Jul 8, 2020The Faces of Mountains1. I wrote the following after the Old Man of the Mountains in NH collapsed on May 3, 2003: I was in Montreal over the week-end and turned on the hotel TV to learn that the Old Man of the Mountains had fallen into Franconia Notch. Sad event, although I…Nh3 min readNh3 min read
Nov 17, 20174 Tetrahedra of 5 Platonic SolidsThis is a video of a magnetic model of the Cube and the Tetrahedron broken down into its smallest symmetrical tetrahedra, what Buckminster Fuller called the A and B Quanta or mathematicians call Schläfli orthoschemes (I think). The A and B Quanta make the equilateral triangle Tetrahedron (4 sided solid)…Science2 min readScience2 min read
Oct 31, 2017MIT Energy Hackathon: Rebuilding Energy Infrastructure in the Caribbean After the HurricanesThe content committee for the MIT Energy Hackathon, November 3–5, has accepted my challenge on “Rebuilding Energy Infrastructure in the Caribbean After the Hurricanes.” With luck, an extremely knowledgeable and expert team of MIT and other students will study this question and propose solutions. My cunning plan is to see…Puerto Rico4 min readPuerto Rico4 min read
Sep 24, 2017Crowd Funding an Emergency Solar Electric Grid for Puerto Rico and Other IslandsSolar lights and cell phone chargers are now $1or less production costs and selling around the world for $5 or less retail. Add bicycle generators and you have independent indigenous emergency power now, day or night. AA battery to car battery and better microgrids. It is conceivable that we could…Energy2 min readEnergy2 min read
Jul 9, 2017Science Fiction, the Tragedy of the Tragedy of the Commons, and the Delusions of the RichScience Fiction, the Tragedy of the Tragedy of the Commons, and the Delusions of the Rich I read two recent science fiction novels and was surprised to find the same objection and a similar observation in both of them. The two novels were Walkaway by Cory Doctorow and New York…Impostor Syndrome5 min readImpostor Syndrome5 min read
May 29, 2017The Trmp Conspiracies: A Few Political FantasiesIn my political fantasy life (no resemblance to persons living or dead), I like to play with the idea of deep conspiracies wondering, “What if?” from different directions, a variation of umpteeump dimensional chess. I don’t believe any of it but just like to consider the possibilities. What if Ivana…Russia3 min readRussia3 min read
Oct 15, 201610 Steps of the Confidence Game: An Election Year DanceAccording to The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It… Every Time by Maria Konnikova (NY: Viking, 2016 ISBN 978–0–525–42741–4), there’s a structure to the con. “In the put-up, he picked us out of the crowd with care.” “In the play, he established a bond through some emotional wrangling and…Books2 min readBooks2 min read
Sep 29, 2016Environmentalists Are Awful VotersNathaniel Stinnett launched the Environmental Voter Project http://environmentalvoter.org in 2015 with the mission of “identifying inactive environmentalists and then turning them into consistent activists and voters.” …Politics3 min readPolitics3 min read
Sep 11, 2016The Politics of PT BarnumPhineas Taylor (PT) Barnum was not only a show business producer and early mass marketeer but also a politician. He was elected to two terms in the Connecticut state legislature (1865 and 1866) representing the town of Fairfield as a member of the Republican Party. A decade later, he was…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
Jul 30, 2016Solar Electric Power to the PeopleI like direct action, positive protest that has immediate, practical, social and economic use. That’s why I say, Solar IS Civil Defense — light, phone, battery can be supplied by a few square inches of solar electric panel. …Solar2 min readSolar2 min read
