stands among the most famous futurists, celebrated for his predictions on AI, longevity, and the so-called…
Did You Ever Wonder How a Chinese Typewriter Works? We’re used to keyboards built around 26 letters plus a handful of punctuation symbols. For English…
A Person Is Good—It Takes People to Be Bad I often reflect on how an individual, on their own, can be wonderfully kind, generous, and empathetic. Yet…
The Lie – Why? We humans share countless traits with other animals, but the capacity to lie—to knowingly mislead with words or gestures—stands out as…
Down to the Absurdly Small: From the Ultraviolet Catastrophe to String Theory We love a good paradox in physics—those moments when the old theories…
Star Trek TNG is about the world of 2370's or about 350 years in the future. An interesting mind experiment would be to Compare this world you and I…
Distinctly Human Traits: Beyond the Animal Continuum Some abilities stand out as categorically different in humans, not just “bigger” or “more complex…
Facebook: Do You Know What You Give? We all know Facebook as a place to connect with friends, share photos, and catch up on the latest news. But have…
2) The disconnected offer. 3) The torsion and disassociation. 4) The roles and movements of circles. radius, turns, movements and layers.
categories: ["we-know", "evolution", "just-thinking", "dogs"]
Parking Lots of the Near Future Imagine a world where your car doesn’t sit idle for hours in a crowded parking lot. Instead, it drops you off at the…
Chinese Meals I Ate on This Trip Traveling through different parts of China, I tried some dishes that were both exciting and, for a newcomer…
Tails Are for Dogs, Eyebrows Are for Humans We’ve all seen that exuberant tail-wag—maybe when your dog spots another pup at the park, or just when you…
Look Through the Other’s Eyes (im trying the blog post again) One of the most challenging and profound lessons I’ve learned in life is the importance…
Your Printer is SPY-ing on You – Really Did you know that your printer could be secretly tracking your every move? It's been happening for over two…
What a great thing it is to find love and not live your life alone.
Did You Ever Wonder How a Chinese Dictionary Works? Think of any dictionary you’ve used—English, Spanish, French. They’re all organized alphabetically…
Yup. It is the cause of so much mistrust of science.
Holy Forking Shirt Balls— This the Bad Place. Sometimes, you wake up and wonder: Am I actually in the bad place? Because let’s face it, life can hurl…
Fully autonomous cars that deal with all aspects of driving are called level 5 (L5 cars for short in the is blog). The logic of basic self driving is…
Passwords: Best Practices Stop trying to remember them—you can’t, because you’re human. Every password you use (and let’s be real, we all have over…
The Search for No-Failure and No-Faults In tango, words often feel unnecessary—perhaps even uncomfortable—out on the dance floor. After years of…
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Anti-Matter Actually Falls Down We (well not me, again) recently created antimatter hydrogen, consisting of a positron (the “positive” electron…
The Evolution of Data Modeling: From Codd to NoSQL and Beyond Let’s map out my path of my best-practice path for data modeling from my Schooling in…
Futurist: Peter Diamandis Peter Diamandis is a futurist, entrepreneur, and founder of XPRIZE, Singularity University, and Human Longevity Inc. He…
Each Other’s Eyes “Look through the other’s eyes—because yours aren’t the only ones that matter.” We forget, sometimes, that the world doesn’t revolve…
What is a Vowel? We often say “A, E, I, O, U,” but what makes a vowel a vowel? It’s more than just the shape of the mouth or a simple list of letters…
We often talk about the glories of autonomy's cars- and that they will eventually take over all local travel and delivery. There is some evidence that…
Hong Kong Does Escalators Right There’s an unspoken efficiency in Hong Kong: stand on the right, walk on the left. Whether you’re in a busy MTR…
The Speed of Light Is Not About Speed (or Light) We tend to think of the “speed of light” like a car flying down a highway—just a very, very fast one…
Origins of the Balsley Surname in Switzerland The Balsley surname is of Swiss-German origin. In fact, genealogical sources note that Balsley is an…
Lets assume that : We will get to a level 5 autonomous car or an "L5 car". This is a car that automatically deals with all conditions and manages all…
3NF and the world accoring to COD E.F. Codd (1923-2003), the grand architect of relational databases, designed Third Normal Form (3NF) as a way to…
Dialogue Without Words Words can be powerful, but sometimes they fall short. A picture can paint a thousand of them. A human touch? That’s worth a…
What's the prettiest interval? And the worst? Augmented 4th
We have been told we have 5 senses. Sight, sound, scent, Touch, Taste. Some work Together : scent and taste give flavors. Tough and sight is balance.
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