The Dogs That Haven’t Barked (Or We Just Haven’t Heard Them Yet)

I’ve been wondering about the countries we haven’t heard from yet on Covid numbers, or which have just flown under the radar. What I call the dogs that haven’t barked. In short, who’s on the other side of the curve, and who isn’t? The most interesting data I could find was at EndCoronavirus.org, a website … Read more

How A Twitter Scrap, and Covid-19, Reveal a Disruption In Process

When is innovation just another stab at the past, and when is it revolutionary? When it becomes a bit of a Twitter storm in a teacup, is possibly when. Here’s an interesting case study in the offing: You might need to get your head around some unfamiliar terms, like bi-directional linking, breadcrumb navigation and transclusion. … Read more

Why Won’t Computers Do What We Want Them To?

(Post updated 2020-07-15 07:37 to include postscript on JK Rowling’s planning technique.)  Computers and the software that runs them have long denied us the basic right of dictating to them — not letters and grocery lists, but of what they should actually do for us – most importantly in the first step of thinking: the … Read more

The Changes A-coming

Covid-19 has reminded us, if we needed reminding, that people behave in unpredictable ways. We are not, it turns out, rational beings. Our leaders lead from the front, the back, not at all, or just feather their own nest first. People defy curfews; they cough on others, smear their saliva on lift buttons, and fight … Read more