by Mark O'Brien | Jun 15, 2015
When my sons were younger, I’d take them to a pediatric ophthalmologist, Dr. Mitchell, for their periodic eye exams. During one such visit, somewhere around the time of my 40th birthday, Dr. Mitchell handed me an article about the perils of radial keratotomy....
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 8, 2015
As readers of Chautauqua know, I’ve been acquiring a heightened awareness of gluten sensitivity. Linked to disorders as disparate and seemingly unrelated as Bonkus of the Konkus and chronic valetudinarianism, gluten also can be traced to innumerable behavioral...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 3, 2015
Take heart, people (or persons). We may be on the way out, but we’re not quite dead yet. How do I know? A little birdie told me. But it didn’t need to. The idea of eschewing personal relationships in favor of compiling more data, the mechanized...
by Mark O'Brien | May 27, 2015
Okay. We live in a world of specialization. I got that. But who’d have imagined we’d require specialized means of cleaning microfibers? If you even have to ask that question, it’s the rough equivalent of wanting to know how much it costs to maintain...
by Mark O'Brien | May 8, 2015
I read an article in Quartz that gave me pause: “People With Tattoos Report the Apple Watch is Having Trouble Determining They are Alive”: A few early-adopter Apple Watch owners complained that they seemed to be having issues receiving notifications...
by Mark O'Brien | Apr 8, 2015
More than 13 years ago, I wrote this piece for Tech Decisions magazine (now Property Casualty 360). I found it while searching the Web for something else entirely, was surprised to find it still out there, to find it still relevant, and to find its relevance still...