About me










I’m Dave and I‘ve lived in Austin, TX since 1999. I am an engineer who earned a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976 and 1978 respectively, with a concentration in Optical Engineering. I got West Nile Virus from a kidney transplant in 2009. The immunosuppression and virus led to neuro-invasive disease. This eventually caused me to have profound weakness due to nerve damage. I have been rehabilitating since then from a wheelchair, at least temporarily. I had been a runner since 1969 and lettered in college, so being in a wheelchair has been quite a bummer. However, my anecdotal observation is that there is a direct correlation between earning a degree from the ‘Tute and having your “mojo workin.” I will be writing about mojo in this blog.

Areas of interest:
  • Singing
  • Running
  • Fitness
  • Disability



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  Mojo Heroes And Antiheroes There are both heroes and antiheroes among people with high mojo. There is no law that says a person with high mojo has to be a nice person. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. Let’s define anti-hero. Webster says an anti-hero is “a protagonist or notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities”. Examples of heroic qualities are strength, ability, achievement, courage, and nobility. The number of anti-heroes compared to heroes is greater in fiction than in real life. It is just more fun to write about or play the more complex characters typified by anti-heroes. It exploits the talents of the actors better. It also seems as if there are more anti-heroes today than in prior years. But all of the people I am about to mention had high mojo, whether hero or anti-hero. In an earlier post , I described the top 10 American people with high mojo. They were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Benjam...
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10 Highest Mojo Colleges

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10 Highest Mojo Colleges Many sources make lists. Wikipedia is a source that does a good job of describing how a list is built. But I don't rely on it. Instead, I used endowment , acceptance rate , the US News rank , and my own judgement as my sources in making my list. sually, lists rank colleges for suitability for an individual or for best overall rank. However, mine ranks the colleges with the highest mojo, not the best academics, sports, campuses, etc. I included US News’ overall rank because a high placement on such a list is one indication (not the only one) of mojo. Another one that I use is endowment. If alumni have money ad want to give it to their alma mater, that indicates that the alma mater has mojo. Another indicator that I use is acceptance rate. If a lot more people apply to a college than are accepted, that is a further indication of mojo. Also note that the military academies are in a different group for purposes of evaluation, but I include a co...
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How Mojo Works

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Figure 1. The components of mojo. What makes up mojo? Merriam Webster says: Mojo is :” a magic spell, hex, or charm, broadly : magical power // works his mojo on the tennis court //The team has lost its mojo.“ I’m not sure about the magic part of it, but mojo is something that a person or group has to varying degrees. You know it when you see it, even if you can’t define it. Another example of such a thing was cited by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who famously said in his 1964 Order , he could not use words to describe pornography but " I know it when I see it ." When something is not well understood, it is indistinguishable from magic . Maybe this is why people are often said to have their “mojo workin’” even if magic is irrelevant. Parts of Mojo motivation expertise experience support luck faith willingness to act. This blog will focus on motivation because it is such a big part of mojo and is often a poorly under...
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