On August 21, 2017, fourteen states will witness one of the universe’s most impressive phenomenons — a total solar eclipse. (See the path across the states at http://www.astronomy.com/great-american-eclipse-2017.) Throughout human history, eclipses have brought fear and wonder into people’s lives. Fortunately, we now understand exactly what’s happening. But in the past, they have literally changed
I posted this two years ago, and have decided to repeat it after having worked in the yard the one nice day we’ve had this week. This is from my book Some Poems About Life, available on this website. My Rite of Spring I consider myself a peaceable soul. I value all manner of
I don’t mean to brag, but I’m something of an expert on failure. The fact that many of you have never heard of me until you read this supports my point. But I’m not going for pity here, because I’m getting by pretty well. It’s just that I’ve never been able to accomplish something really
We seem so powerless as compared to Mother Nature. Earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes always put us at the mercy of the elements. And yet… Could there be a way to stop hurricanes from forming? After all, these monster storms are basically huge heat engines. They appear toward the end of summer, when the top layer
With all the talk recently about which news is fake and which is real, I’ve found a real example of how fake news was used to win World War II. Call it “real fake news.” If you were a German citizen during the period 1941 to 1943, you might have heard some very realistic-sounding shortwave
No, this is not a joke, as one of my friends surmised. A banker in England realized the best way to fight terrorism is to identify likely terror suspects before they can strike. He began to identify all the characteristics and behaviors of a terrorist from his bank’s database, like they tended to make one
From the I-Wish-I’d-Written-That Department, this is the Poem of the Day from the Poetry Foundation (http://www.poetryfoundation.org.) — April Fool by Myra Cohn Livingston The maple syrup’s full of ants. A mouse is creeping on the
Running is my recreational sport. When I run, I never think about running alone, or at night, or in the country. But then, I’m a man. I remember when I lived in California, almost every weekday I used to run after work on the Santa Ana River trail with some coworkers, including a young lady.
Everyone probably knows eating fruits and veggies are good for you, but how good? Just what you’ve been waiting to hear — a new study suggests that eating even more produce can prevent millions of deaths each year. In case you don’t believe me, my source is Time magazine’s daily newsletter brief of March 30th.
There is a lot we take for granted in our modern world. Like cookbooks, for example. March 23 is kind of a milestone anniversary in home economics. On that day in 1857, Fannie Merritt Farmer was born in Boston. According The Writers’ Almanac, Fannie is remembered for publishing the first cookbook in American history. Up
