Craig's Corner

My grandfather was an insurance guy. He married his secretary, my grandmother and they moved around a lot on behalf of one of the insurance behemoths. My own foray into insurance was as a third grader selling policies to my parents friends for their pets. We stumbled across one of my “invoices” a few years back where I wrote a cover note congratulating this person on insuring their cat with me – because cats had 9 lives so I’d never have to pay out.   March 23, 2015 marked the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act – dubbed ObamaCare. It’s an act that has almost as many lives as the cats I used to insure. Some 60 times since the Act was signed into law (which works out to an average of once a month) Congress has voted some sort of repeal. In their FY16 budget proposal the defunding of the program is proposed again. The Act has survived. The Supreme Court took up a case and, against most people’s expectation, ruled in the Acts favor. Another case is pending and a ...

I’m the anti-hoarder. There are not a lot of physical things that I’ve held on to. Earlier this year, in fact, I purged nearly two-thirds of my belongings that I had in storage. Live without stuff for three or four years and all of a sudden it’s really clear about what you want to keep and what you don’t! When it comes to my digital life, however, I’m the opposite. I have every email I’ve ever written or received (sans junk) since 1996. They’re filed by subject, by year – and I go so far as to make sure that every time there’s a major upgrade to Outlook that the old emails are readable. I guess this means I will never hold public office. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee for 2016 has been under fire for not just using a private email account and server – but for taking weeks to speak publicly about why. (And when she finally did she did so from the United Nations - choosing to address the issue on land that technically isn...

During this Lent I’m participating with the program from the brothers at St. John the Evangelist Monastery in Cambridge where I’m a regular attendee. The programs focus for these forty days is time – what it is, how it exists, its relevance to our spiritual lives, etc. It’s always a fascinating and accessible program, and this year perfectly apt for my life. I’ve just passed my 30th physical month in the position I'm in but have put in 39 months of work time in. It's an average of 60 hours a week - and even though I meticulously track it all I’m not actually complaining. Much of the effort I’m putting in is for projects and schemes that have been of my own making. Time is precious to me so when I see things that I think are an inefficient use of it or just silly I often remark “they have too much time on their hands.” That remark is easily applied to the people during the holidays who seem to be able to decorate their houses, throw parties and do all the things that I can’t...

The Internet almost broke last week. The Net Neutrality debate had nothing to do with it – somebody posted a picture of a dress asking what color it was. A ferocious debate ensued with the “blue/black” faction on one side and the “gold/white” on the other side. (Of course most of my feed just commented on how ugly the dress was without much consideration for the color!) Wired  Magazine  ran a long article on the science of why nobody agrees on the color – including interviews with specialists in optics as well as graphics experts on color. The way the dress is photographed under various light and angles along with how one’s optical system works are all part of how we see the same object differently.  The fact that science proved that the dress is blue/black didn’t quell the opposition. The effect on society over whether a dress is a particular color is pretty insignificant – but it is a perfect example of how science doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Science makes...