Since sharing my September 11 experience on the podcast, I lost $10 million on September 11, 2001. Here is what I learned from those who sacrificed and served, I’ve shared my story of loss with friends and family. As I have for twenty years, I hedged describing that loss with the context of those who died, those who volunteered to put themselves in harm’s way with the intent to defend[…] Keep reading →

Every time I look at my floor sponge I think, “it’s beyond the end of its life. Time to get rid of it.” Below are pictures of the front and back. It’s in tatters. But look at the third picture. It still cleans the floor. Why get rid of something that works? I’ve cleaned my floor every fifth day without fail for about five years, maybe more. I do it[…] Keep reading →

With the recent civilian billionaires heading to space, Rob and Andrew invited me as a guest on their show After Dark on America Out Loud to speak about space, humans going there, and my helping build satellites with NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency). I haven’t gotten to nerd out on my rocket-based work in years, even decades. I don’t remember the hard equations since I’m out of practice,[…] Keep reading →

How many times have you heard people suggest the answer to our environmental problems is more technology? Have you heard of carcinogens or other toxic chemicals coming from places other than our technology? I guess some things like animal venom or naturally occurring heavy metals, but there aren’t too many of them. Volcanoes may emit carbon dioxide, but not enough to raise Earth’s temperature by a degree per decade. For[…] Keep reading →

Go back and listen to my conversations with the writers who wrote on slavery: Adam Hoschschild and his book Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves Eric Metaxas and his book Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery Manisha Sinha and her book The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition Andrés Reséndez and his book The Other Slavery: The[…] Keep reading →

I’ve posted about finding used syringes in Washington Square Park and Penn Station. Besides the syringes, I described my unexpected wincing at seeing someone inject in broad daylight. Today I sat in the park working on my computer in the area where people use openly. One woman sat on the bench I did, over six feet away, just on the other side of the metal arm rest, got out a[…] Keep reading →

Recent New York Times stories, Harvard Victory Pushes Admissions Case Toward a More Conservative Supreme Court and Affirmative Action Cases May Reach Supreme Court Even Without Trump, both by Anemona Hartocollis, lay bare a national divide. [Note: You may notice the “recent” stories are from last year. I wrote this post soon after the articles but held back on posting it. I keep reading about well-meaning people apparently deliberately misunderstood[…] Keep reading →