Tonight my son and I, along with a couple of neighbors, are going to see My Morning Jacket at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA (a suburb of Philadelphia). I must admit I don't know much about My Morning Jacket, although my son is trying to give me a crash course using YouTube. Based … Continue reading Throwback Thursday – My List of Concerts →

It's counterintuitive. The basic concept behind the phrase "walk a mile in his shoes", suggests that to truly understand the difficulties someone is going through, it helps to have gone through such struggles yourself. However, researchers at Northwestern and Wharton found the opposite to be the case - that people who have endured a difficult … Continue reading Looking for Some Empathy? Avoid Those Who Have Been There, Done That →

We live in a town that has a leaf pickup program that is in full swing right now. The schedule actually calls for two pickups for each street, and in anticipation of those pickup dates, people are busy raking their leaves into the street. The result is huge piles of leaves in the street, and … Continue reading To Rake or Not to Rake, That Is the Question →

Henrik Cronqvist of the University of Miami and Frank Yu of China Europe International Business School compared the corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings of S&P 500 companies and found that when a firm was led by a CEO with at least one daughter, it scored an average of 11.9% higher on CSR metrics and spent 13.4% … Continue reading CEOs with Daughters Run More Socially Responsible Firms →

I can't take it any more -  watching people share their opinions on Facebook and other social media, and then trying to back up their opinions with alleged facts. Occasionally I will find a well-reasoned argument that makes me think about my own opinion on the matter, but more often than not people just pass along … Continue reading Just the Facts →

It's hard to put into words how I feel about the tragedy that took place in Paris today. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected. I'll never understand what motivates someone to kill innocent, defenseless people. I am sure that over the coming days we will hear stories of heroes who stepped up … Continue reading Vive La France →

The phrase "your skin is glowing" just got a whole new meaning. Grindhouse Wetware, a Pittsburgh-based biohacking collective (reading about these guys introduced me a to a subculture I never knew existed), just unveiled their latest creation—a magnetically activated, LED-equipped silicone implant. The new device, dubbed the Northstar V1, is about the size of a … Continue reading How to Have Glowing Skin, Literally →

Today my students and I were fortunate to have guest speakers visit all four of my classes and offer a 20-minute presentation about Villanova's upcoming Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (HHAW). HHAW is an annual event sponsored by Campus Ministry & the Center for Peace and Justice Education that engages the Villanova community in discussions … Continue reading The Power of One →

On July 7, 2015. Lowell Wood, inventor-in-residence at Intellectual Ventures (IV), received his 1,085th utility patent (a patent for inventions). This broke the record held by Thomas Edison since 1933. In a profile for Bloomberg, Ashlee Vance wrote about how Wood helped bring about the end of the Soviet Union, through his work on the “Star … Continue reading Lowell Wood Breaks Edison’s 82 Year Old Patent Record →