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Winning, but before a true prize even existed

This year, 2024, marks the 42nd year (should be 43 years in a row since the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID) that I have picked at least one NCAA men’s basketball bracket. I have copies of many of them, including the one from 1981, when I picked my Louisville Cardinals to win the championship. That was the year they lost their first game on a halfcourt shot. Some people might be deterred after that jarring experience, but not me! Then again, I was only 5 when it happened.

Figs are fun

figs are fun

It is really remarkable that after writing online stories for 25 years, I have a topic today that I’ve both never written about and something I know more about than almost anything else.

That thing is figs.

How did we get to this point? My uncle had a fig tree in his backyard, and we lived at his house 16 years ago. Coincidentally, my father-in-law also had fig trees, so when we bought a new house 14 years ago, we accepted a gift of a fig cutting and planted it in an auspicious backyard location.

Book review: "The Genesis Machine" by Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel

Great book that runs the gamut of synthetic biology

The term "natural" used to be substantially easier to apply to basic items like fruit and animals. It is both exhilarating and frightening to consider "improving" genetic material, but humans have a knack for putting their marks on everything imaginable.

Super Recognisers unite!

During high school and college, I worked at Kentucky Kingdom amusement park in Louisville, Ky. Besides battling racuous crowds and the blazing heat, one thing that was interesting to me was trying to keep track of the different people I was seeing throughout the day. As a games attendant (a.k.a. carnival barker), I would attempt to personally say things to people that I saw multiple times, whether at different games or at different parts of the park. This was mostly just a sales tactic, and I think the customers likely thought I was training to have my own magic show.

Knitting

I did this. It is fun.

From the Archive

New feature: Good Advice Committee

Maybe starting a new feature with an acronym of GAC isn't the best idea, but that's all I have for now.

The Good Advice Committee will come to you on a regular basis, possibly weekly. A lot of it depends on whether or not the committee members are up to it, and it also assumes we have questions each week as well. The purpose of the GAC is to examine and determine sensible advice, which could be about technology, relationships, etc.

Search inside 'The Developers' on Amazon.com

Now there's an easy way of selecting a random excerpt to read in The Developers ... well, at least easier than just asking me to tear out a specific page or two for you.

Amazon.com has added its Search Inside feature to my book's listing on the website. You can check out the front and back covers, the first chapter or a random excerpt with the Suprise Me! link. It also allows you to zoom in and read the passages.

Google Print now carries 'The Developers'

Google is surely near the end of cataloging every book known to man, including those manuals that come with VCRs, because The Developers has finally made the list. Google Print is nice because it allows you to review portions of the book and perform searches throughout. However, not all of it is searchable, so you won't be able to see the ending.

What are fireworks salespeople up to now anyway?

Nomads have wandered through cities during the last two weeks, sold their goods and departed for lands of milk and honey.

They don't leave a trail, but their wares do – usually ashes, perhaps a foul-smelling odor but always a glowing experience.

Fireworks salespeople have rigorous lives. I recently caught up with one such seller, Smokin' Joe Romancandle. What follows is his normal day:

6 a.m. Wakes up, sings the "Star-Spangled Banner," eats a Pop-Tart and brushes his teeth.

Describe the earth, one location at a time

If you're looking for directions to some place specific, you can usually find that information at various Internet mapping services. Or, if you want to find out more information about some place in town, or maybe a place you're going on vacation, that place usually has a website.

But what if you want to find out BOTH of these things at the same time, possibly while standing on your head and singing random early '90s music?

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