Language is a marvelous thing. Words, symbols referencing things, events, and concepts give birth to efficient mental states, causing substantive change, influencing human actions. I noticed this in my iphone news feed this morning. A highly unusual weather pattern is setting up over the Pacific Northwest, with a record-strong high-pressure area aloft — known…
A friend who practices walking about town for fitness, for interest, suggested that I consider the activity for my own benefit. The advice came as we walked together to the Starbucks on Randall Road and back. On a hot, sunny summer’s day the conversation, passing scenery, and natural exercise made the experience pleasing. “The…
I am shaking this morning, mentally, existentially, spiritually. I am loath to use the term “spiritual.” I know the term is spoken and written in a bastardized manner referring to the holy spirit, possession of the ego by the supernatural. The idea is pure, unalloyed BS, which deserves ridicule. We are standard issue human…
Yesterday was spent at the Brookfield Zoo. I recall visiting some thirty years ago… Eager to visit again, I was taken by surprise at the feelings that came when viewing the animals in captivity. I am no longer a child, able to experience the zoo environment with magical delight. I remember what that was…
Day’s end was spent in a leisurely walk by the Fox River in the vicinity of the Fabyan Japanese Tea Garden. The walk was a welcome conclusion to a summer day of work. Camera in hand I paid attention to the wild flowers which grow there in abundance. Walking around the Tea Garden I…
A postscript to the observations about Amazon. I am a Amazon customer. I buy books on a regular basis and Amazon is convenient, affordable, etc. Often a book is available that perhaps I’d find otherwise with a great deal of effort. I have a good friend who works for Amazon. His account of the…
It is tempting to believe that Nature is eternal, subsisting impervious to the erosion of time. A temptation, an illusion, one immature mistake made when we extract “resources” and increase the heat load to the atmosphere and to the oceans. Thus we give a collective shove-of-the-wheel toward global warming and climate change catastrophe. Whenever…
I was a participant in a rollicking discussion on the topic of determinism and free will earlier in the week. The topic is an ancient philosophical conundrum how the appearance of choice, true freedom can be real, given that cause and effect are seamless. That cause and effect are inviolate is the underlying premise…
Stepping away from the chatter is not easy. I ask, “are we addicted to information?” It comes cascading at a rapid rate, at best understood partially, without enough context, — via iphone, TV, laptop screen… One byte after another edited for our approval, or said clearly, for “consumption.” After sitting down to breakfast I…
Today is June 1st. June is the month of summer. Summer arrives in few days. Summer is prime time for plants, animals and all living things. Growth is at maximum velocity over the arc of June and the following two months. In the northern hemisphere, the tilt of the earth’s axis places us closer…
