Dick Heiser's Home Page

Land line (still!): (310) 645–2149 Cell: (310) 227–5978 Fax: (425) 871-6220

Email: dick.heiser at gmail dot com

Christmas newsletters: 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1985

I'm so proud of my Googlism! Here's my Facebook page, my photography portfolio and my YouTube channel.

Favorite Links

Khan Academy is the most effective and efficient school on Earth: mastery learning.

Wikipedia: 100 times the scope and currency of any previous encyclopedia. A gift to the world.

Timeline of Earth's Average Temperature, by xkcd.

Bernie Sanders summarizes his platform. What a guy!!

"Economic factors may take some spring out of the Easter Bunny's step this year" chorus by corporate media mavens. Stunning!!

NoMoRobo.com answers robocalls for you; free for landlines, inexpensive for mobile.

Cory Doctorow in Wired: How Laws Restricting Tech Actually Expose Us to Greater Harm.

Are you interested in everything? This site is for you!!

Thank you, Edward Snowden! at CeBIT 2017, at Princeton, Nation interview here, German TV interview here. Movie citizenfour highly praised. Movie Terminal F is great, too. His autobiography, Permanent Record is also top-notch.

Joseph Nacchio served four and a half years in prison in retaliation for his Feb 2001 refusal to let the NSA spy on Qwest customers.

Father Greg Boyle tells stories from Homeboy Industries.

Danny Hillis says, "There are three big game-changers going on: globalization, computers, and synthetic biology. If I were a grad student now, I wouldn’t study computer science, I’d study synthetic biology."

Bill Gates' 2019 annual letter is brilliant, absolutely right-on, as usual.

Google's (Jolly Good) Fellow Chade-Meng Tan explains his Search Inside Yourself lessons. He has written a book as well.

Amazing video from Venerable Robina Courtin.

"There is more good than evil in the world, but not by much." – Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

My Most Influential Teachers

Thich Nhat Hanh teaches how to be mindful.

Eli Jaxon-Bear teaches us to face unpleasant emotions, and how to listen.

Eckhart Tolle explains how to be in the present moment.

Ken Keyes shows how to raise consciousness.

Outstanding Teachers and Coaches

My parents, Chauncey Bell, Barry Boehm, Sue Bottfeld, Hal Brody, Allan Cameron, Lila Crespin, Dorothy Demory, Eric Garen, Calvin Gentry, Bill & Peggy Hamner, Erich Heinerth, Tony Hoare, Fred Hodson, Tom & Carolyn Jones, Ferdinand Kertess, Karen Kleinfelder, Alex Koperberg, John Lilly, Norman Marks, Catherine Morris, Ted Nelson, Harry O'Steen, Frank Peto, Bonnie Prettapapop, Gladys Pushard, Ronald Sass, Einar Stefferud and Roberta Taggart.

Thanks also for Books and Lectures

Stewart Brand, César Chávez, Douglas Engelbart, Tom Friedman, Bill Gates, Malcolm Gladwell, James Gleick, Yuval Harari, Douglas Hofstadter, Darrell Huff, Tracy Kidder, Donald Knuth, Ray Kurzweil, Don Lancaster, John McPhee, Peace Pilgrim, Steven Pinker, William Poundstone, Hans Rosling, Edward Tufte, Stephen Wolfram and Steve Wozniak. (what a bunch!!)

Pantheon of Heroic, Brilliant, Beautiful Women

Christine Borgman, Alice Callaghan, Audrey Chan, Barbara Ehrenreich, Nora Ephron, Gangaji, Hélène Grimaud, Katharine Gun, Vi Hart, Dolores Huerta, Naomi Klein, Elena Klett, Marlene Mallicoat, Irshad Manji, Marissa Mayer, Sally More, Maria João Pires, Cindy Sherman, Megan Smith, Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Warren, Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey. Aung San Suu Kyi failed to protect the Rohingya people. The Rohingya politician Wai Wai Nu replaces her on this list.

Activities

I'm proud to be a docent at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, a wonderful collection of 20^th century art. Call (310) 277-5321 to make an appointment for a free tour. Ask for me!

My favorite activists, because they are so loving, are the folks at the Los Angeles Catholic Worker soup kitchen, "the Hippie Kitchen".

I'm helping a bunch of UCLA law students expunge old misdemeanor records for clients so they can get jobs. We're also filing Proposition 47 and Proposition 64 petitions.

The PLATO Society is the original retirement learning group; we organize our own study/discussion groups; this semester I'm studying precision engineering.

Peace

Here's an informative, interactive presentation on the Rohinga refugee crisis. Young American Buddhists speak out against oppression of the Rohinga.

Sign this open letter to ban lethal autonomous weapons (killer robots).

Many nations have signed a UN treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, similar to the prohibitions on chemical and biological weapons, antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions. We should too.

Thoughtful appeal from Stephen Hawking to stop the killing in Syria.

Thomas Schelling talks about nuclear weapons in this 2005 Nobel Prize lecture.

Ban Ki-Moon says the world is over–armed and peace is underfunded. This is a great short article.

The RAND Corporation has designed infrastructure for a stable and prosperous Palestinian state. Video here. Report here. They designed their dream, called "the Arc". What a wonderful idea! What a wonderful thing to do!

Here's the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions website. AFSC story. Focus is on Motorola, Caterpillar, SodaStream, Hewlett-Packard, Ahava, products from Israeli settlements, and sporting, cultural and academic events. SodaStream revenue is down; the stock fell 22%. Veolia divested! Recent emphasis is on Caterpillar, Priceline.com, TripAdvisor and Airbnb.

Good news! We're becoming much less violent, says Steven Pinker in this TED talk. Kurzgesagt agrees, explains.

Irwin Redlener on the danger of nuclear weapons, and what we can do now.

Gene Sharp From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation the handbook of the Arab Spring.

Global Zero promotes abolition of nuclear weapons, wants to restrain Trump.

Nuclear Threat Initiative promotes nuclear abolition initiative of Kissinger, Perry, Nunn and Schultz.

Federation of American Scientists are savvy nuclear disarmament people, too.

Union of Concerned Scientists has excellent materials about nuclear weapons abolition.

Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament 1986 peace march across the U.S. Loretta and I walked 3700 miles in 9 months, from Los Angeles to New York to Washington DC. Laura Monagan blogged about it beautifully.

Matt dances around the world. Latest and best one here.

Justice

Barbara Ehrenreich says workers are getting "Nickeled and Dimed." Elizabeth Warren agrees.

Aaron Swartz defended Internet freedom on Democracy Now! A proper eulogy The Internet's Own Boy, a film about Aaron.

International Modern Media Institute (and Icelandic Modern Media Initiative) want to improve privacy and freedom of speech for Internet users everywhere.

WikiLeaks gives whistleblowers exactly what they need: anonymity. It lets us focus on the facts not on the leaker. Viva la información!

Thank you, NSA whistleblowers William Binney, Tom Drake, Diane Roark, Kirk Wiebe and Ed Loomis!

Thank you, CIA whistleblowers John Kiriakou and Jeffrey Sterling.

Center for Constitutional Rights advocates for Guantánamo prisoners, Gaza citizens, and restricting solitary confinement.

American Civil Liberties Union looks out for our rights, our privacy and our prisoners.

STOPMAX says, "End solitary confinement".

Electronic Frontier Foundation promotes civil liberties in cyberspace.

comp.risks publishes computer screw-ups and bizarre stories about computers.

Adbusters shows how we are manipulated by advertising.

The Story of Stuff from Annie Leonard; she says, "abolish corporate personhood!"

Arts

Weisman Art Foundation featured on ABC's Eye on LA.

YInMn Blue, or "Oregon Blue," a beautiful new nontoxic high-performance pigment coming soon!

Crayola has created a "Bluetiful" crayon, inspired by, but not yet actually containing any YInMn Blue!)

The Annenberg Space for Photography shows gorgeous high–resolution images and video. It's free and they validate your parking (otherwise parking would cost you $30!)

ArtBabble is like an art magazine.

A "vanitas" video by Sam Taylor–Wood.

Jennifer Steinkamp projects computer–generated animations onto walls, brilliantly.

2011 Art Basel Miami Street Art slide show movie, 100 pieces of excellent street art. Every style!

Twenty minutes about how to visit the Louvre. Worth the time.

Deep zooms of fractals by TeamFresh and others.

Exploring the Mandelbox in 3D.

Yowayowa camera woman levitates. ☺

Cows, cows and cows by Cyriak.

Kodak "Winds of Change" video. While you're at it, watch the Turbo Encabulator video, too!

Playing for Change. Some personal favorites.

Minimalist piano piece from Julius Eastman.

Strandbeests from Dutchman Theo Jansen. Giant walking spider at Burning Man 2008.

Dancing Babies! We've come a long, long way from oogachaka baby!

Ain't No Grave is a global art project about Johnny Cash's last recording. Don't miss the abstract version!

More Resources

Sustainable Development Goals for the next 15 years.

Gapminder illustrates economic and health advances.

Google's almost there with driverless cars. Sharing them is even more sustainable.

The Living Computer Museum in Seattle runs the computers of the '60s, '70s and '80s. Awesome!

Great financial advice from Michael Lewis.

Pandora can help you find music you'll like.

Wolfram Alpha can help you understand your Facebook statistics.

Your favorite comic delivered daily by email.

Ironic Times is very funny and sarcastic.

Thank you, Violet Blue for changing the cultural conversation about sex!

Here's more positive discussion about sex from Laurie Abraham, Debby Herbenick, Mary Roach.

Jane Fonda, too, says sex is good for you. Here's Wikipedia's article on masturbation. Michael Ventura, right on!

Banksy's Simpsons intro.

MacTech magazine has put some of my old Computer Store articles online:

The Famous TV Typewriter: A Cooperative Venture

Confessions of a Computer Store Junkie: The Right Stuff

Historical Computing: Problems with Silver Linings

A Pioneer Looks Back: In the Beginning...

My curriculum vitae: Education Work Experience Publications Organizations

First magician: "Who was that lady I sawed with you last night?"

Second magician: "That was no lady, that was my half–sister!" —Walt Kelly