My 10-year-old niece came to my office to see me last week. She said she needed some help for her history class assignment. She said

Uncle Tom, why did Mr. Bush decide to attack Iraq? Is that because Iraq had atomic bombs?

It took me a few minutes to sort things out. But, honestly, I don’t know exactly why. I tried my best by saying

Honey, Mr. Bush saw many things that other people didn’t see. He thought Iraq had purchased uranium ore from an African country, which didn’t happen. He thought Saddam Hussein was behind 9-11, which didn’t happen, either. The truth is that Mr. Bush was delirious. That’s what happens to people when they drink too much alcohol in their 20s and 30s.

Then she goes But Uncle Tom… How will history remember Mr. Bush? Will the history book say America went to war with Iraq because the president of the time was confused?

Smart kid… We will know what the history book will say about Mr. Bush in several months. Till then, let’s see how Adobe After Effects will remember him.  Continue reading →

Last month, I went to Peru as a volunteer to show Peruvian kids magic. I arrived at a very small village and went straight to the only elementary school there. I was well prepared. I knew several good coin tricks. I even took two pigeons with me if kids wanted to see real tricks. I entered a large classroom where I was silently welcomed by about 50 kids. I started my magic show with a couple of coin tricks at first. But the kids responded only with grim faces. So I said

All right, kids. Guess what’s going to appear when I open this cloth.

I expected that kids would be amazed to see my pigeon trick. But a little boy sitting at back stood up and said

iMac?

Huh!? What is this kid? I didn’t bring my iMac all the way to Peru with me. What was he thinking? I didn’t forget to bring my MacBook with me, though. So I responded

Class, do you know what MacBook is?  Continue reading →