Articles (General)

  April 2015 Ivan Obolensky   It has been a couple of years since I was last in Colombia and several since I have written about that country (see Thoughts on Medellin). I thought I should write an update on the changes I have observed since that time, having just returned. From a personal perspective, it is a country I …

March 2015 Ivan Obolensky   We all like to have stability in our lives. Stability is usually associated with longevity and predictability, yet it is this very stableness that sometimes prevents people, organizations, and systems from responding appropriately to a changing environment. Here are a few questions one could ask: How stable is my life, i.e., does it follow a …

February 2015 Ivan Obolensky Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come into the news recently as a result of comments from such luminaries as Stephen Hawking, who warned that AI could spell the end of the human race.1 Nick Bostrom from Oxford University remarked about a hypothetical AI device whose goal is to make as many paperclips as possible. He thought it …

January 2015 Ivan Obolensky Many have heard the story of Newton and the apple. Isaac Newton (1642-1726) was sitting beneath a tree as an apple fell to the ground. In some versions of the tale, it hit him on the head. In others, it fell beside him. Regardless, the falling apple inspired him to come up with the idea of …

December 2014 Ivan Obolensky   In 331 BC, Alexander the Great, having conquered the Persians, moved down the coast of Palestine, and invaded Egypt. He then marched from the capital to the mouth of the Nile River and founded the most famous city that bears his name, Alexandria. Shortly thereafter, he journeyed 220 miles to the West into the Libyan …

November 2014 Ivan Obolensky   In 1818 London a book was published titled: Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816; Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Suffering of the Crew, and the Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaare at St. Louis, and at …

October 2014 Ivan Obolensky Infectious diseases are not new, nor are they a byproduct of our technologically advanced societies. As western economies and cultures have expanded into remote areas, new pathogens have made themselves known to us. Sometimes the contact has been relatively benign, but at other times quite the opposite. Between 1951 and 1955 almost 2,500 US soldiers suffered …

September 2014 Ivan Obolensky There is a legendary tale that Nathan Rothschild, the founder of the banking firm of N. M. Rothschild & Sons, rode beside Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo and when it looked like Britain had won the day, he put spurs to his horse and made for London as fast as he could. He crossed the …

August 2014 Ivan Obolensky When did TV broadcasting start? A typical answer might be that it started in Los Angeles just after World War II. A good guess, but the correct answer is that the first regular television service was broadcast from Wheaton, Maryland, just outside Washington DC on July 2, 1928. Still, it was hardly television as we know …

July 2014 Ivan Obolensky Previously (in Part I and Part II) it was determined that a family must receive an annual income in the top 20% of the population (minimally over $105,000) to be part of the middle class.1 One of the reasons cited for this was the fact that real wages (the buying power of the money after inflation …