Author: John Meola

  • Is there an AI bubble?

    There has been much talk lately about artificial intelligence being in a bubble on par with the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. Skeptics will point to Nvidia’s 62 per cent sales rise last month as evidence that no such bubble exists, and Nvidia’s shares rose 6.5 per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday. But…

  • A Penny for Your Thoughts

    Yesterday the Philadelphia Mint manufactured the last American penny or, formally, cent coin. We are told the demise of the penny is due to inflation and the cost of manufacturing them. According to the US Treasury, the 1¢ coin costs 3.63¢ to make. Given that the coin has lost half its value since 2000, clutters…

  • Veterans Day

    Today we celebrate Veterans Day, which began as Armistice Day. Armistice Day (11/11/11/) commemorated the end of hostilities with Germany and, thus, the end of World War I, a.k.a. “the Great War”. The holiday is called Remembrance Day in Commonwealth countries. While the Commonwealth holiday commemorates all who died in the line of duty, the…

  • World Series 2025

    Just wanted to note some observations I took for the thrilling 2025 World Series. Cliches used when it comes to baseball: “classic”, “one for the ages”, etc. are overwrought. These words are put to use by sports broadcasters and writers who want to make the routine seem epic. And let’s be honest, most World Series…

  • Apple Pie Time!

    Readers of this site will recall that a couple of weeks ago I visited Hidden Gem Orchards in Southbury, Connecticut. There I bought a peck—about 15—Northern Spy apples to be used in an apple pie. They sat forlorn on my table, waiting for me to block off time to bake them in a pie. When…

  • Fall Foliage 2025

    This past weekend my wife and I took a fall foliage drive through northern Connecticut. The area is not as picturesque as northwest Connecticut (Litchfield County), but there are some things to see and charming roads with fall foliage to enjoy. This year was not a good year. Connecticut and New England in general have…

  • An Evening with Stanley Jordan

    Stanley Jordan, probably one of the most underrated guitarists around, performed his tribute to Jimi Hendrix last night at the Sacred Heart Community Theater in Fairfield, Connecticut. I first saw Jordan years ago in the late 1980s at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. There he performed a one-man show with his multiple guitars, wowing…

  • St. Francis of Assisi

    Yesterday was St. Francis of Assisi Day (Feast of St. Francis). At our local Episcopal Church we celebrated it today with a blessing of the animals. So, parishioners brought their pets to be blessed today. A couple of the dogs barked a bit, and one poor woman with a Great Dane was walked by the…

  • Cinematography Then and Now

    With the recent death of the great actor and director Robert Redford, I have embarked on a kind of Robert Redford retrospective. I am watching three films that I have heard are some of his greatest: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Three Days of the Condor, and All the President’s Men. Next on deck…

  • Bonanza Napa Valley Cabernet

    With fall upon us, I wanted to give outdoor grilling on the charcoal grill one last hurrah and grill an exceptional piece of meat. So, I got a prime tomahawk ribeye at Stew Leonard’s over the weekend. I wanted to recreate a dinner like what one would get at the great New York steakhouses like…