This extraordinary standoff between a red-tailed hawk and two gray squirrels took place in Mount Ranier, Maryland (just outside of Washington, DC) in September 2016.
Read More »DC in the Snow – A Photo Essay
Photos of the nation’s capital during the snowstorm of January 22-23 2016. Snow removal at the Capitol after everyone has gone home Friday. These cherry trees along the Tidal Basin will be blooming in 2 months. The Jefferson Memorial from across the Tidal Basin. Walkway next to …
Read More »I Brake For East African Runners
I spend some of my free time in Washington DC’s Rock Creek Park, bicycling or hiking. This slender gem winds its way through the northwest sector of the nation’s capital for five miles, following the aptly named Rock Creek. Heavily wooded, the park is a haven for urban hikers and …
Read More »Facial Recognition Apps of the Future – An End to Public Privacy
Usage of facial recognition software, which identifies a person by his or her facial features, is spreading throughout the government and commercial sectors. Federal agencies and police departments are using it to identify criminals and threats to national security. Facebook, which has an enormous trove of photographs, provides it …
Read More »A Death in Baltimore – One Year Later
August – Three-year-old McKenzie Elliott sits on a neighbor’s front porch in Baltimore. She waits excitedly for her stepfather. It is a sweltering day and he will take her swimming. He is late – traffic is bad. A car stops at the corner of 36th St and Old York Road. …
Read More »By-the-Numbers Handicapping Guide for the 2016 Presidential Election
Want to know who will win the 2016 presidential election? It may be useful to look at recent electoral history for clues. Here are 5 tendencies that may suggest a certain outcome: 1. After one party has two consecutive terms in the White House, the following election almost always goes …
Read More »5 Words You Should Banish From Your Vocabulary…
…if you want to be taken seriously. The words you choose will determine how others evaluate your intellect. It matters in almost any interaction you have outside of a close personal relationship. This includes your workplace and any interaction with someone you don’t know well. I’m not going to address …
Read More »Personal Anecdotes Have Little Value in the Public Sphere
The telling of personal stories has been an important aspect of human communication since before the development of complex language. Sharing one’s experiences is an integral part of personal relationships. It is typically one the first subjects that friends or acquaintances discuss when meeting (“How are you? What have you …
Read More »Drone Technology Could Have Prevented Germanwings Crash
The recent intentional crash of Germanwings flight 9525 by a suicidal pilot demonstrated for the second time in the past year the risks associated with having humans completely in control of an airliner. The German co-pilot of flight 9525 committed suicide and the mass murder of 149 others when he locked …
Read More »Video: Special Delivery! Gyrocopter Crash Lands on Capitol Lawn!
I was in downtown DC with my laptop and little Panasonic compact camera in my backpack. I’d been working on a video about protests and demonstrations in DC, and I heard that a group of demonstrators advocating pot legalization and DC statehood had chained themselves to a 42-foot “Liberty Pole” on …
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