Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge

Around twenty years ago, my UCLA colleague and IT staffer, Jim O., and I tried our hand at writing software that would facilitate team effort and communications. We eventually abandoned the project for a number of reasons, but I continued to watch developments in the industry and marketplace for this category, and experimented with a variety of such solutions as they became available over the years.

Now, arguably the hottest product in that field would be Slack (or SLACK, as it is really an acronym for “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge”). Many may not know about that acronym or that the software could be used as a tool that could affect your privacy. Read more here in this Quartz report.

Math and Musk

Elon-Musk_TEDMath has long been one of Nik’s favorite subjects.  Fascinated by mathematical puzzles since a young child, math of course has figured in his computer programming as well as game play and design.  When we get together, we might relax with a viewing of TV programs such as the BBC’s “Story of Maths” series.  And a recent gift he presented me was Mario Livio’s The Golden Ratio.

Yesterday, Quartz published a piece on how basic math is the thing that gives Elon Musk and his companies a competitive edge and leads to his extraordinatory innovation and breakthroughs with SpaceX, Tesla and more.