Have you ever wondered why plumbing only works in one direction?
Think about it: water comes out of your sink; water comes out of your shower; water comes out of your garden hose. But can you send anything back through the plumbing to wherever it came from? No! And where did it come from, in the first place, anyways?
The reason for this setup is very simple. Municipal water supplies are poisoned. But they aren’t poisoned with something simple and direct, like cyanide or E. coli. The government doesn’t want to kill you. No, the poisons in the water supply are not dangerous to your physical health. They are more… psychological. Read the rest of this entry…
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One of the fastest growing technology sectors today is the “Smart” cell phone, or “smartphone,” market. Popular examples of smartphones include the various Blackberry devices and Apple’s iPhone. They are essentially miniature computers, complete with custom-designed operating systems like “Windows Mobile,” “Symbian OS,” “iPhone OS,” and Google’s “Android.” Smartphones are designed for not only making phone calls but also reading and writing email, browsing the internet, viewing and editing documents, listening to music, playing games, and more.
For anyone who has been following Half the Battle, the words “and more” in the last sentence immediately raise alarm bells. Email, web-browsing, and games are all great, but what else are these smartphones capable of?!
Read the rest of this entry…
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Board games are a fond pastime for many families. Whether parents are teaching their children about the ins-and-outs of society with Life or schooling them in the finer nuances of world domination with Axis and Allies, there’s a lot of great fun to be had, great memories to be made, and great lessons to be learned.
Of course, the pedagogical (that’s “teaching” for those of you with a mere high school vocabulary) aspects of some games are more positive-and more well-publicized-than others. Everyone is aware of the benefits Risk provides in developing lateral thinking skills, diplomacy and conflict management, and an understanding of basic probability. Many studies reported in the popular media have demonstrated the benefits that Risk-playing children receive later in life.
But there is one board game that does not receive very much coverage of this sort in the media, because the outcomes of playing it are not nearly so positive. Read the rest of this entry…
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The most important skill you will ever develop is knowing when to ask questions. As an astute reader, you will no doubt be asking, “How often should I be asking questions?”
The answer, of course, is always. The world is a complex and dangerous place, and you need to be on your toes. Assume nothing; question everything. Some of the answers you get will surprise you. For example, I recently uncovered a Truth that is going to greatly affect my driving habits for the foreseeable future.
It all started with a question: Why, when the driver of a car engages the turn signal, does the car make a ticking noise? Read the rest of this entry…
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Tomorrow I’m going to start a new series of blogs titled “Half the Battle,” in which I will inform you of the answers to some of the questions you’ve been trained not to ask. HtB will be kind of like the Big Ponder videos I’ve done, but more informative, more detailed, and more useful.
The premise of the series is this:
The world is a complex place, with many mysterious and hidden dangers that the Powers That Be would prefer you didn’t know about. Ignorance is bliss, but knowing is Half the Battle!
If you have any topics you’d like me to cover in an HtB article, leave a comment or send me an email.
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