Random Thoughts

Jackson Pollock (d.1956) is famous to mainstream people more for the movie about his troubled life than his art, but his drip paintings have intrigued more than art historians. A quantitative…

 How many famlies have more electronic devices than people? It's not hard to be swimming in a digital sea in today's culture. Americans appear to worship the latest upgrade, willing to wait…

The topic of Dante came up recently here in a comment stream following an article on parsley.  So I am taking this opportunity to share with you two of my favourite bits. First, from Canto XVI…

We’ve just finished a documentary on Stephen Hawking and I hand Bobby the dvd and ask him to put it in. “What now, Mama?”   “Wait and see,” I tell them. As  the  film…

Democracy should never be given for granted. So if you are given a chance to cast a vote, you should not overlook the fact that voting is both your duty toward your country, and a right you need to…

Recent articles are chronologically at: column. But here, articles are categorized thematically. Topics are in no particular order, starting with Physics before going to Consciousness, Drugs, Atheism…

Government work is usually a thankless job - yes, thanks to guaranteed pay raises and a union that can shut down the government, government employees make more money than the private sector and have…

The Big Bang Theory is a great show for promoting both science and acceptance. It's a favorite show in our household, and all three of my children, who are at various spots on the autism spectrum,…

If you love skateboarding and if you love Venice, and if you are curious to see how a skater can live there regardless of the cronic absence of sporting structures (no skate parks, no way), have a…

Folks went apeshit over Stephen Hawking speaking his belief that heaven is a fairy tale. Some crazy fool insisted the rapture was today. And the world turned on. And on it will turn.…