This is why?

 

The NY Times notes:

 Declines this fall also appear to be stacking on top of losses in Ph.D. student capacity from last year. The A.A.U.D.E. collected data for fall 2025 and found that, for the 42 schools that responded, new enrollments dropped by 11 percent from the previous year. Enrollments and admissions are not the same, but tend to be good proxies for each other in doctoral education. The central takeaway, A.A.U. officials said, is that the data shows two years of a “substantial reduction in the number of Ph.D. students being admitted and ultimately enrolled at major research universities.” Sally Kornbluth, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a message to the campus in May that, while Congress restored some agency cuts, the money was “not actually flowing to M.I.T. the way it typically has.” She said new federal research awards were down 20 percent and also cited the effects of a new tax on the school’s endowment.

In my opinion this is one reason why. Students must take Humanities courses such as (you must take 8 of these things!):  

 21W.764J Computational and Experimental Writing Workshop

21W.765J Interactive Narrative

21W.766 Writing Fantasy

21W.770 Advanced Fiction Workshop

21W.771 Advanced Poetry Workshop

21W.773 Writing Longer Fiction

21W.774J Playwriting Methods

21W.776J Screenwriting

21W.780J Writing the Full-Length Play

21W.786J Social Justice and The Documentary Film

21W.790J Short Attention Span Documentary

CMS.150J Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies

CMS.301 Game Design Methods

CMS.303J DJ History, Technique, and Technology

CMS.305J Rap Theory and Practice

CMS.306 Making Comics and Sequential Art

CMS.307 Critical Worldbuilding

CMS.308 The Visual Story: Graphic Novel, Type to Tablet

CMS.309J Transmedia Storytelling: Modern Science Fiction

CMS.335J Short Attention Span Documentary

CMS.336J Social Justice and The Documentary Film

CMS.338 Innovation in Documentary: Technologies and Techniques

CMS.339 Virtual Reality and Immersive Media Production

CMS.344 Spatial Sound: Culture, Theory, and Practice

CMS.352J Japanese Cinema

CMS.374J Transmedia Art, Extraction, and Environmental Justice

CMS.418J Gender in the Visual Arts

 

Plus MIT instituted and continues its DEI program with Commissars in each Department ensuring compliance (Think Hunt for Red October).  

So what do they do, blame Congress! Perhaps a mirror would help. For example who ever had had put  the "toll booth" at all entrances really started the ball rolling.

 As a Note the 1961 MIT catalog stated:

The M.I.T. program in humanities and social sciences has several objectives. It seeks first to develop attitudes and skills basic to a life of effective thought , action, and appreciation as a responsible citizen and broadly educated human being. Secondly, it seeks to provide some understanding of man's experience at key points in his history and of the human problems which must be the concern of every civilized  man. Thirdly, it seeks to provide some sense of the intellectual discipline involved in a particular area in the humanities or social sciences, some cutting in depth in a field outside the student’s professional specialization. Finally, it seeks to develop skill in accurately and effectively communicating facts and ideas orally and in writing. Every candidate for a Bachelor's degree must take eight term subjects in the humanities and social sciences; normally these are distributed over the eight terms of his residence, one to each term. All  ndergraduates may take, if they choose, two additional humanities or social science subjects in place of two  professional electives. In his first two years each student takes a series of four subjects: INTRODUCTION TO THE HUMANITIES (21.01, 21.02) and MODERN WESTERN IDEAS AND VALUES (21.03, 21.04). Through intensive work with original texts he is given training in critical reading, a sampling of the liberal disciplines; notably history, philosophy, and literature and a foundation for more advanced study in these and related fields. Frequent written exercises, with criticism from his instructors in scheduled conferences, give him an opportunity to improve his writing ability.

Notice the drastic difference. It lacks focus, stresses "woke" elements, and most like has faculty less appropriate for science and engineering.
 

Amazon is Collapsing

 Amazon has lost, delayed, or otherwise failed to deliver on 10-10% of my orders. Today the managed 100%. I wonder who the incompetent, in my opinion, is who managed this fiasco! Maybe they are spending too much time in useless Data Centers. Remember, if all else fails listen to the customer!

What are they talking about?

 

In a Science article the authors, some folks from a Southern Business School, opine on how R&D should be conducted. The recognize that research is now well established in the University, Venture funded entities are able to convert that research into services and products, and large corporations can often, but not always, industrialize these entities. The fail to note than many start ups continue to grow independent of a third party, but let that slide.

They then state:

 One lesson is clear: The American research university is the indispensable foundation for innovation. Industrial research in America arose partly because university research was underdeveloped, but over time, the two flourished together, reinforcing each other. It is not necessary to choose between universities, start-ups, and corporate laboratories. Instead, the institutions that connect them must be strengthened, and the scientific foundations that make those connections possible must be protected.

My question is simple: what are the institutions that connect them? I spent a few years after having done my own start ups and tried to go to the university and then commercialize them. Not a single success. The university research often lingers in the valley of death, where the researcher holds on to the idea but simultaneously wants to keep their academic position. That is a bad example of the wing-walkers rule, never let go of something until you have a firm hold of something else. The result may be half of you stays on the two aircraft. 

I wonder why these academics postulate some undefined solution. It appears they have no hands on experience. At the best, one may license a patent from an institution. However that can be a painful process, I also have done that. You often are still stuck with the researcher. The problem is that researchers live in silos. Thus they may have a great technology, but have no idea as to how to manufacture it. I would get a test tube worth but need tons!

This three step process is weak. Lots of great ideas and technology but getting it to a viable start up phase is complex. The worst I have ever seen was MIT starting its VC fund. A university should not be in the position of choosing winners and losers. Research is research. It is not product development. It lacks the ruthless hand of management. 

Happy 4th

 From NASA telescope. I shall be working in the field of lilies. 

Gross Incompetence?

 NJ Transit is in my opinion and my experience one of the most incompetently run entities in the world! Warped tracks, broken equipment, filthy train stations (NY Penn especially), nasty employees, failed management. The list could go on. In the NY Times they note:

New Jersey train passengers could be in for a rough ride. NJ Transit, the state’s rail service, announced a number of delays and cancellations because of the extreme heat, and warned that the problems could persist through Saturday. High temperatures can cause overhead electrical equipment to sag and tracks to expand, potentially leading to long delays. The agency also warned that air conditioning systems on aging trains and buses, many of which are overdue for replacement, could be spotty. On Thursday morning, a number of NJ Transit trains traveling along the Northeast Corridor, which connects busy stations in New Jersey to Penn Station in Manhattan, were canceled because of mechanical issues and lack of available equipment, according to the agency. And delays and cancellations were announced on other trains, including some on the Morris & Essex Line, Pascack Valley Line and Main/Bergen County Line.

 Perhaps these are Acts of God, to keep people from going into NYC! 

 

MDS: Whack a Mole?

 I went to an interesting conference on microplastics syndrome (MDS), at Columbia Medical School, and had an interesting insight.

Namely, take prostate cancer. There are two schools of thought. The first is, "how does it occur?". This is the gene, mutation, etc question, generally occurring inside the cell. One may also consider external factors such as inflammation, but ultimately it results inside the cell. For simplicity I call this the "WHY" school. There are many silos that are focused upon, many relate to genes, RNAs proteins etc.

The second school is call  the "EXTERNAL", which focuses on how to kill the malignant cell. Thus HER2+ uses ADC, antibody drug conjugates, to target the malignant cell and kill it with a drug. This school cares less as to why the malignant cell arose. This school tries to uniquely identify the enemy and attack it. Many immunotherapies are part of this school as well.

The WHY school looks at the internal elements and perhaps if they can identify a targetable one such as imatinib in CML. The recent work on JAK inhibitors fall in the scheme. 

The WHY school in MDS seems to be quite expansive. Each time an internal target is found another appears. This is the "whack a mole" syndrome. Which of these targets are best. In hematological cancers the EXTERNAL school may not be effective since it may just destroy a whole line of blood cells. 

It is interesting to see this yin and yang approach from inside and outside.  

Socialist Party Demands 1912

I thought it would be of interest to examine the Socialist Party demands in 1912:

Collective Ownership

1. The collective ownership and democratic management of railroads, wire and wireless telegraphs and telephones, express services, steamboat lines and all other social means of transportation and communication and of all large-scale industries.

2. The immediate acquirement by the municipalities, the states or the federal government of all grain elevators, stock yards, storage warehouses, and other distributing agencies, in order to reduce the present extortionate cost of living.

3. The extension of the public domain to include mines, quarries, oil wells, forests and water power.

4. The further conservation and development of natural resources for the use and benefit of all the people . . .

5. The collective ownership of land wherever practicable, and in cases where such ownership is impracticable, the appropriation by taxation of the annual rental value of all land held for speculation or exploitation.

6. The collective ownership and democratic management of the banking and currency system. 

The conservation of human resources, particularly of the lives and well-being of the workers and their families:

1. By shortening the workday in keeping with the increased productiveness of machinery.

2. By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than a day and a half in each week.

3. By securing a more effective inspection of workshops, factories and mines.

4. By forbidding the employment of children under sixteen years of age.

5. By the co-operative organization of the industries in the federal penitentiaries for the benefit of the convicts and their dependents.

6. By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products of child labor, of convict labor and of all uninspected factories and mines.

7. By abolishing the profit system in government work, and substituting either the direct hire of labor or the awarding of contracts to co-operative groups of workers.

8. By establishing minimum wage scales.

9. By abolishing official charity and substituting a non-contributory system of old-age pensions, a general system of insurance by the state of all its members against unemployment and invalidism and a system of compulsory insurance by employers of their workers, without cost to the latter, against in diseases, accidents and death.

Political Demands

1. The absolute freedom of press, speech and assemblage.

2. The adoption of a graduated income tax, the increase of the rates of the present corporation tax and the extension of inheritance taxes, graduated in proportion to the value of the estate and to nearness of kin—the proceeds of these taxes to be employed in the socialization of industry.

3. The abolition of the monopoly ownership of patents and the substitution of collective ownership, with direct rewards to inventors by premiums or royalties.

4. Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women.

5. The adoption of the initiative, referendum and recall and of proportional representation, nationally as well as locally.

6. The abolition of the Senate and of the veto power of the President.

7. The election of the President and the Vice-President by direct vote of the people.

8. The abolition of the power usurped by the Supreme Court of the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of the legislation enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed only by act of Congress or by a referendum vote of the whole people.

9. The abolition of the present restrictions upon the amendment of the constitution, so that instrument may be made amendable by a majority of the voters in the country.

10. The granting of the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia with representation in Congress and a democratic form of municipal government for purely local affairs.

11. The extension of democratic government to all United States territory.

12. The enactment of further measures for general education and particularly for vocational education in useful pursuits. The Bureau of Education to be made a department.

13. The enactment of further measures for the conservation of health. The creation of an independent bureau of health, with such restrictions as will secure full liberty to all schools of practice.

14. The separation of the present Bureau of Labor from the Department of Commerce and Labor and its elevation to the rank of a department.

15. Abolition of all federal district courts and the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals. State courts to have jurisdiction in all cases arising between citizens of the several states and foreign corporations. The election of all judges for short terms.

16. The immediate curbing of the power of the courts to issue injunctions.

17. The free administration of the law.

18. The calling of a convention for the revision of the constitution of the United States

 Just think how we would be if these were enacted. 

Catholic Pacifists

 In the early days of the Church the Christians (Catholics) were total pacifists. Martyrdom was thought to be an ultimate goal guaranteeing eternal salvation. It becam so extreme that martyrdom qua martyrdom was banned. It became a sort of suicide, facilitated by Rome.

Then in the second century as Christians multiplied, Rome needed troops, they had not yet convinced those they conquered to join in and thus Christians became Roman soldiers, and the view of total pacifism disappeared. The ultimate test was with Constantine, who made Christianity the religion of the land. It would be honorable for Christians to join in with Constantine and his defense of the Empire.

As tribes descended upon the Empire, defense and war was pandemic. As Rome collapsed, Christianity spread to the invaders. The Merovingians became Christian and from then until the French Revolution France was both Christian and war like. 

The construct of Just War was formalized by Aquinas, and even supported by Augustine. 

In today's world  where the United States has been attacked, threatened and overtly called out for total annihilation by nuclear weapons, defense of its population is a sine qua non.

Yet along come quasi first century Christians as in the NY Times. They note:

It isn’t every day that a pope calls for an overhaul of a more than 1,000-year-old teaching of the Catholic Church, but that’s exactly what Pope Leo XIV did last month. In his inaugural encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which was mainly an exploration of how to protect human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence, Leo devoted a brief but critical passage to just war theory. In a break with a foundational principle of Catholic thought on conflict, Leo called the theory “outdated” and made it clear that the teaching has been twisted to justify wars for decades, most recently the war in Iran. It is about time for the change. Just war theory holds that wars must meet strict conditions: They should be in self-defense, and only if alternatives have been exhausted; the use of force should be proportional; there should be a likelihood of success and the threat should be imminent. Since World War II at least, several popes have criticized world leaders for using the theory as a fig leaf. While Leo did not cite any specific war in the encyclical, he clearly had President Trump’s war on Iran in mind. On June 6, in remarks en route to Madrid for a visit, he was asked if a “just war” was being waged in Iran. The pontiff replied: “I believe this has already been made very clear: In Iran, the criteria for a just war are not present.” Leo wasn’t done. “The theory of the just war dates back to centuries when it was impossible to imagine the weapons and the destructive capacity available to humanity today,” he added.

 As I have noted earlier, Leo appears to have a massive dislike of the current President. He also, in my opinion, has a gross lack of understanding of Church policy in this area. Perhaps martyrdom in an arena, readily done in the threatening nation discussed, would be his moral solution. 

D Day

 

D Day, September 13th 2001. Two days after 9-11 I was staying in Normandy, out of Paris until the flights to North America resumed. I visited the Normandy beaches. Each year we remember Normandy, and we should equally remember Saipan, where my father and thousands of others attacked and stormed the beaches, allowing the annexing of Tinian, the airfield for B-29s and Hiroshima. 

Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant

The gladiators fought with their gladius, the mid sized sword used in the Roman legions. The gladius was often chipped from battle, made of a Roman steel blend, iron with a charcoal mix of carbon, then heated and sharpened.

I gather the White House has installed a Roman like gathering with brutal fighters. Gold fixtures, all we are missing is golden leaf crowns! 

Never Thought of This One

 Going to the moon and staying there has its hazards. But NASA presents a new one.

A mobile wastewater treatment system built at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida that can help prepare for long-duration missions on the Moon and Mars departed the spaceport and arrived at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Graduate students at the university will test the technology under conditions designed to closely mimic the challenges of operating on another planetary surface. The Divergent Deployable Wastewater Treatment Facility is designed to turn crew wastewater into useful resources, which future explorers will need every day. At the University of North Dakota, teams will integrate this new wastewater system with the university’s Integrated Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat. Student operators and NASA researchers will study how the facility performs when connected to a habitat-like environment and exposed to the kinds of operational limits crews could face on another planet.

 Imagine human waste, with both human and other DNA, floating around the universe, landing on different planets, finding new homes, creating new aliens! 

Never thought of this in old days, just brought it back with you! 

 

An Interesting Geography Problem

 DHS has proposed removing ICE from airports in regions where sanctuary cities/states are. That would be Newark here in NJ.

Now the geography of Newark is below:

 Note Terminal A is NOT in Newark, Terminal C and Terminal B is kind of. So all international flights could be shuttled to Terminal A, recently upgraded and the rest would be domestic. 

Guess that would work. Not any good for New York however.  

Oncolytic Viruses

 

Viruses have the ability to enter cells and kill them. Oncolytic viruses are a class of modified viruses which attack only, actually "for the most part", cancer cells, do not harm benign cells, and can go after a large cancer growth.

We have just posted a Technical Report analyzing them and we believe that they may have some merit but are not as effective as antibody drug conjugates.

It may be worth a read. 

55 Years Later

 In June 1971 at my doctoral ceremony, the only one I went to in those days, all others I got via mail, we had a a small short ceremony. Viet Nam was still afoot, there were no job recruiters on campus that year, Nixon's economy was starting to explode, off gold standard and massive tariffs, so we had no useless speaker, and we all were trying to figure out how to support ourselves. Frankly we could not even get drafted! Too old and probably physically exhausted.

Now above is this years Engineering doctoral students. You could not recognize this class if you were from 1971. First we never had hats, second the doctoral gowns were black, the hoods were simple. Below is MIT 1960.

 

One wonders what these folks will contribute 55 years from now? 

Pet Discrimination

 I was approached by Antnee, my local squirrel representative, who proceed to tell me that the gang (8 squirrels, 5 chipmunks, 1 fox, 1 rabbit, 2 raccoons) are planning on filing a class action suit against the Governor here in NJ.

The reason is a new tax benefit bill proposed which says:

 What we know: New Jersey lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would grant dog and cat owners up to $900 in gross income tax credits to offset the rising costs of caring for a pet. The proposed legislation would give those taxpayers $300 for everyday pet expenses and up to $600 for veterinary bills, totaling a maximum $900 tax break. Qualified expenses would include food, crates, leashes, litter boxes, collars, grooming supplies and toys, annual exams, medications, emergency care and diagnostic testing. By the numbers: New Jersey is the fourth most expensive state for dog ownership in the country, according to MarketWatch. The 2026 study claims that New Jersey owners spend an average of $32,947 throughout their dog's life. That lifetime cost includes $1,129 in puppy costs, $698 in food and treats, $1,084 in boarding and grooming and$1,111 for insurance and vet care.

 Now the group states that I provide nuts, seed, clean water, and have from time to time rendered medical and psychological support and that the discrimination in favor of dogs and cats is unconstitutional. They argue that equal protection under the 14th Amendment is being violated, and that I should be eligible to get my $900 for each one of them whom I assist.

Later in the day Freddie the Blue Jay and Rocky the male cardinal stated they wanted to be amicus curia sing they also benefited by my care and upkeep.  

Now it is no clear who will file this complaint but I refereed them to my attorney,  who is fully aware of my predilections.

 

PSA Again

 There are multiple testing modalities[1]. We have examined them decades ago[2]. Various other markers have been proposed[3]. Ase the UK has just announced[4]:

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has recommended that all UK nations implement targeted prostate cancer screening for men aged 45 to 61 who have both a BRCA2 gene change that increases cancer risk and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancer.  As part of this approach, eligible men would be offered a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test every two years.  This final recommendation modifies a draft recommendation the UK NSC made in November 2025, which also included men with BRCA1 gene changes. Since then, the committee has been consulting with organisations, experts and the public, and considering the latest evidence on the risks and benefits of screening these groups, among others.  “Today’s announcement will be disappointing for many people, but the PSA test currently used to help detect prostate cancer isn’t effective enough to support wider screening, as shown in multiple large-scale trials,” explains Dr Ian Walker, Cancer Research UK’s Executive Director of Policy. “Screening should only be introduced when the benefits outweigh the harms, including unnecessary and invasive overtreatment, and right now, the evidence is only strong enough to screen men aged 45 to 61 with BRCA2 gene changes and a relevant family history.”  We now urge governments across the UK to accept the UK NSC’s recommendation and begin to implement targeted screening.  At the same time, they should continue to invest in research that brings us closer to effective screening for more men. We also aim to be part of that work. Over the past three years, Cancer Research UK has invested £28m to find new and better ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer, and we will continue to help more men affected by prostate cancer live longer, better lives.

MedCityNews notes[5]:

On Wednesday, 60 organizations representing providers and patients with cancer submitted a letter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services, urging him to protect the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).  USPSTF is an independent panel of experts in disease prevention. It provides recommendations for clinical preventive services like screenings, counseling services and medications.  However, the task force hasn’t convened in over a year. And last week, Kennedy fired the vice chairs of USPSTF: John Wong, a professor of medicine at Tufts University, and Esa Davis, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland.

Ironically the USPSTF had taken a stand comparable to the UK, Namely, limit PSA testing. Just to put things in perspective, PSA and %Free tests cost about $50. Here in the US one can get them at Quest and other Labs without a doctors order. If one were to be tested ever six months, and the results examined over time, then any significant change would present as a warning. 

We have shown decades ago that PSA was useful, but only if examined in an ongoing temporal mode. Most physicians do not do this, they just look at the most recent. Thus is one’s PSA goes from 1.2 to 2.8 in six months, I would recommend another three months later and then a biopsy. 

Your survival is in your hands. Is it worth $100 a year? I would think so.

---

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325047047_PSA_EVALUATION_METHODOLOGIES

 

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315363580_THE_PSA_CONTROVERSY_DETAILS_MODELS_ANALYSIS_AND_RECOMMENDATIONS

 

[3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325106056_PROSTATE_CANCER_PROGNOSTIC_MARKERS

 

[4] https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2026/05/28/uk-nsc-recommends-prostate-cancer-screening-for-men-with-a-brca2-gene-change-and-family-history-of-cancer/

 

[5] https://medcitynews.com/2026/05/60-cancer-patient-and-provider-orgs-call-on-rfk-jr-to-protect-uspstf/

 

Memorial Day

 

Burial after Battle of Surigao Strait, October 1944, on my father's destroyer. Almost a third of the crew, from friendly fire, the USS Denver.

Warnings Against Something Undefined

 Moses came down from the mount with ten commandments. "Thous shall not kill" Simple. We know what killing means and don't do it. However we now have legal systems where killing has many shades of grey. Manslaughter, homicide, etc. The commandment was simple, any and all killing. But what is war? Self defense. It gets murky and many theologians spent millennia on the details.

Now along comes the Bishop of Rome and AI. I read through this missive and no where do I see a definition of AI. Lots of warnings, prognostications, etc. Moses was told not to kill. That was an absolute. Also do not steal, do not lie, do not worship false gods, and watch out for that coveting stuff! I never could imagine coveting my neighbor's wife, she was a bit old and nasty, but alas it was there. 

Imagine if Moses came down with this document! We are warned of something we cannot define. I knew who my neighbor's wife was, and never thought of coveting her.  But I really do not know what AI is. Every high tech now claims to have it, massive data centers are being constructed, but what is it. Is there an AI Lite? I am told my cell phone can get it. 

Somehow we really should get our religious beliefs in order.  

The USPSTF

 The USPSTF is an artifact of Obamacare. If it concludes tah something is essential then it gets covered. If it concluded it is not then it is not covered.

As the NY Times notes:

 Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans must fully cover services that it assigns an “A” or “B” grade. That gives the panel’s 16 volunteer members significant influence over the care Americans can afford. Over the past year, Mr. Kennedy has undermined the task force’s work, including by not replacing members whose terms ended in December. The task force issued fewer recommendations than is typical last year and missed a deadline for a legally mandated report to Congress after Mr. Kennedy postponed its meetings indefinitely.

 Well the classic incompetence in my opinion and in my experience was their rejection of PSA tests for older men. It was based upon flawed trials in Europe and the US. One key flaw was the PSA tests were given just once every 4 years. Aggressive prostate cancer goes from nothing to death in less time. Annual PSA would likely save these lives. This fifteen years later the extended trial demonstrated this but the USPSTF never got the message.

Likewise breast cancer kills women in their 80s but they were denied screening by this jumbled mass of bureaucrats. 

Now Kennedy and in turn is dumping this deadly organization which in my opinion is  essential and far to late for the lives lost by their incompetence. 

Yes or No

 One of the things I learned as an expert at trials is to answer yes or no to a question that allows that. Such as: "Have you ever traveled to Russia?", "Yes". Now I find that the younger generation, it now includes almost everyone, cannot do this. The have to tell you stories. 

For example if one asks a patient:

Miss Jones, have you had this pain for several days." 

The answer is a yes or no. Instead one gets what she had for dinner last night, how she arrived by Uber today at the clinic, where she went last weekend with her boyfriend, and on and on until you repeat the question as if she never heard it, and you get another set of desiderata. 

I see this across many environments. I assume they are not avoiding an answer it is just that they want to share their social life; meals, contacts, places, pets, etc. This phenomenon has become more so as social media has exploded. 

I just wonder if it is due to age or my lack of social media contact. It is great for an attorney since the witness will just ramble on telling you everything without aver asking.