Could the second law of thermodynamics be the least abstract of all scientific principles? I am thinking of entropy, the arrow of time. Left to itself, a system, or a human being, or a city, a whole society, a solar system will reach a state of equilibrium. The principle was first formulated in 1824. Heat…
Many months ago it felt right to use “Plague Journal” in the title line for these posts. I assumed that fighting the virus would be a process, that the work of research with the public’s self-interested cooperation would reduce the corona virus to a minor inconvenience. A two year anniversary is approaching since our…
How to begin. Yesterday was the 20th anniversary, of the September 11th, 2001 suicide attack on the twin towers in Manhattan, on the Pentagon, and the fourth passenger jet plowing into the earth at Shanksville Pennsylvania. Four occasions of mass death were memorialized yesterday by ceremonies at the sites where they occurred. I paid…
How many years since the War of Southern Rebellion ended? For many of those years a statue of Robert E. Lee mounted on his horse Traveler has occupied a prominent place on Monument Avenue in Richmond Virginia. Lee was commander in chief of the pro-slavery forces (human trafficking) that fought for four long years…
If I could — I would. The discussion was intense for an hour and a half. If I could re-invent higher education, where would I start, what would I change? The question is more than an idle thought experiment, a mind game. Human beings without the benefit of instincts, rely upon the internal map…
Today is the day after Labor Day. We visited the town of Ottawa yesterday. The town is about an hour drive south, near the terminus of the Fox River. Ottawa is the seat of Lasalle County and was the site of the first debate between Stephen A. Douglass and Abraham Lincoln in 1858. The…
Monday, the end of summer. The street is eerily quiet at State and 3rd in Geneva. At the hour of 7AM, there’s not the usual bustle. While driving to Starbucks I listened to a NPR piece covering the aftermath of hurricane Ida’s destruction on the coast of Louisiana. Several individuals were interviewed that formerly…
Yesterday we were privileged to have a guided tour of the Fabyan Estate home in Geneva, on the bank of the Fox River. George Fabyan, descendant of a wealthy Boston dry goods manufacturing family and his wife Nelle, purchased 300 acres in the early 1900s. The old farmhouse on the property was remodeled by…
Yesterday I took a late August bike ride. I followed the bike path along the Fox River from Batavia to Aurora. The asphalt path eased my fifteen mile journey, following the river under the trees, shaded from late summer sunlight. The journey concluded with a rest, reading for a while under a massive old…
Hungry, but not hungry enough to order a hotdog and fries. I ordered the hotdog. The man behind the counter about to swipe my card, inquired, “No fries?” That’s right I replied. I hate to throw out the fries, and that’s what will happen. “Ok” he said. I watched him compose the hotdog. A…
