Dental root canal US $1600 vs India $100

Today I was diagnosed with the need for a root canal operation. There is only a modest discoloration on the X-ray at the tip of my tooth but my dentist was convinced it was in need of clearing up. She suggested a specialist to do the work even though the tooth has straight roots and there [...]

Who will die when there is a major crop failure?

After reviewing the problems of an atomic war, or some ultimate disease epidemic, a crop failure is to be considered when thinking globally about disaster. Crop failure could be brought on by drought, disease, insects, supply chain failure, high price of oil, insecticides and or some unsuspected other thing. The exact thing which becomes a worldwide problem will probably [...]

What is the ultimate good for human behavior?

People have wondered what good is since the beginning of consciousness, no doubt. I like to picture this as Eve choosing Adam as the foundation event of the modern human species. The good being defined at that moment is the choice of Adam as her lover and thus the father of humanity.
Those people are pictured [...]

How to divert hurricanes with sea anchors.

Bill Gates thinks he has money enough to divert hurricanes. He wants to do it by pumping cold water up from the deep sea and using this water to displace the hot water that is on the sea surface. I don’t know exactly how he  intends to do that pumping but I know what I would recommend [...]

It’s hard to think when your stomach is upset.

I like Mexican food and last Friday night I had some, but later that night and all week long it has had me! Perhaps it was Montezuma’s Revenge even though I live in Northern California, not Mexico. There has been a problem with some salmonella laden Mexican chilies coming across the border that was just reported [...]

How much suffering will you risk for a reward?

What sets the risk boundaries on human behavior? This is a very difficult subject to approach because the mood, motivation and situations can be so variable. Also, in a particular situation the age, sex,   testosterone level and personal experience of the individual are very important factors. The anticipated reward for an action is important as well, and [...]

Flu shots might make you sick and save your life.

Vaccinations have some risk associated with them but getting the disease they are designed to prevent is almost always much riskier. It is true that some people die while standing in line waiting for their flu shot and some die walking away from just having had a shot and some people die while watching TV. [...]

How you can cure H1N1 flu – maybe.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the media haven’t given anyone in the public a good clue on how they personally might best cope with the flu once they get it. And it gets uglier because they don’t even recommend going to the doctor unless you run a fever for three days, but then what? [...]

Coffee shop information control techniques.

Social Techniques—The best way to achieve dominance in a coffee shop setting is to be able to talk knowledgeably about something the other people are interested in hearing. This is a transient kind of power because what people want to hear varies from one moment to the next. However, along with this variety people want [...]

Intelligence — Artificial Intelligence and Me.

Strange things happen to Me! One of the strangest was having a seminal book of the computer revolution being written with opening and closing quotes from a book of mine—Tao and War. Their book: The Fifth Generation: Artificial intelligence and Japan’s computer challenge to the world by Edward A. Feigenbaum and Pamela McCorduck. On page [...]