UPDATE: Here’s a post I wrote in 2009, and then decided not to publish. I supposed it was the “Oz” factor – this idea that our current president was larger than life, and that I would be scoffed at because I suspected something funny was going on behind the curtain. Now that we are less than a month before the potential re-election of our emperor (that’s a future blog post), the WSJ has prompted me to pull this post out. It seems, according to William McGurn, that the curtain has been pulled back. In fact, Ozbama the Magnificent is not actually Continue reading “President Hussein (Ozbama)- “…not who we thought he was.””
Dancing in the darkness
So, I’m reading the Economist, a high-brow magazine based in London and available online. Middle East wars, macro-economic 
theory, election politics and … Snowball. Yep. The world’s most famous dancing bird (or so they say) who lives in an animal shelter in … Schererville, Indiana?? Anyway, the article is about high-powered research into whether & why animals dance, to music or otherwise. You can read the article, which is interesting, but that’s not what this post is about. It’s about the even bigger “elephant in the room” (read the article for the 1st one). That is, the plausible explanation for why humans dance that actually fits very well with the data, and which also would explain why (apparently) animals don’t, unless they mimic humans.
Could it be that we dance because Continue reading “Dancing in the darkness”
Worship the Image
Our church has an amazing pastor & teacher. For years (and I’m not kidding) we have been learning from the book of Exodus, and recently Bill has been teaching on the “Ten Words”. As a child, I learned them as the 10 Commandments, but they are actually more than that. Today’s lesson was a kind of preparation for a detailed study of the 2nd word, which I always thought Continue reading “Worship the Image”
Even spam can be creative…
Apparently there are some sharp (smart?) spammers out there. This is a paragraph from the metadata in a spam message I got recently. It made me laugh; first useful thing I’ve gotten from spam this year! It isn’t normally visible, because Continue reading “Even spam can be creative…”
Thomas Times – Age
From the Thomas Times, our annual family newsletter:
There is something sobering about age. I recently sent a birthday soliloquy to one of my nephews, in which I mentioned an iron pot. This is a pot I remember seeing in a field over 50 years ago, as men who worked on our farm boiled a hog they had just killed in order to turn it into hams and bacon. Recently, a friend and I dug that same pot out of the ground where it had been partly buried under the side of a barn. I made the point that it was still in good shape, because cast iron, once it gets a coating of rust, doesn’t deteriorate any more. However, in the last day or two, I happened to walk by the pot and take a closer look, since I noticed something amiss. As I tapped it with a small hammer, several pieces of the bottom chipped off. As it happened, the very bottom had been in contact with wet earth for many of those 50 years, and the rust had penetrated… Continue reading “Thomas Times – Age”
Memories & Meaning
I recently sent this soliloquy to my nephew Riley on his birthday. Since it includes thoughts that many of you may find interesting, I’ve posted it here as well:
When I was a little boy, I remember walking in the lot west of our home. It’s where the horses and Blackie the steer live now, about a 100 yards from the breakfast room window. As I walked, I believe it was springtime, and I saw a big pot made of cast iron over a fire. In it was the body of a dead Continue reading “Memories & Meaning”
Home Is Where the Buck Stops
Do you remember cheating on tests in grade school? As I think back, I honestly can’t, though I probably did. (The sins I remember were mouthing off in class & bringing a baby snake to show & tell — but that’s another post!). Now, let’s go one more step: did you ever, in your wildest dreams, think that your teacher was cheating on a test? Or that her cheating would hurt you?? Or that she was doing it for the money, because she was a criminal running a giant scam on the school district???
According to a report commissioned by the governor & published recently in Georgia, the former Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent, Continue reading “Home Is Where the Buck Stops”
What is this?
Does this look familiar? It should, if you use Google. So what are the two buttons below the logo? They are words written in the language this search page operates on, and the logo is a link to Valentine’s Day search in … are you ready? …
Klingon.
That’s right. You can search the web in a language constructed for the world created by the TV show, Startrek! That would be a search of the real world using the language of a virtual world that for some people is more real than the world they live in now.
Are you confused yet?
Welcome to the 21st century…
BTW – hope you had a great Valentine’s Day! We did :-))
Gorilla Glass
For once, this kind of marketing catch phrase is actually understated! Watch this video and marvel at what Corning Glass has done for 
the iPhone and its millions of users. The most intriguing idea for me is flexible glass– real glass that flexes as if it were plastic, yet is as hard as glass. In a related article, the author touts the video he watched but couldn’t film- a 3 lb. steel ball dropping from 3 ft. on Gorilla Glass without breaking it.
Don’t try that at home!
Squirrel revenge
Sometimes, when you think you’ve got breakfast, something else happens:
Honestly, this looks almost too good to be real… if you hate squirrels, this video is for you! Our son Andrew would have enjoyed it.