As a senior citizen, I’m always concerned about my long-term future. How much longer will I be able to live by myself in a large house? (It had better be a very long time because you won’t believe the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years.) This is why I was intrigued by a TV news
We’ve been hearing a lot about sustainability and recycling as a way to conserve resources. How far could we take this if we put our minds to it? Pretty far. One of the more novel ideas I’ve heard regarding recycling the byproducts of food production comes from designer Sacha Laurin. Her career began as a
It’s hard to be an optimist when you keep uncovering horror stories about the human race. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by a species that once believed in witchcraft, but it still can be shocking. Recently while catching up on reading, I found an article entitled “The Perils of Pale” in the June 2017
I grew up on a farm in western Ohio, and every summer I can remember watching lightening bugs from my bedroom window. But like everything else in this world, it’s complicated. First, most people call them fireflies. According to an entry in the July 7, 2017 Smithsonian magazine’s VIP newsletter by Jason Bittel, they are
Some people prefer the offbeat when they travel. (I’m trying something different this year; you’ll get a full report if I can pull it off.) I’ve just found something that appeals to those who also want to help the environment. It’s called SANCCOB — South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (https://sanccob.co.za/ ).
Here’s a word for today — sologamy. It’s defined by Google as “marriage by a person to oneself. It is known as a commitment that values self-love, and self-compassion. … It can also refer to a self-uniting marriage, that is a marriage without an officiant.” I first learned about this from a recent newspaper article,
Scientists estimate we blink about 20,000 and 30,000 times a day. If each blink is two-tenths of a second, that means we spend around 10 percent of our waking hours with our eyes closed. But why do we blink in the first place? A lot of people assume it’s to keep the eye moist with
You probably don’t realize it, but this is a pretty peaceful time in human history. In earlier eras, an estimated 15 percent of human deaths were caused by violence; today that number is about one percent. For most of history, great empires could be amassed for relatively little cost. In the Mexican War, for example,
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Mona Lisa” is perhaps the most famous work of art in the world. I’ve never quite understood why, perhaps because of the enigmatic smile? (An artist friend once told me Leonardo used that smile in many of his paintings.) In any event, its fame begs the question, who was the model?
Talk about thinking outside the box! In 1954, Leland W. Sprinkle and his son were visiting Luray Caverns in Virginia. His guide’s explanation of how stalactites could make sounds when tapped gave him an idea. (It was either that or the sound made when his son struck his head on a rock.) Over the next
