by david allan van nostrand | Nov 28, 2022 | Items in the News, The world around us, Using Information
Five years ago Domino’s announced it was testing driverless delivery of pizzas. Executives had come down with a case of autonomous vehicle fever and decided that was the future of home delivery. I wrote an article about it pointing out the fatal flaws in their testing...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 29, 2022 | Items in the News, Point of view, The world around us
Over coffee one day in the 1950s, a shop teacher heard a policeman say he wished there was a way to immobilize parking violators’ cars instead of just issuing citations that are often ignored. It could have been called the Frank Marugg boot, but was given the name of...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 22, 2022 | Items in the News, Unintended Consequences
A man wearing a silly little hat and a trench coat belted tightly around his waist enters a quaint old European mountain hotel where a clerk with bushy grey hair, eyebrows and mustache sits behind the desk puffing on a long-stemmed pipe. Near the clerk, a small furry...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 8, 2022 | Human Behavior, Items in the News
What’s quick as a bunny, slow as a turtle, wise as an owl, sly as a fox, hungry as a wolf, free as a bird, slippery as an eel, clumsy as an ox, graceful as a swan, gentle as a lamb, silly as a goose, crazy as a loon, pig-headed, eagle-eyed, blind as a bat, stubborn as...
by david allan van nostrand | Jul 25, 2022 | Items in the News, The Wayback Machine
Snow globes are transparent spheres of glass or plastic filled with a clear liquid and enclosing a miniaturized scene. Paperweights, ornaments, souvenirs and collector’s items, snow globes are little worlds that sit in the palm of your hand. Shaking the sphere...
by david allan van nostrand | Jun 13, 2022 | Case Study, Items in the News
“There’s a holdup in the Bronx, Brooklyn’s broken out in fights. There’s a traffic jam in Harlem that’s backed up to Jackson Heights. There’s a Scout troop short a child, Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild; Car 54, Where Are You?” The...
