The two party system in the US is such a mirage

In the US, we have this idea there are two political parties. There are the democrats and republicans, liberal and conservatives, elites and working-class, socialists and capitalists, big government and small government, and on, and on. The 2016 election brought this to the foreground more than ever before. We had two choices, a long-time politician, full of dirty laundry, but with a lot of experience; and a new-comer, full of dirty laundry and with many new ideas and cavalierism. The good vs evil, or evil vs good. The...

February 26, 2020

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Doug Dlod

MotoGP Pre-Season update

MotoGP is set to begin the 2020 season in Qatar in 2 weeks. So far, the first pre-season test of the year (not counting 2019 post-season tests) has completed, in Singapore. At present, they are in Qatar, at the final pre-season test of the season, before they first race at the same track on March 8. Qatar is a nigh-race, hence the pre-season test is also taking place under the lights. Since the Singapore test, we have learned many things. Quartararo is fast Marc Marquez's shoulder recovery is...

February 22, 2020

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Mario Aigoloncet

What is the most widely used drug in the world?

It is not cocaine, or marijuana, oxycodone or even nicotine. It is caffeine. Yes, that venerable cup of "joe" most adults in the world depend upon is a drug, as mild as it may be. Just like any addictive substance, there are withdrawal symptoms when you stop using it. However, to its credit, when we are feeling the effects of caffeine, they are mild and non-altering (at least not in a negative way). With climate change, the drug most of us have come to love, may soon be...

February 21, 2020

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Wen Ruoy

You cannot win with anger

I realize I am not telling you anything new. We've been told this since the beginning of time, be kind to others. Generally I think we all strive to do this, to be kind to others. However, when it comes to politics, it seems more difficult than ever to meet people half way. Why is that? Why is it, that "the other side" must be defeated at all costs? Why even, are they "the other side"? In a recent episode of Hidden Brain, one of my favorite podcasts,...

February 20, 2020

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Dolores Anaicna

Disinformation is probably the biggest existential threat we face

The internet age was supposed to be the age of information. The age in which all information known to humankind, could be shared democratically to all of humankind. It was the idea that someone that lived in the Congo could have the same access to information as someone in Paris, so long as they had a connection to the internet (albeit perhaps not as reliable). That was the promise with which it was launched. A naive and childish promise. Sure, the supporters will pipe up and claim that...

February 19, 2020

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Tiab James

The next revolution in mobile is screens

Last year, OnePlus and Asus, released two mobile phones which featured screen refresh rates higher than the every other phone in the market, 60Hz. OnePlus included phones with 90Hz screens while Asus had 120Hz screens, the latter option was directly aimed at gaming enthusiasts. This year, at least so far, Samsung seems to be following suit with their release of the S20 line. The S20 phones by Samsung went from S10s, last year, to S20s, this year. I suppose their nomenclature is following this decade. With that in...

February 18, 2020

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Mario Aigoloncet

MotoGP Pre-Season Update

Many things have taken place in the past 2 weeks in the MotoGP world championship. Somethings we expected, but others we did not. For example, we expected that Young-Gun Quartararo would be fast, and he was. We also expected Ducati had a long-shot in securing the services of Viñales; he renewed with Yamaha as we knew he would. Finally, we expected that Lorenzo would sign-on as Yamaha's test rider; he did. The surprises where many, however. For starters, for the first time since 2002, Rossi is not signed...

February 10, 2020

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Mario Aigoloncet

The power of breaking complex action into steps

We have all seen animal trainers manage to get different animals perform very difficult and complex tasks through training. One of the tools they use to achieve this level of communication with the animals is a clicker (though a short-tone whistle is also used). The point of the clicker is to help the animal map the expected action in their brains when the click is perceived. In a recent episode of Hidden Brain, the origins of this training method, and its potential were explored. At our core, we...

February 7, 2020

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Tiab James

The 2020 meltdown

What would happen if there were a meltdown in the 2020 election? Is the United States government prepared to handle this? And even if it were prepared, would the outcome be anything less than disastrous and more divisive? If the state of the union speech, and the subsequent crowing after his formal acquittal are any way to judge, I think we can expect a long-road ahead. Richard Hasen, a law professor at UC Irvine, proposes that we may be in more trouble than we can imagine if the...

February 6, 2020

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Dolores Anaicna

The power of imagination, and how you can practice it

We all know that having an imagination is a powerful gift. We've all had it, and often recall, or even chuckle, those days when we were younger and seemed to have ample reserves of it. Remember thinking you could actually fly like superman, or of unicorns in the forests? Imagination is powerful, it allows us to see things we never thought possible. It breaks those anchors that tend to hold us down to our current reality and lets us think about what it could be, rather than what...

February 4, 2020

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Tiab James