Author: Ezra S F


  • Our attention is the product for Facebook and Twitter. They make money by selling advertising. The more time we spend on the site, the more ads they put in front of us, the more money they make. Outrage makes them the most money. We are more likely to share what outrages us. We have tribalized…

  • I found this case interesting: The facts of the case are pretty simple: The cops have a warrant for an e-mail account for someone they suspect is involved in selling drugs. They go to Microsoft to get the information. Microsoft says they’ll give law enforcement the information they have stored in Washington [State], but the…

  • Nerducation

    Nerds are a special breed. Not all of us discover we are one at an early age. Some may even deny it for a long time. So the late bloomers who discover they are a nerd have a lot of catching up to do. Step one: What do you love? Make wishlists. Step two: Work your way…

  • Talking about gun regulation causes increased gun sales. People buy out store stocks seeking to get them while they still can. So in that regard, President Obama was terrific for gun stores and manufacturers. For all the talk needing to do something, there was little done. The talk was enough to spike gun sales. “Sales…

  • Fell through the cracks

    In terms of dealing with Nikolas Cruz, there were lots and lots of opportunity for early intervention. People “saw something, said something” multiple times over the past four years. 2014: Cruz was accused of shooting a chicken four years ago. It was confirmed he owned and used an airsoft rifle, but he denied shooting chickens.…

  • Sitting at a restaurant reading while I eat is a normal thing for me. People know me as that guy. They make assumptions like that I only read paper or Kindle then ask when I show up using the other. Last week a guy sat next to me and kept me from reading due to…

  • Fake News

    There is an article floating around with a title, “Fake news sharing in US is a rightwing thing, says study.” I have not clicked on it because it sounds like fake news. The Guardian typically has clickbait titles. Also, I am annoyed because if I wanted to do a study on how susceptible liberals are…

  • The better metric for tracking how much I have read, in my opinion, is the number of pages. The number of books is okay, but the reality is reading a 50-page novella is not nearly the same commitment as a 1,500-page tome. (I might prefer a statistic for words when looking at my daughter’s reading…

  • Listened to a video about a potential candidate for National Science Advisor where Dr. David Lewis mentioned his belief in the Golden Rule will help him in the job. Thankfully, he stated it immediately after just as I was thinking, “Wait, which one?” Whoever has the gold, makes the rules. Wizard of Id Do to others…