(REPUBLISHED FROM AUGUST, 2012)I learned something very important from my youngest daughter yesterday. Probably a lot more than she would think.She is 18 and moved away to college last week. Her passion in life has always been riding horses and showing them. She began showing horses when she was 7 years old. Every year, she has competed in numerous horse shows. Each year, the World’s Championship Horse Show is held in Louisville, Kentucky, near our home. She has entered … [Read more...] about A Story-Book Ending and an Idiot Dad
The Psychology and Economics of Prosperity
If you've ever had a class in psychology, you know about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It's actually an interesting model to describe human behavior, but I it can also be used as a model to describe what ails us as a country.This concept has been used to describe individual human behavior for decades. In general, it suggests that humans rise to higher levels of priority in their lives only after they achieve and sustain the lower levels. It's a fairly simple concept and despite the volumes of … [Read more...] about The Psychology and Economics of Prosperity
You and Your Kids Should Probably be in Jail
Take a close look at the infographic below, one I created for this article. Stew on the statistics a while, then read on.(See end notes for sources).Now let's consider the unknown implications of these facts. Many of these people are and always will be labeled as criminals, carrying with it not only the stigma, but the likelihood of diminishing their opportunities for employment. Some have their family lives destroyed and some must struggle unnecessarily to overcome the barriers our … [Read more...] about You and Your Kids Should Probably be in Jail
A Stark Lesson in the Crushing Economic Impacts of Government Regulation
Thank you once again Uncle Sam for doing everything within your power to stifle innovation. With the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - HIPAA, you may have well reached the pinnacle of unnecessary, burdensome hurdles for an industry that needs innovation more than any other. I realize it's been around a long time, but until I was confronted with it from the technology side, I wasn't aware of how badly HIPAA has affected the medical profession, and by extension, our own health … [Read more...] about A Stark Lesson in the Crushing Economic Impacts of Government Regulation
Social Media Swarm Theory
I recently published a novel titled Canine Plague. The premise of the book is based on a flawed medical study, which becomes viral on social media, causing a near collapse of our social structure . I dedicated a chapter where the protagonist, Steven Bryant, describes to a neighbor how virality in social media sometimes takes on a life of it's own. He posits a theory that suggests a correlation between viral social media stories and swarm theory. Below is the content of that chapter. It's an … [Read more...] about Social Media Swarm Theory