All Things Connected

Future Cities

In 2050, it is predicted that 70 percent of the world’s population will live in mega-cities.  Today, many previously decayed urban neighborhoods are being reclaimed, renovated and re-populated by young Millennials who…

Tech RX

Early this year, Floating Doctors helped a remote island village off the northern coast of Panama get electricity. I don’t know how Ben and Noah did it, but they and the volunteers…

Of Flip Phones and Heart Valves

I am driving to Thousand Oaks on the 101 at dawn. The road is an unclogged artery. Yo Yo Ma is playing “The Eternal Vow.” I slide up the highway thinking how…

Untrue Love

San Marcos, California is nestled in the North County region of San Diego, about an hour’s drive south of the El Segundo corporate offices of Mattell, Inc.—manufacturers of the iconic “Miss Perfect”…

Tales from the Crypto-Currency World

I have a special “accelerated-history” window. Floating Doctors has been working with the remote island Gnabe people of Panama for the last five years. Our first encounters with these islanders found them…

Peek-a-Boo, I See You

As vast as Los Angeles is, Topanga, population <10,000, has retained a small town feel, where neighbors recognize each other’s faces from community markets, restaurants, stores, schools, community fairs, dances, public meetings,…

White Hats-Black Hats

I was eight years old when we got our first television set. It was 1953. I was a horse loving, cowgirl-tomboy child, trapped in Evanston, Illinois, until, at 18, I could catch…

Artificial Intelligence and Journalism

When Michael Ferro became the largest shareholder and non-executive chairman of Tribune Publishing in 2016, according to his Wikipedia bio, Ferro became determined to usher the historic company into the digital age,…

Net Neutrality Free for All

Net (i.e., the internet) Neutrality is a controversial and confusing topic that is not well understood by most of us. This is a highly-nuanced subject, with a lot at stake, and an…

Live Wires—Living Computers!

It is spring in Topanga! All around us, DNA codes are programming the beautiful, living designs we hold so dear to bloom and grow. We bring out our copies of Santa Monica…