MarkMaunder dot com

A thought experiment on liberty and the survival of our species

I came up with a thought experiment a few months ago and have been testing it on the smartest people I know. This thought experiment relies on you agreeing with three premises: 1. Our knowledge of the natural universe will continue to increase. 2. Our ability to share information among each other will continue to […]

March 16, 2013 | Philosophisizing, Randomness | 1 comment

How Leaders Influence your Reality

During the last several years I’ve had the opportunity to see great leaders in action and the misfortune to see great deceivers at work. Both have one characteristic in common. Many would call it charisma, but I’d like to expand on what I think that “charisma” thing is. Pause for a moment. Think about the fact that […]

March 15, 2013 | Business, Randomness, Startups | No comments

Now hold still honey while I rub this radioactive dirt on your face…

August 8, 2011 | Randomness | No comments

What physicists do for fun during a nuclear detonation

During a test in the Nevada desert of a miniaturized nuke called Scorpion, theoretical physicist and weapons designer Ted Taylor used a parabolic mirror to light a cigarette. Ah the good old days. This is an extract from Under The Cloud by Richard Miller:

August 7, 2011 | Randomness | No comments

Business lessons from Breaking Bad

On the recommendation of my sister-in-law I’m watching a few episodes of Breaking Bad, Season 1. There’s a classic exchange between Walt and Jesse in Ep 6 as they realize they need to move from retail to wholesale: Walt: This is unacceptable. I am breaking the law here. This return is too little for the […]

July 31, 2011 | Randomness | No comments

Best Light Bulbs for all night coding

I went down to walmart late last night in frustration because the power saving bulbs I had in my main light with a dimmer weren’t working. So I switched them (two bulbs) to GE Reveal 71367’s (not an affiliate link), the most expensive bulb I could find at $4.50 each and one of the few […]

June 30, 2011 | Introspection, Randomness | No comments

Reminding me why I need to travel more…

My brother sent this to me. I’m not sure who the source is – the original is here. It’s Mt Hua in China.

November 2, 2009 | Randomness | 2 comments

CO

I’m in Colorado in a semi-rural area in Elbert County in the town of Elizabeth. I get a lot of work done here because there’s not much going on. This is taken from my macbook’s webcam pointed out the window.

October 11, 2009 | Fun, Randomness | No comments

Puzzle

Got this via email today. Can you solve this puzzle? You are riding on a beautiful white horse. On your left side is a drop off. On your right side are several ostriches being chased by a lion. In front of you are four large gazelles that won’t get out of your way and you […]

April 10, 2008 | Randomness | 1 comment

Oh Wesley!

Even if Wesley Snipes is right about not having to pay his taxes, he’s missing the point. If you’re enjoying the fruits of government infrastructure then you’re morally obligated to pay your taxes. My guess is he’s really not that naive. He’s just fell in with the wrong crowd and dug himself a hole so […]

January 14, 2008 | Politics, Randomness | No comments

My name is Mark Maunder. I've been blogging since around 2003 when I started on Movable Type and ended up on WordPress which is what I use to publish today. With my wife Kerry, I'm the co-founder of Wordfence which protects over 5 million WordPress sites from hackers and is run by a talented team of 36 people. I'm an instrument rated pilot and I fly a Cessna 206 along with a 1964 Cessna 172 in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado. I'm originally from Cape Town, South Africa but live in the US these days. I code in a bunch of languages and am quite excited about our emerging AI overlords and how they're going to be putting us to work for them.