First Blog

FLOPS.   What is a FLOPS? It is the number of multiplications a computer can compute in one second,  far less than additions, though not quite.   It is the number of floating point operations a computer can compute in a single second.   A floating point number has a bunch of digits (e.g. 12) times a power of ten.   For example, most computers would have native trouble with the number 12345678901234546789012345, but they do well with approximations such as 1234567890 x 10^16. This means you lose some precision, i.e. accuracy, but you get the magnitude.     Let’s not devolve into software that can handle very high precision numbers, or the precise representation of floating point numbers inside the computer. It is enough here to know that we are working with numbers having a fixed number of digits together with a power of ten.   Let’s just talk about the FLOPS, floating point operations per second, of the native hardware. You know computers are fast, and expensive computers

The Bathroom. We are driven beyond the politics of the left and right.   Long may they survive.   We have arrived at what may only be called politics of the bathroom.   Modern politics seems now confined to a small room needing frequent deodorizing. ------------------ Handlers . Many celebrities, mostly those driven to political activism, have handlers pumping, pumping, and pumping them to make news.   The most recent is the footballer Kyle Kaepernick, who’s most recent activity was to stick in the eye of Miami Cubans the affirmation of Fidel Castro’s greatness (in education and more).   He has little understanding of what Castro did, what he represented, how he operated, and how many died opposing his injustice.   Despite his ignorance, he does make news for those regarding him merely as an useful idiot*. Kaepernick is truly just that, having not the slightest understanding of his usefulness.   No doubt, he regards himself as an athlete-intellectual – or maybe an intellectua

The tyranny of correctness.   Currently, we see a reversal within the party of inclusion to a party of intolerance in the name of tolerance.   If you do not agree with me, so they say, you must be racist, sexist, islamophobe, homophobe, or some other -ist or - phobic .   So fantastic are these to be unbelievable.  Usually, you call others the names you would yourself abhor. So, name-calling has a limited reach. They have forgotten what made them great.   They have embraced some easy targets while ignoring all but a couple of large groups, assuming their old-time supporters would continue to support.   They have made the fundamental mistake of assuming those in the tank should damn well stay there. Like Pandora’s box, once released, these forces roam independently. How can they put them back in their tank?   Maybe they will offer more promises, which of course translates into more spending. Maybe they will offer more detractors up to the pillory.   Yet, this