Author: jimstafford

I'm an Oklahoma City-based freelance writer with interests in Oklahoma startup community, Apple Inc, OKC Thunder & Texas Rangers.

Meet the International Man of Mystery from Stigler, OK

Hershel Prentice at recent OKC Thunder game


I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the desert’s bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere
— “I’ve been everywhere” as sung by Johnny Cash

If you ask Stigler, OK, native Hershel Prentice where in the world he’s been lately, he’ll gladly tell you.

Dubai? Check. Oman? Check? Poland? Check. Austria? Check. Germany? Check, Newfoundland? Check? Labrador? Check. Check. Check.

Whew! And that’s just this year.

“I was in Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro about a year ago,” he told me.

I listened with awe as Hershel recounted some of his travel experiences as I sat down with him at the home of our mutual friend, Ed Godfrey. Ed, with whom I worked for many years at The Oklahoman newspaper, is also a Stigler native and has known Hershel for even longer.

“I’ve been to about 90 countries so far,” Hershel said. “I’ve stood in Red Square in Moscow. I stood in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and I’ve been on the Great Wall of China.”

Did you catch that? Hershel has visited 90 — 90!– countries around the world. He told me that he lives out of hotels about half the time.

How does this happen, a country boy from rural Oklahoma literally traveling across the nation and the world virtually nonstop for decades?

A couple of things to note: Hershel is retired after 29 years of service with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. A graduate of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, he has no living immediate family.

Hershel said he often made road trips with his grandparents as a child, which sparked his love of travel, seeing new places and meeting interesting people.

“And I like maps, globes, far away names, Budapest, Istanbul,” he said. “I’d hear those names and knew I would go someday.”

His parents, who owned a trucking firm, are deceased, as well as a sister, his only sibling. He lives in the Stigler house that belonged to his parents, although it seems to be only for temporary respite between trips.

Hershel has a philanthropic side, too, in support of his hometown. He funds a scholarship for Stigler high school graduates to support their college education. And he’s a regular at Shelly’s Cafe whenever he’s in town.

“I’m the first customer,” he said. “5 a.m.”

When I asked Hershel how old he was, he was reluctant to reveal his age.

“I don’t do chronological things, I do situations,” said this International Man of Mystery.

So, what year were you born in?

“Just pick a number.”

All right, 1950. “OK,” Hershel said to the random number that I pulled out of the air. I’ll go with it. That would make him 75 years old, or somewhere in that neighborhood.

Never married, Hershel said he prefers to travel alone.

“Fast and free that way, when you’re alone,” he said.

Yeah, but don’t you get lonely?

“Not really.”

Hershel’s travel is arranged by a Fort Smith, Ark., travel agent. Most of his world travel is done as part of group tours with a set itinerary. That ensures he’s not totally alone on his sojourns, although he said he uses free time to explore on his own.

How has he been treated as an American tourist in all these foreign lands? He says he’s been treated well everywhere and never feared for his safety, including in Cuba, where he went as part of a program arranged by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Here are some fun facts about the International Man of Mystery’s travels both here and abroad:

Hershel has visited all 50 states, visiting famous and little known museums, national parks, Civil War battlegrounds and much more. He’s seen baseball games in all but eight Major League parks, along with dozens of minor leagues parks across the country. He’s been to NBA, NFL and college football games, NASCAR events, toured multiple halls of fame, every presidential library and points of interest like the site of Custer’s Last Stand in Montana or the big ball-of-yarn museum in Kansas. He’s visited every county seat in Oklahoma, as well as in Arkansas.

He’s made friends and met many interesting people along the way. Sometimes, he’s run into fellow Oklahomans in, say, Europe or Asia.

“People that you meet who are visiting Auschwitz, people that would go pay money and time to go do that, they’re gonna be pretty interesting,” he says. “Or you’ll have a common factor. If I meet someone on a trip, I tell them I’ve been by their house, because wherever someone is from, i’ve been by there or near there.”

The most interesting country Hershel has visited?

“Probably Cuba,” he said. “It’s just amazing how they live there, how it was for a long time and how it is now. They don’t have Internet, you couldn’t use a credit card; they didn’t have that infrastructure. We had to use pesos or American money or Euros. They like the Euro more than the dollar.”

He visited Havana, along with the infamous Bay of Pigs, Hemingway’s home, and coastal areas along the island.

I became acquainted with Hershel Prentice a few years ago through Ed when we all went to an OKC Dodgers (now Comets) game together. Hershel’s also a big fan of the OKC Thunder, and sent me a photo of himself at a recent game at Paycom Center. He has called Ed from many museums, ballparks and foreign cities. He often brings him souvenirs from his travels.

Hershel showed me a set of refrigerator magnets decorated to represent the flags of about a half dozen Scandinavian countries. Of course, he’s been to all of them.

So, what’s on Hershel’s travel itinerary for 2026? For now, he’s looking at traveling to Uzbekistan and Kaspiysk, located in former Soviet Union territories and now independent Russian states.

Still, I wanted to know what compels him to stay on the move. His answer was about modes of travel as much as about locations. He likes planes, trains, trolleys, subways.

“Anything that moves,” he said. “I like it when it takes off, that little thrust, the movement. Here we go to a new place, new time, new day, new people. Being free.”

Hershel, you really are the International Man of Mystery.

Hershel Prentice at the Dardenelles Strait in Turkey in 2024.

The old Double-Reverse Jinx does it again

OU receiver Isaiah Sategna races toward goal line in victory over LSU.


When OU wide receiver Isaiah Sategna blew past LSU defensive backs in busted coverage last week to catch a game-sealing 58-yard TD pass, I missed the moment.

I could say that I was out back on our patio grilling or answering an unexpected knock at the door, but it would not be true.

The truth is that because it was late in a really tight game and I was invested in the outcome as someone who has bought into OU, I found something else to do at that moment.

Why?

Well, turning my back on a close game in which I have a rooting interest goes back many decades. I’m not even sure what to call it. Lack of courage? Can’t face reality?

Call it what you will, but I prefer to call it my double-reverse jinx.

As a pre-teen in the early 1960s, the Arkansas Razorbacks were my team. I lived and died with the Hogs. In those days, you mostly had only radio broadcasts on which to follow college football games.

So, when the Hogs were playing on an autumn afternoon I was tuned in — until I wasn’t. I specifically remember, when, in the second half of a really close game with the Razorbacks in a precarious position, I abandoned the radio, ran out into the back yard and started throwing a football around.

A few minutes later, I went back in and caught a couple minutes of the broadcast, but the outcome was still pending. I went back outside.

When the Hogs won that game with me not listening, I decided that all their success hinged on me not ever listening again when the outcome was on the line. Somehow, I controlled their fate.

My double-reverse jinx helped the Hogs have a great decade of success in the ’60s.

Fast forward to the late ’80s when I worked on the sports desk as a copy editor at The Daily Oklahoman. That meant that my daily working hours were from roughly 3-4 pm until midnight or 1 am.

Those working hours afforded the opportunity to drive out to the then-new Remington Park race track in the early afternoon on almost a daily basis to watch and wager on the horse races.

You know where this is going.

Yep, if I had $2 on a horse and it was among the leaders as they came off the final turn and into the stretch, I would turn my back and only listen to the track announcer’s call. One afternoon, I had maybe $5 on a horse and spent the entire race in the men’s room, safe from ruining the outcome by actually watching my horse.

I took a lot of grief from my newsroom colleagues for not being able to watch the outcome of races on which I had wagered. But that’s how I rolled.

Fast forward to 2025. It’s still how I roll when watching the Sooners, the Razorbacks, even the Thunder. When the game gets tough and the outcome precarious, I bail on the game.

And then it happens. Shai Gilgious-Alexander hits a game clinching 3. Isaiah Sategna makes a game winning catch.

The old double-reverse jinx does it again.

BONUS CONTENT: Don Mecoy, a friend and past contributor to BlogOKC, shared some of his own experience in not jinxing his favorite teams:

“Super Bowl V. Cowboys-Colts. I got on my bike during the game and rode and rode. Didn’t help.

“National Championship game in 2000. Sat in the same spot on the couch throughout the first and second half. Really had to pee by the end of the game. And I was hungry too. Literally didn’t get up once.”

Thanks for this perspective, Don. I am not alone!

Why I’m living the Hallmark Channel lifestyle

I realize that I’m putting my Man Card at risk for this, but I’m coming out of the closet on a lifestyle choice. I, ahem, watch Hallmark Channel movies. A lot.

I’m not sure when this all started, but I’m thinking sometime last year. My wife had it on a lot, so I would just sit down and watch with her.

Then I began tuning in for myself even when she wasn’t around. Now, it’s a daily habit.

I know there’s a lot of Hallmark Channel hate out there, and for good reason. Most of stories are predictable, full of cliches like that of the up-and-coming big city girl who goes back to her quaint Vermont hometown for Christmas and meets up with her long-ago high school crush. He’s wearing flannel and is an incredible boy scout, helping old ladies cross the street and doing repairs free of charge for anyone and everyone.

And there’s more, like no sex. Ever! And Christmas seems to last year-round in Hallmark land. New England has a lock on locations. We see the same leading actors over and over.

Then why am I watching? Here’s what keeps me there:

First, we have a 6-year old in the house who watches with us a lot. He gets wrapped up in the Hallmark stories, and it seems pretty age-appropriate to me.  He loves the weekly Hallmark mystery episode.

But the big draw for me is the sense that, ultimately, each Hallmark Channel movie is positive and upbeat. I’m looking to escape the violence and horror that the daily news routinely brings. That’s why I can’t bring myself to follow true-crime podcasts or shows with antiheroes like Breaking Bad.

It all wears me out.

Now, over the past couple of years, I have escaped the Hallmark Channel enough to watch each season of Ted Lasso all the way through — twice. But, Ted Lasso may be the most positive and upbeat show I’ve ever seen, although not nearly as predictable — or innocent — as Hallmark movies.

I know I’m not alone. I have a friend I’ll call “Ed” who also watches a lot of Hallmark Channel, although he recently told me that he can’t get into this year’s crop of movies.

Your loss, Ed.

Christmas season launched on the Hallmark Channel the first of October, and we’ve still got dozens of new movies to watch. What’s not to like? It’s New England at Christmas. Snowfall. Town Square. Christmas tree lighting. Pushy, micro-managing boss back in NYC. Bed and breakfast. Beautiful girl. Plenty of flannel.

I’m always there, ready to hope against hope that the lovely young starlet and her handsome would-be beau can finally admit they have a thing for each other and share a Hallmark kiss in the final minute of each episode.

OK, there, I admitted it. I’m hooked on Hallmark. Whew, the weight is off my shoulders.

Wait, where is my Man Card?

BONUS CONTENT:

Favorite female Hallmark actor: Lacy Chabert

Favorite male Hallmark actor: Paul Campbell

Favorite episode: Three Wise Men and a Baby is a favorite. Plus an episode I can’t recall the title for, but revolves around a young woman/attorney who sets out to save her parents’ mom-and-pop restaurant against destruction by big city developers.

Theodora’s Elegante Wigs thrives amid generational ch-ch-changes

Linda (Faubus) Lewis is surrounded by wig-covered mannequin heads at her Theodora’s Elegante Wigs shop.

When I saw the ‘Theodora’s Wigs” sign as I was driving past in Fort Smith, Ark., this week, it took me back more than 55 years into an earlier life. So, I veered off Towson Ave., into the Phoenix retail center lot and parked outside the wig shot.

No, I wasn’t there to find some faux hair to cover my chrome dome.

Let me explain the back story.

In the fall of 1970, I was a senior at Southside High School in Fort Smith and worked at a small retail shop called Tom’s Levi’s in what was then known as the Phoenix Village Shopping Center. It was next door to Theodora’s Elegante Wigs.

Our shops were connected by a back hallway, so I became friends with Theodora’s owners, Thelma Faubus and her daughter, Linda. They were positive and upbeat and kind to this 17-year-old kid with little retail experience or maturity.

I worked at that shop until 1972, then went on to college and a newspaper career that eventually brought me to OKC. But my parents continued to live in Fort Smith, and that’s why I was in town this week, celebrating my widowed mom’s 92nd birthday.

Over the vast expanse of years, I’ve seen many changes to the Phoenix Village Shopping Center where Theodora’s is located and I once worked. One whole portion of the strip center across the parking lot from the wig shop was torn down. A grocery store on the west end of the center is long gone. The adjacent Phoenix Village Mall shut down and now is used as call center space by various companies. The center’s original developers died and ownership groups changed. The name of the strip center was shortened to just Phoenix Center.

Through it all, Theodora’s Elegante Wigs stayed in business, holding down the same tiny retail space it’s had since 1967.

That drew me in on this November day. When I parked and walked through Theodora’s door, there was Linda Faubus seated behind the counter. She is now Linda Lewis and she runs the shop as the sole owner in the wake of her mother’s passing a few years ago.

“Linda Faubus!” I said as I entered. “I’m Jim Stafford.”

She jumped up and gave me a big hug. I told her I was there to find out how the shop had stayed in business across all those years and amid changes the retail environment.

We were surrounded by mannequin heads covered by wigs of various colors and lengths. The shop looked almost exactly as I remembered from more than 50 years ago.  Along with her late mother, Linda has owned the shop since 1967.

“How have you kept this shop going for almost 60 years,” I asked. “You’ve outlasted virtually ever business that was here in the 1970s and outlived most of their owners. What’s your secret to the longevity of your business?”

“it’s from making a lot of friends, being good to people and quality and service,” Linda said. “They like to come in here.”

Many longtime, loyal customers were drawn to the shop by her mother, Thelma, she said. I could see that because Thelma was such an upbeat personality and treated everyone with what you might call Southern charm.

Thelma passed away in 2016 at the age of 97.

“Everybody loved her, and that’s how you build a business” Linda said. “She was my role model and was a very attractive lady. You have to build on customer service and how you treat people.”

I looked around the shop. I wanted to know how business is in 2025. Linda has modernized enough to have a presence on Facebook. 

“We’re busier now than we’ve ever been,” she said. “We have customers from all over, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Fayetteville, Bella Vista. I can’t tell you how many people come in from Springdale.”

Who knew there was such a demand for wigs?

“There aren’t that many wig shops any more,” Linda said. “And people love to come in and try them on.”

The exterior to Theodora’s Elegante Wigs in Fort Smith, Ark.

Next door to the wig shop, in the space that Tom’s Levi’s once occupied, is a bridal shop.

“I can’t tell you have many businesses have been in that space,” she said. “A stereo shop, a business called The Gentry Shop and even a doll shop.”

With that, we said our goodbyes and I headed back to my car and on to OKC. One last glance at the Theodora’s Wigs sign as I drove away.

It seems that everything in this world has changed over the past 55 years, except Theodora’s Elegante Wigs. And that made me smile as I pulled back on to Towson Ave.

Not just a survivor, but a thriving business in a completely different generation.

Well done Linda (and Thelma).

Aging well: 3 Old Geezers podcast returns

A screenshot from the 3 Old Geezers recent podcast recording session

Along with my friends Steve Buck and Ed Godfrey, I will celebrate a special anniversary on Nov. 6. Two years ago we launched the 3 Old Geezers podcast, which took years of sport debate via group text messages to a worldwide audio forum.

Steve serves as our host and keeps things on track, while Ed fills the podcast with humor and angry get-off-my-lawn rants about, well, anything and everything. I mainly serve as their foil because my perspective doesn’t fit in their neat little boxes.

I wrote about the 3 Old Geezers podcast back when we started at the end of 2023, and you can read it here.

We have no set agenda each week, except to cover the latest Thunder news, as well as that of other pro and college sports.  We also may go off on an occasional non-sports rant.

Here are links to our two most recent episodes so you can discover for yourself what we’re all about. These links are to Apple podcasts, but we’re on Spotify or most places where you listen to your favorite content.

Oct. 17, Episode 44, The Boys are Back!

Oct. 24, Episode 45, Celebrating a Banner Night

Here’s what my fellow Geezers say about the podcasting experience:

From Geezer Steve: “Having the opportunity to hang out with Jim and Ed regularly is something I cherish. Always spirited. Always funny. Just three guys who love sports bobbing and weaving through a conversation. When the idea surfaced one day that we should record our ramblings, the idea seemed like a natural. So, regardless our listener count, we keep going because its a chance to spend time with good friends. And time with friends is something I am learning to cherish more each and every day.”

From Geezer Ed: “Frankly, I am doing a podcast because I enjoy the company. And after 40 years in the newspaper business, I like telling stories, and now I can tell some whoppers. Besides, I can’t let Geezer Jim’s goofy opinions go unchecked. I enjoy the company and the conversation.”

My reasons for doing the pod are similar to Steve and Ed in that I enjoy hanging with the guys, as well as airing my thoughts on sports subjects, whether they are in line with conventional thinking or not.

For the most part, we’ve kept an every-other-week podcast schedule, except for an extended break we took over the summer, before relaunching the pod on Oct. 17.

We’re committed to posting a new episode weekly throughout the OKC Thunder season, which means we’ll have to do some remote when one or more Geezers are tied up with work or out of town. Episode 45 was recorded with Steve calling in from out of town, so we’re off to a good start.

I hope you listen to and enjoy the sample episodes using the links above. Then subscribe and keep up with our Geezer rants, raves and get-off-our-lawn takes.

BONUS CONTENT:

Here’s a link to the very first 3 Old Geezers podcast so you can hear where it all began.

DOUBLE BONUS CONTENT:  

The 3 Old Geezers podcast is presented through the generosity of MentaliTEA and Coffee in Bethany.  I hope you will visit them and enjoy a coffee or tea and something tasty off their food menu.

Drivers beware, speed traps live on


What comes to mind when you see the words ‘speed trap?’ Barney Fife, perhaps?

Yeah, you know what they are. A cop car parked behind a sign or tree just off the highway, typically at the edge of a small town in an area where speed limit suddenly drops from say, 65 mph to 45.

Gotcha!

Way back in the olden days when I was in college driving from Abilene, Texas, back home to Fort Smith, Ark., I learned to be extra cautious when I drove through Stringtown, OK.

Stringtown was notorious for handing out speeding tickets to drivers passing through town on U.S. 69 and unaware that speed limit changed abruptly. It already had a reputation as a speed trap, and my dad warned me about it before I made my first trip.

By 2014, most everyone who didn’t hail from Stringtown had had enough. It was revealed that 76 percent of the town’s revenue — $483,000 in 2013 — was generated by traffic tickets, far more than the 50 percent cap set by the state legislature.

So, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety announced that Stringtown police officers no longer could enforce traffic laws on state and federal highways.

Turns out that Stringtown was a repeat offender. It also drew state sanctions in the 1980s, three decades before the latest action. Read about it in this 2014 article from The Oklahoman.

But speed traps live on today in other communities across the state.

I drove through one in Muldrow, OK, just this past weekend. I saw a Muldrow police SUV hidden behind some barrels in the median of I-40 shortly before 7 am on Sunday.

Yes, Muldrow city officers were patrolling the Interstate! Maybe a quarter mile of I-40 goes through Muldrow city limits, which apparently gives their officers the right to patrol that stretch and hand out traffic tickets to protect their citizens.

I wasn’t even aware that stretch of I-40 was within the city limits of the city of Muldrow because it looks like a fairly rural area. Fortunately, I did not get pulled over — this time.

But the fact that he was out there monitoring traffic before sunup along the short stretch of Interstate that passed through the city limits really irked me.

So, I called the Muldrow Police Department on Monday to ask if they patrol the Interstate and why.

“Yes, because it is part of our city limits,” I was told.

OK, my next question was “does the city have an agreement with the state that allows it to patrol the Interstate in place of Highway Patrol?”

“I have no idea,” she said. “You will have to ask someone else that question.”

I’ve read that the state has to authorize communities to patrol state and federal highways that pass through their city limits, although I wasn’t sure that’s accurate. So I looked it up.

Here’s what I found in an online search of Oklahoma law:

“The Commissioner may designate any portion of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, and those portions of the federal-aid primary highways and the state highway system which are located within the boundaries of and on the outskirts of a municipality for special traffic-related enforcement by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Division and issue a written notice to any other law enforcement agency affected thereby. Upon receipt of such notice, the affected law enforcement agency shall not regulate traffic nor enforce traffic-related statutes or ordinances upon such designated portion of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways or such designated portions of the federal-aid primary highways and the state highway system without prior coordination and written approval of the Commissioner.”

I’ll translate:  The state highway commissioner can forbid municipalities from enforcing traffic laws on state and federal highways.

Muldrow’s next door neighbors in Roland also patrol their stretch of I-40, according to my friend and lifelong Roland resident Frank Day. In fact, I found this story about Roland’s well deserved speed trap reputation from a 1999 edition of The Oklahoman.

Reddit users provided many more known speed traps. “Asher, Big Cabin, Savanah, Calera… really any small town with a highway through it,” offered a user who goes by FakeMikeMorgan.

Anyway, small town speed traps always remind me of Deputy Barney Fife and his “Checkpoint Chickie” speed trap in Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show back in the day. Watch a clip below.

I’m asking readers to submit their least favorite speed traps from around Oklahoma — and beyond. I’ll add them to this post and we can compile a list to help our fellow travelers in the future.

Consider it a service, like flashing your lights at ongoing vehicles after you pass a cop-in-waiting.

You’re welcome.

Here a speed trap contribution from Inona Harness via her son, Casey. Waukomis, OK, which is due south of Enid.  Thank you, Inona!

Could robotics lead Apple to make iPhones in the USA?

A robotic arm working on the floor of a Shawnee manufacturer in roughly 2017.

One day in the summer of 2017, I toured the GF Central Plastics plant in Shawnee on an assignment with the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST).

The visit was an eye-opener for me.

Central Plastics makes plastic and metal fittings, as well as specialty parts primarily for the natural gas industry. At that time it operated out of a 500,000 square foot facility and employed roughly 500 people.

What caught my attention was the incredible use of robotics in the company’s manufacturing process. There were about 30 of these large yellow robotic arms that picked up a piece of metal or plastic and placed it exactly where it needed to go in the machine that would mold it into whatever it was intended to be.

Here’s what I wrote at the time:

“The robotic arms employed in the process never stop, repeating their assignment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their human co-workers are busy ensuring the machines have needed parts to work with, as well as inspecting and packaging finished pieces.
‘The primary goal of the robotics and automation is not to eliminate people, but allow us to continue to grow and continue to improve the quality of our products,’ Bryan Lucas, GF Central Plastics vice president for Operations, told me.

You can read the story here on the OCAST website. 

Mark Smith, GF Central Plastics Managing Director and President, put it another way:

“One of the abilities the robot has, is I’ve got 24/7 operation from them.” he told me. “They don’t take vacations, and they don’t need to sleep like I do.”

While I’m not certain that Lucas or Smith are still in their positions with the company, I’m pretty sure that at this very moment there are scores of robotic arms picking up parts and slamming them into the production machine exactly where they need to be placed. And then removing them when they are finished and stacking them in the right bin.

So, what does that have to do with anything today, eight years later?

I’ve been thinking about how robotics and artificial intelligence might be used in the production of ubiquitous smartphones — iPhones and Android phones. Phones are full of tiny parts that have to be fit into a small space in exactly the same way millions of times over and over.

Are robotics used to produce the phones? According to what I was told by my know-it-all friend, ChatGPT, much of phone assembly in 2025 is done by robotics.

Here’s what my AI pal told me:

“Yes — robotics manufacturing is already widely applied to devices as small and precise as smartphones. In fact, smartphone production is one of the most advanced examples of robotics and automation in action.”

Unless Chatbot was hallucinating, there’s a ton of robotics that go into each phone. It cited Foxconn, maker of the iPhone, as a major user of robotics in the manufacturing process.

“In some facilities, entire production lines are almost fully automated,” it said.

So, that makes me wonder if the thousands and thousands of low-paid workers are still needed to produce smart phones. Are those folks still needed to assemble the cases with tiny screws, perhaps? Can’t that process be automated?

This is all leading me to the purpose of this blog post. If there is almost 100 percent automation in the assembly of iPhones, why can’t Apple Inc. at least build a pilot project in the U.S. to see how production would go here.

I understand there is required testing of each unit and then the packaging and shipping, so there are humans involved in the process.

If the robotic arms were assembling millions of phones in the U.S., would the scale of that production keep the costs somewhere close to what it is in China or India? And they would save on shipping costs, too, so price of phones might stay close to what they are today.

We all know that Trump is pressuring Apple and other high-tech manufacturers to bring their manufacturing into the U.S. If nothing else, a pilot plant located in the states would appease the President, who could slap (more) tariffs on China- or India-made phones at any moment.

I just read an awesome book, “Apple in China,” about how the company is trapped by the large scale of manufacturing investment it has made in China. It has recently moved some of that production to India and elsewhere.

I’m not a visionary, but I’m thinking that we could someday soon unbox our new iPhone and see the words “Designed in California, Assembled in the USA.”

Are you listening, Tim Cook?

I’m great at spending someone else’s money.  But it could happen.

BONUS CONTENT: Watch some robotic arms in action in the video below.

DOUBLE BONUS CONTENT: Here is some info that ChatGPT provided me about robotic arms in smartphone manufacturing.

Robotics manufacturing is already widely applied to devices as small and precise as smartphones. In fact, smartphone production is one of the most advanced examples of robotics and automation in action.

Here’s how robotics is applied in smartphone manufacturing:

Microscale Precision Assembly: Specialized robotic arms with extremely fine motion control place tiny components such as microchips, sensors, and capacitors onto circuit boards. These parts are far too small for human hands to place consistently.
Surface-Mount Technology (SMT): Automated machines solder thousands of micro-components onto printed circuit boards at high speed and with extreme precision.
Optics & Camera Module Assembly: Robotic systems align and insert delicate camera lenses and sensors with tolerances measured in microns.
Battery & Screen Placement: Large but fragile components like batteries and OLED screens are installed by robotic arms that apply uniform pressure without damaging them.
Quality Control & Testing: Robotics and machine vision systems test buttons, touchscreens, speakers, and other parts to ensure durability and functionality.
– Micro-assembly with Collaborative Robots (Cobots): Some processes still require human oversight (like cable placement or adhesive application), but cobots assist workers by handling the repetitive and delicate positioning work.

So while people often imagine robots assembling cars or appliances, the highest level of robotic precision is actually in electronics manufacturing — smartphones, tablets, and semiconductors.

Companies Using Robotics in Smartphone Assembly

Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry)

  • World’s largest electronics manufacturer (makes iPhones for Apple).
  • Uses thousands of robots, called Foxbots, for tasks like soldering, polishing, dispensing adhesives, and precision assembly.
  • In some facilities, entire production lines are almost fully automated.

Pegatron

  • Another major iPhone assembler.
  • Uses robotic arms for component placement and automated optical inspection (AOI) to check for microscopic defects.

Samsung Electronics

  • Runs highly automated factories in South Korea and Vietnam.
  • Uses robotics for screen production (OLED and AMOLED panels) because they require sub-millimeter precision.

Xiaomi, Oppo, and Huawei suppliers

  • Many Chinese factories use robotic arms for final assembly and packaging.
  • Robotic vision systems test touchscreens and fingerprint sensors before shipping.

🤖

Types of Robotics Technology Used

  • SMT (Surface Mount Technology) Pick-and-Place Robots
  • Place up to 100,000 components per hour on a circuit board.
  • Robotic Dispensing Systems — Apply adhesives in perfect micro-lines to secure parts like glass panels.
  • Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) — Uses robotic vision and AI to detect microscopic defects.
  • Laser Robots — Used for cutting phone frames, engraving, and even removing defective solder joints.
  • 📱 Why Robotics Is Essential for Smartphones
    Smartphones have billions of transistors and hundreds of components packed into a device only millimeters thick.
  • Human assembly alone can’t achieve the precision or consistency needed.
  • Robotics improves yield, speed, and quality control while reducing labor costs.

👉 So yes, robotics not only can be applied to smartphones — it’s already at the core of how every major smartphone is made today.

SEC Shorts means appointment viewing for me

A Mike Gundy-like OSU character was welcomed to SEC Shorts this week.

There was a time in my life when watching Saturday Night Live was one of my most important weekly routines. Sadly, age and the long ago retirement of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players greatly diminished my SNL viewing.

Now I click on weekly SNL highlights posted on Twitter/X to watch individual skits. Saves me time and allows me to go to bed hours earlier on Saturday nights.

However, I’ve adopted a new viewing routine in 2025. It’s a weekly show posted online every Monday during football season called “SEC Shorts.”

You should be watching, too, if you are a college football fan.

SEC Shorts is a weekly, fast-paced 5 to 8-minute show that satirizes the immediate past weekend results from Southeast Conference football games. The writers/producers/actors are comic geniuses, in my view, because each episode is not only hilarious, but right on target with its send-ups.

I discovered SEC Shorts during the 2024 season, so I’ve only watched a dozen or so episodes from last year and into the start of this season. And in my limited view, this week’s episode towers over all the others.

Why? I’ll just say that this week’s short centers on a farmer and his “Going for Two Second Chance Farm.” No spoilers, except to say that OSU and Clemson are both welcomed into the SEC Shorts family.

You can watch the episode below.

My friend Ed Godfrey also watched the latest episode and declared it “Oscar worthy.” Another friend, Steve Buck, declared them “masters” after last week’s episode. Their videos attract millions of viewers, according to the SEC Shorts website.

Here’s something astounding about SEC Shorts.

College football games are played on Saturdays, and a fresh SEC Shorts episode is posted the following Monday morning. That means the SEC Shorts producers have to create the concept, write the script, access props and film the entire thing in one day.

Since I knew so little about SEC Shorts background or how it got started, I found its website to catch up on who these guys are.

Turns out, the show was created by a couple of Alabama guys — Robert Clay and Josh Snead — back in 2014. They filmed their first episode and submitted it to the Paul Finebaum simulcast radio/TV show in September of that year, and the rest is history, as their website says.

Today, there’s a cast of 5, including Robert and Josh, who write, act and film each episode, with additional support from a few others as needed. The website also offers a ‘behind the scenes’ photo gallery of some of their productions in progress.

Here’s the lead paragraph from the “Our Story” section of their website:

“Who doesn’t want to see themselves on TV? It was this noble motivation that launched SEC Shorts in the fall of 2014. Robert Clay and Josh Snead were wasting away in the basement of a medical publishing company, where they spent all day editing gross medical lectures that would make even the most seasoned surgeons gag. As they sat across from each other in the Inverness Dairy Queen, eating their fourth chocolate dip cone of the week, they realized there had to be a better way.”

It’s obvious they don’t take themselves too seriously, unlike, say, fans who hail from Alabama, Georgia or several other SEC destinations.

If you are tired of hearing “SEC! SEC!” chanted during broadcasts of SEC teams, remember there’s a small crew of comic geniuses just waiting to poke a little fun at their Saturday heroes when the games are over.

Watching a fresh SEC Shorts episode each week certainly brightens my Mondays. It should be on your schedule, too.

BONUS CONTENT: Read the Frequently Asked Questions section from the SEC Shorts website below.

Screenshot

One more thing: there are no more surprises in Apple product events

Steve Jobs makes a ‘one more thing’ announcement at a live Apple product event.

This past Tuesday, Apple Inc. introduced its latest line of iPhones in a special pre-recorded event that showcased iPhone 17 and an extra thin iPhone Air.

Along with showcasing the latest Apple Watches and Airpods, the event lasted just over an hour. It included introductions from Apple CEO Tim Cook plus key Apple staff, as well as customer testimonials, music and ads to showcase it all. You can watch it here. 

Unfortunately for me, I knew in advance almost every product that was introduced, down to the new iPhone Air.

Thanks for spoiling it, Mark Gurman.

Gurman is a tech writer for Bloomberg News who covers everything Apple like Helen Thomas covered the White House once upon a time. The author of the Power On newsletter, Gurman had already detailed almost everything Apple debuted, down to the specs of the iPhone Air and cameras in the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

I didn’t want to know any of that before I watched the Apple event. I long for the days of the “One More Thing” that the late Steve Jobs would surprise the audience at Apple product events. I was just as surprised and awed as everyone else when he pulled the first iPod out of the pocket of his Levi’s in 2001.

Watch Jobs make some “one more thing” introductions in the video below.

I’m not sure how Gurman gets his info, but I assume it must come with Apple’s cooperation or willfully ignoring his insider scoops. Reporters and podcasters that I follow seem happy with the situation because Gurman’s reporting gives them something to discuss on an ongoing basis from week-to-week.

I realize that all of this doesn’t matter to about 99.9% of the public, but as a long-time Apple Fanboy, it’s a big deal. There was time that Jobs was so obsessed over keeping future products secret that he took steps like issuing memos with slight alterations sent to different employees to catch leakers.

Just as it should be.

Oh, and one more thing. I long for the pre-COVID years when Apple’s product events were all performed live in front of an audience and streamed to the rest of us. It was way more fun when new Macs or iPads or software were introduced by Jobs or Phil Schiller or Craig Federighi, and demoed right on the stage.

That was live theater, and I loved it.

But here we are in 2025, and we all can predict  virtually every new product in advance as a pre-recorded Tim Cook introduces it as Apple’s “best ever.”

No suspense. No surprise. No one more thing.

Get off my lawn.

UPDATE:

Here is what Jason Snell, former editor of Macworld magazine who has covered Apple for decades, had to say about new product developments that are leaked to the public.