Category Archives: Technology

As a middle-class citizen in Southern California, I have been fortunate enough to grow up in a world where technology is increasingly utilized to make life easier and more comfortable. However, as someone with little to no inclination to pursue a career in the various fields of technological innovation, I feel as though it has been appallingly easy to take it all for granted. For example, I never once stared at my fridge, or a traffic light, or a churro machine and considered how life would be without them. In other words, I never once stopped to thank and appreciate the people responsible for bringing them into the world. And yet, I cannot help but benefit from these devices every day. Well, except for the churro machine; unfortunately, that’s still a work in progress. The point is, the developed, western world is built atop a foundation of technological aid. Every day, this very moment in fact, there are people pacing rooms, racking brains, and pouring coffee in an effort to keep that foundation up to date, and make our lives easier and more comfortable in the process. These people, the secret heroes of modern society, they stand as a representation of the core reasons for our success as a species: our ability to work together and for one another. It seems only inevitable then that a reality television show would someday come along and capture this process for the world to see and feel good about. Well, the wait is over; the day has come. That “day” being last Tuesday, marked by the initial airing of TBS’s latest reality show, America’s Greatest Makers (Tues @ 9/8pm c). The pilot introduced several eclectic groups of inventors / aspiring world changers and their respective inventions. And among these intellectual individuals is none other than a certain Nicole Mendoza, with whom I had the pleasure of conversing about the show, her interests, and what makes her one of America’s greatest makers. Continue reading→