Explainer – Page 5 of 6

How I Beat Spam

Posted February 11, 2021September 7, 2009 in Explainer, Online Life, Plugs, True Business32 Comments

…Without Having to Change My email Address

My email address has been around online for many, many years, and it gets a lot of spam — many hundreds per day. For most users, spam far outstrips legitimate mail. It was 1996 that I realized that spam would become a huge problem, which is why I wrote my Spam Primer to educate my readers about it. And sadly I was right: it’s estimated that more than 90 percent of all email transmitted is spam. And how many of them get to my inbox? Lately, I’m averaging less than one a day.

Bear Country

Posted January 20, 2024August 10, 2009 in Animals, Death, Editorial, Explainer, Major Headlines, Obliviots/Idiots, Photo78 Comments

A few comments about this week’s lead story, about the encounter between a bear and a Colorado woman. If the location sounds somehow familiar, it’s because that’s where I live.

In the Line of Duty

Posted January 28, 2021July 27, 2009 in Away From Work, Death, Editorial, Explainer20 Comments

The county I’m in is pretty small, population-wise: about 4,200 people. (Geography-wise, it’s medium for the west: about 550 square miles.) As you might guess, there’s not much shopping in my county, so for groceries we pop into Montrose, which is a town of about 16,000, and is only 20 minutes away. (Montrose County has a population of around 34,000 in 2,240 square miles.) So we know the town pretty well.

Honest to Goodness Good Stuff

Posted March 7, 2024June 29, 2009 in Away From Work, EMS Story, Explainer, Medical99 Comments

Something fairly profound happened to my wife and me Sunday. I have a group of friends that I communicate with regularly via an email list, and Sunday afternoon I shared what happened with them. One asked, “Great story. Will you be sharing it with your readers?”

Don’t Talk to the Cops

Posted October 30, 2022June 5, 2009 in Crime, Editorial, Explainer, Lawsuits/Lawyers, Other Projects, Special, Zero Tolerance67 Comments

Some readers will be a bit puzzled why I would spread this message in my blog: “Do not, under any circumstances, be interviewed by the police without advice from a lawyer.” You have a right to remain silent, and I urge you to exercise that right. Especially if you are innocent.

Crash Boom Bang

Posted January 28, 2021May 8, 2009 in Explainer, Online Life, Technology61 Comments

I’ve been using computers for many, many years now, and finally had something happen to me that has never happened before: a disk crash. It happened yesterday.

Guns in America: Why?

Posted January 20, 2021February 16, 2009 in Editorial, Education, Explainer, Guns, Rant, Special, Zero Tolerance130 Comments

Anytime I run a “gun story” I get a lot of comment from both hugely polarized Americans, who want to rant for or against guns, and foreign readers, who don’t understand the American “obsession” with arms. I’m going to take a stab at helping foreign readers understand it a bit better. So first, the “gun story” that prompted this essay, from True’s 15 February 2009 issue:

Twitter: Why You Should Care

Posted January 28, 2021January 18, 2009 in Explainer, Media, Online Life, Technology30 Comments

Chris in Washington asks:

Randy: you’ve mentioned Twitter a couple of times, and I see you have a link on TRUE’s home page to your Twitter page. I’ve looked at Twitter a couple of times, and I just don’t get it. Do people really care that their friends (or favorite celebrities) are “Waking up to face the day.” or “Eating a bologna sandwich for lunch.”? Why?

Plane Crashes, Intelligence,
Dad, and Jack Williamson

Posted September 30, 2022December 22, 2008 in Away From Work, Books, Explainer, Military7 Comments

You may have heard about the plane “crash” in Denver Saturday. A Continental jet taking off for Houston veered off the runway, went cross country for a bit, popped up over an airport service road, then collapsed on its belly and burst into flame. No one was killed.

Visiting the White House

Posted December 1, 2023November 10, 2008 in Away From Work, Explainer, Government, Photo, Politics, Special, Travel30 Comments

I mentioned in my post last week that being in Washington D.C. was “more surreal than usual” because it was election time. Well, imagine being inside the White House just two days before the election! Because indeed, that’s where I was.

Library of Congress

Posted January 6, 2022November 3, 2008 in Explainer, Government, Photo, Travel13 Comments

I had a pretty full weekend — I’m writing this while sitting in the airport, waiting for my plane to get me the rest of the way home. I had a very interesting trip to Washington D.C.; election time makes the town even more surreal than usual. My report next week will get into that a little bit more.

What’s Your I.Q.?

Posted January 20, 2021October 24, 2008 in Explainer, Marketing, Online Life21 Comments

I got a note from a Premium subscriber saying he had clicked on an ad on my Jumbo Joke site. He noted, “I used a throwaway email address to access the site and now get between 100 and 300 spam messages per day (my ‘real’ email gets 5-10 spam messages per day). I’m so glad it’s not my primary email address, but how many of your readers don’t know any better?”

Denver Mensa A.G.

Posted January 28, 2021July 7, 2008 in Explainer, Other Projects, Speaking21 Comments

Kit and I are back from Denver, where we both spoke at U.S. Mensa’s Annual Gathering. Several readers have asked what a Mensa gathering is like. Mensans simply have one thing in common: they’re all in the 98th percentile of intelligence — pretty smart people.

7 Minutes of Terror

Posted January 20, 2024May 26, 2008 in Explainer, Major Headlines, Plugs, Space, Technology4 Comments

“Seven Minutes of Terror” — that’s what NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where I worked for 10 years before leaving to work on True full time, went through yesterday.

School Bus Plunge (On Purpose)

Posted December 4, 2022May 21, 2008 in Away From Work, EMS Story, Explainer, Photo33 Comments

I spent most of the day Sunday working at the scene of a school bus that plunged (buses always “plunge”!) over the side of a steep embankment on Ouray County’s famous “Million Dollar Highway” below Red Mountain Pass.

Men and Balloons

Posted January 28, 2021April 28, 2008 in Death, Editorial, Explainer, Online Life, Photo, Special, Urban Legend14 Comments

What is it with men who want to fly under balloons? I don’t mean hot air balloons, I mean toy balloons. This one’s a priest — he just wanted to get closer to God, I guess. From True’s 27 April 2008 edition:

Shift Happens

Posted September 24, 2023December 3, 2007 in Editorial, Education, Explainer, Kids/Teens, Language, Online Life, Plugs, Technology65 Comments

There’s a group of friends I hang out with online, all of us online entrepreneurs. One sent a URL around urging us all to “take 8 minutes to watch the video,” adding “if you care about such things, please consider blogging about it and/or passing it on.” What things? Our kids. Or, more accurately, the education of our kids. The world is a very, very different place than it was when we were kids.