Random Thoughts

All through the month of March, from 11:57 PM to midnight, visitors in Times Square can see artist Marco Brambilla's vision of Apollo 18, the mission that never was. We may sometimes think science is…

In 1993, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan gave us "defining deviancy down", a clever bit of alliteration based on the work of sociologist Emile Durkheim from his defining work of 1895. Durkheim wrote…

This is my first posting, and already I'm in trouble.  The pull-down menu for "Field" belies an excruciatingly conventional taxonomy of human endeavour.  If I want to deliver a critical…

Romantic notions of Burns as a lovable man of the people are a little rich. Elnur By Corey E. Andrews, Associate Professor of English at Youngstown State University Robert Burns may have lost some of…

Nothing justifies the killing of people for expressing ideas no matter how repugnant one finds them. However, these things don't happen in a vacuum. These things are not simply the fault of the…

Cartoon Credit: Dave Brown (Source) Twitter: https://twitter.com/steveschuler20

Many consumers today feel out of touch with how their food is produced and are disturbed by a lot of what they hear about it through their social networks or other sources of information. If it is…

Nonsensical but oddly beautiful Bing and Google translations from Facebook posts in a variety of languages: 袁嘟嘟第一次以老公的身分參加部門聚會，泡完湯好舒服 Doodle Yuan to her husband's party participated in the sector…

In the mid-1960s the Elizabethan morality play space western known as "Star Trek" debuted and series creator Gene Roddenberry was cagey about when exactly it took place (thus the reason to use 'star…

Not So Smart Money In modern English the term 'smart money'  is most commonly used in reference to money invested in the course of business or gambling by people presumed to be knowledgeable…