Today's edition is called the U.S. Patent Office Edition because The U.S. Patent Office opened for business on this day in 1790, established to protect the work of young America's inventors. The first patent granted was to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont, for a new method of making fertilizer. Annually, more than 185,000 patents are granted. The Patent and Trademark Office also is a … [Read more...]

Are you sure you want to write a book? This book? Get on with it then. Wow – stop right there. A book, yes. A bestseller, a masterpiece, even a novel, hell no – if that's what you're after, you're on your own. Well, I'll help you part of the way.  I wrote a book last year. Nothing exciting, it's about Plato. But it's a book, and it's published. And now I'm half way through the … [Read more...]

Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones, someone whose life is filled with sunshine and rainbows 24/7.  Your family is healthy, you’ve got all your limbs, and you never burn your tongue on your soy latte.  To those of you who fit this description, good for you.  I don’t think you exist, but if you do, give yourself a nice pat on the back. For the rest of us mere mortals, life can … [Read more...]

Two years ago, I asked myself a question that changed the way I approached my college education. Before my sophomore year, a time when I needed to get my grades up to avoid going to community college and then keep them up to get into my program, I asked myself, “Do grades matter?” Awful timing, I know. This wasn’t a question of if a college degree matters. That’s … [Read more...]