Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
hansen mug
QCS Managing Editor
• If a driverless car gets stopped for speeding, who gets the ticket?
• Does “feckless” mean “devoid of feck?” “What is feck, anyway?” “What would it mean to be feckful?”
• People don't “believe in” science. People believe science. Believing in something requires faith. Science requires evidence. Why the conflict?
• How can I forget where my keys are yet remember the words to “The Unicorn Song?”
• If a tree falls in the forest and no one takes cellphone video, did it happen at all?
• Why do rumors fly at ten times the speed of fact?
• I predict that “optimize” will soon take the place of “iconic” as the most overused (and misapplied) word in journalism. I remember when that most tiresome word was “unprecedented.” By the way, may I ask my colleagues to put a five-year moratorium on “iconic?”
• What does it say about our current state of affairs if the stock market falls because oil prices tank, when cheaper gas should fuel a boom in the rest of the economy? Was the oil boom the only bright spot in our anemic recovery?
• Wildly optimistic scenario: The U.S.-Iran deal goes through, Iran prospers and its secular middle class gains power. The theocracy is replaced by something resembling a democracy in, say, 10 years. Could it happen?
• Irony: The greatest technological minds in the world have developed smart phones, tablets and now even watches that can do amazing things. And these smart people are making the rest of us dumb. Current research finds we can't remember phone numbers, write in cursive or do long division any more, thanks to their wizardry. Next question: Who will be left to design the next generation of smart devices?
Steve Hansen is the managing editor at the Quay County Sun. He can be reached at [email protected]