LoveLife

I wanted to wait till the hubbub was over before posting some thoughts on our 250th anniversary. Several articles I read at the time suggested that most Americans had only a vague idea what was being celebrated, which if true is a sad state of affairs to be sure though I don't wish to dwell on that issue in this post but on the larger frame, the story of the rise and fall of nations. Whether the average American shares the knowledge of our country's founding much less a sens

A recent book club pick,The Memory of an Elephant, had me thinking about a topic on which I have commented in the past, the nature of consciousness. In brief, the story is a fictionalized account of the life of an African elephant from birth to death, as told by the humans with which he interacted and through his own thoughts and memories. While the author clearly took some liberty in ascribing specific thoughts to the central character, ethologists who have studied Elephant

Despite evidence to the contrary, we Americans continue to believe that almost all scientific, technological, and economic development of merit had and continues to have its origins in the US. Our country is regarded by some as preeminent in every endeavor and the quality of our lives vastly better than what might be found in any other nation. Abiding faith in the American way persists even in the midst of a sharp divide in our country regarding its governance and its futur

Maybe it's just me. Over the past year it seems as if every other day a new study reveals that something we regarded as healthy is likely to lead to our premature death and yet another thing we were told would send us to an early grave is the only thing keeping us alive. It's more than confusing, and it got me thinking about what we need to know, and what we should trust. It should come as no surprise that a lot of what makes its way into print, gets covered by radio, TV or

My brain in now totally fried. I've spent the last several days conducting research online for my significant other, and I am now more confused than ever. One of the many claims advocates make regarding online shopping is our ability to obtain very precise information as well as reviews covering any product or service we might wish to purchase. In the old RL (real life) days we would ask a neighbor, relative or perhaps someone we regarded as knowledgeable for their recommenda

An errand the other day to purchase some dish sponges inspired this post. Now I grant that something so inauspicious seems an unlikely topic but stay with me for a bit. These were no ordinary sponges, that would have been too simple. They were a particular type that my significant other prefers and we'd run out of the last of them. I confess its merits were lost on me but we were at loose ends and an excuse to get out of the house was at hand. So, off we trundled to a cer

If you are unfamiliar with the term, it describes an artifact of social media and newsfeeds; an article that lures the unsuspecting reader with a provocative headline in order to increase eyeball count and showcase unrelated advertising. Extravagant claims and absurd premises are nothing new in the advertising realm, those old enough may remember full page ads in popular magazines proclaiming that 9 out of 10 doctors recommend a particular cigarette brand. Today's version mi

For some reason the algorithm that governs what shows up in my feed on one of the few social media sites I routinely visit insists on displaying examples of two opposing views of human behavior. One features a lawn maintenance company that promotes itself by offering to clean up overgrown yards, often belonging to elderly or disabled people. In sped up videos veritable jungles and forests of weeds are returned to suburban order and to be fair there is something very satisfyi

I've never understood the phrase fairytale endings to describe those Hallmark Television like codas where everything works out for the best. Most childhood fairytale I endings I recall were anything but happy. Most were intended to teach a moral or life lesson and the underlying theme was that life was anything but a bowl of cherries. Now I do not watch a lot of commercial television, in fact nothing on the major networks. Much of what I do watch is foreign and unlike the m

In the run up to the midterm elections amidst shifting public sentiment and economic hardship I've been seeing more frequent posts on social media asking how it is possible that people on one side or the other of the political divide continue to subscribe to their partisan views. Posts often describe cult behavior or political echo chambers as the cause but I wonder if those are just facile descriptions rather than explanations. We might not find it flattering, but social sc

The past is confusing. Our memories are unreliable reporters of even recent occurrences. The reconstructions we summon may be embroidered with self serving decoration, regrets, or harsh judgement according to our mood, but seldom do they reveal the dispassionate truth. Dates too are especially squishy, decades sliding back and forth like days, not months or years. We are careless archaeologists unearthing memory's artifacts without regard for their provenance. Hardest of al

Unless you are a confirmed Luddite or living in a cave in an aboriginal state of being, there is a better than even chance you have had an encounter with Tech Support at a consumer electronics company. With the introduction of AI in almost every device--even if it is only for the sake of marketing hype--encounters with one's stove, or refrigerator will soon be next. We can be assured they can and will cease working at some point necessitating a phone call, or worse yet, an o

At the risk of disorienting you dear reader allow me to begin this post with the answer to last week's murder mystery. The culprits, as I have reconstructed the crime scene, were 1) our lawn guy, who in the process of cutting and edging I believe neatly severed the poor mousie's foreparts from his hind. The tip off was that my initial discovery was just the morning after our yard had been mowed. 2) As to how the body got into a garden bed a fair distance away, my current th

While working in the yard the other day I came upon the remains of a Field Mouse in one of the foundation beds. I'll go no further to avoid offending squeamish readers but will add that it was clear it had not perished from old age. The opening lines of Robert Burns' poem sprang to mind. "Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie!" It is a lovely poem written in that Scottish patois which can be a delight or a confounding puzzle. But I digre

Over the last two weeks we've been experiencing that annual rite of Spring, when the Azaleas, and the Dogwoods blossom, while the tall pines and sundry trees that adjoin our property scatter their pollen and seeds everywhere. It is not a little. Over those weeks I have bagged up six 40 gallon containers worth for the compost heap. Soft wooly bears in bright green, worm like pine droppings and ever present pine straw, along with some branches and pine cones have dispersed o

As a general rule I rarely give up on a book without at least giving it every chance to convince me of its merit. Over the last few weeks I have twice 'noped' out of works that were recommended to me. I may be ungrateful, or perhaps I am missing something you be the judge. The first novel began with a familiar if slightly trite premise which I will spare you. I am not a literary snob, I could have lived with it if the characters were intriguing or a plot twist offered som

I've been reading a series of short stories written by Cixin Liu, and one in particular was an absolute gift. Perhaps I should say two gifts. The first was the story itself, provocative and deeply satisfying as his works always prove to be. The second was a fresh insight into physics and the nature of the universe, a lesson if you will. If you are not familiar with Cixin Liu, he is a Chinese author who gained a following in the past few years largely as a result of the US

A staple of every fledgling comedian's repertoire are jokes about men who refuse to ask directions despite the fact they are hopelessly lost. As their poor wives roll their eyes, these gents protest that the destination is just around the corner, and we laugh because we recognize the grain of truth in the joke. I am not of this ilk, but I do confess that I have a penchant for ignoring instructions--the kind that accompany a box filled with dozens of pieces of something offer

A disturbing dream the other night featured something I have not thought about in many years, a barn that sat on the property where I lived for a time in New Hampshire. It was old and appeared decrepit, its tin roof, added sometime in the 1930's, sagging with the weight of accumulated years and its boards gaping with cracks and checks that let in the daylight. That is where our cows and horses lived when not in the pasture, where the turkeys, chickens and barn swallows strut

A confusing and contradictory litany of reasons have been offered up by the administration regarding its actions in Iran. These include among others, the other guy made me do it, the other guy in this case being Israel. Punishment for abandoning an agreement on nuclear enrichment is another, but of course it is we who unilaterally abandoned that agreement. Perhaps the most revealing rationale was cited by the administration's press secretary who noted that the Commander and