Some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged for help. After touching the man’s eyes, Jesus asked if he now saw anything. “I see people, sort of like trees walking.” So, Jesus touched the man’s eyes a second time. When they were opened, he saw everything clearly. It took the first two decades […]
Whoever concluded we are direct descendants of apes must have missed Solomon’s advice about considering ants. Seriously, nonhuman primates travel light. More like ants, we humans spend our days schlepping stuff around. We pack suitcases and briefcases, pull them through airports, stow them overhead, and drag them to taxi stands, hotel rooms, meetings, and back […]
There is little pedestrian about being a pedestrian in the UK. It pays to heed the painted warnings underfoot between the platforms and trains throughout the color-coded labyrinth of the famed Underground—“MIND THE GAP.” It is paramount, however, to heed the painted curbs at nearly every intersection—“LOOK RIGHT.” Perhaps you’ve had your close call with […]
This afternoon, I received an e-mail from my friend George Laurer (to my right), the inventor of the UPC bar code—the very same code scanned on the items I purchased this morning at Costco and Trader Joe’s. It arrived on the anniversary (June 26, 1974) of the first bar-coded product being scanned at a point […]
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a frequent flier—United 1K. Last week, I was chatting with a fellow passenger who holds the airline’s highest status—Global Services. You can guess what two road warriors who’ve endured a hundred thousand plus miles the previous year kibitz about when belted into uncomfortable seats in aluminum tubes […]
SOS is the worldwide signal for distress. When originally used in 1908, the letters did not represent words. Rather, the characters were chosen for the ease with which they could be telegraphed and deciphered via Morse Code. The signal employs perhaps the least ambiguous combinations available: dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, and dot-dot-dot. The maritime call letters quickly […]
The tragic death of a hospitalized patient in Oregon [1] has once again put a spotlight on pharmacy i.v. rooms. Unfortunately this isn’t the first i.v. error to harm, or kill a patient and I’m sad to say that it probably won’t be the last. We know that IVs present higher risks than most other […]