Computers what?

This week isn't going to be funny. I am mentally and physically exhausted, and my knee is killing me. But please read anyway; I am rather passionate about all topics below and had to limit and cut out sections to make it smaller. This week I am to talk about an organization that had a good plan but that had something go wrong because of circumstances beyond their control; that is, technology was introduced, the market changed, an innovative competitor entered the market, and so forth. The very first thing that jumped into my mind faster than time could measure is United Launch Alliance, a company that I love to hate on and take any opportunity to bash and disparage. United Launch Alliance is a space launch company that was a monopoly. It was formed when the only two major competitors in space launch, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, decided that monopolies were more advantageous than competitive. After many political dealings, people in power in the government, and then the USAF, deci

History seems to be filled with examples of discovery due to serendipity, error, and exaptation. In an earlier post, I wrote about the accidental discovery of the penicillin group of antibiotics. This was both error, the scientist did not properly clean, and serendipity, in that instead of thinking “Shoot, that’s corrupted, let’s start over.”, and instead thought, “That’s interesting, I wonder why.” In a way, the pirate, author, and long-distance sailing enthusiast Christopher Columbus found the new world, aka the British West Indies, through error. Not the best at math. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great error, but an error non-the-less. While the common story of Isaac Newton getting assaulted by an apple is an exaggeration (Gefter, 2010), it was a falling apple that provided his moment of clarity, serendipity if you would, that led to the development of the field of Newtonian Physics. Now that’s something to strive for, having something named after you. Hopefully, something that

This week is basically a dream sheet for things that will never happen due to the proposition being that I had all of the time, money, and talent in the world; and let me tell you, I’ve got none of those. I have the talent of a potato really, and what I would do with just one free hour today that I’m not exhausted from the prior 23. Five categories are presented with ten ideas each. Let’s see what I come up with. Education: 1. Finish this doctorate. 2. Get a doctorate in Security. 3. Get a Juris Doctorate. 4. Learn German. 5. Learn Mandarin. 6. Learn to play the guitar. I actually bought one, and an amp, and teaching software. Turns out I have sausages for fingers. Still have it. 7. Learn to play the piano. Yes, I also owned a piano. Don’t have the finger dexterity I thought I did, that’s why I sold it and got a guitar. 8. I Doctorate in Microbiology from Darwin College at the University of Cambridge with a specialization in telomeres. 9. Learn Italian. 10. Learn Arabic. Jo