Here are drops of thought, scattering and scurrying across the sands
- Passing on the right
I’ve been doing some driving lately, and every time I hit the concrete jungle of the Eisenhower system, I’m struck by the curious culture of my fellow travellers. When I’m not obsessing about cars and door handles, that is.
- Details
Have you ever noticed how entirely odd cars look with their antennae? It’s like they all have lopsided whiskers whizzing down the highway. But what’s even stranger is how all the antennae are the same length.
- Sorry, I’m not interested
That’s what I said when a couple of lovely women recently offered something that, I’m fairly sure, they believed I would truly value. But my response was automatic, a polite refusal to what I felt was an unwelcome advance.
- A Choral Singer’s Guide
I found this tart little number while sorting through my old music. Once upon a time, I thought it was hilarious — maybe you will, too!
- Small World
What are the odds, right? Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?
The story is that while in Maine, in a part of the state I’ve never been before, a couple hundred miles from any place I’ve called home, I run into not one, but two friends from diverse parts.
- Postcard from Maine
I write this from Mount Desert Island, Maine, where I am visiting my cousin’s familial home near Somes Sound. We just returned from a short boat hop across the mouth of the Sound, the islands illuminated with a just-past-full moon in a nearly cloudless night.
- Happy Birthday, Grandmother!
Yesterday, my paternal grandmother turned 85. I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with her in a quiet celebration with family and pie.
- On mating…
Walking to work this morning, I was pondering an alternative to the Aquatic Ape Theory, proposed by Alister Hardy sometime in the 60’s, at least as far as why we are not dependent on estrus for mating. (I first encountered this notion in Isle of Woman, the first in Piers Anthony’s relatively serious series on human development.) As I understand it, the theory holds that as humanity went through a semi-aquatic stage, we lost our body hair, we learned to speak, and visual cues became predominant for sexual attraction, as opposed to the pheremonal cues that estrus provides. After all, aren’t we the only critter that mates, oh, whenever?
- Bicentennial Man
I was recently re-watching this movie, one of my favorites despite its critical drubbing. It’s certainly not an expertly made picture show, and the awkward mix of hifalutin ideas with rather mawkish romance make it an easy target, to be sure.
And yet… It captures a lot of the magic I always felt when reading Issac Asimov in high school, curled into the fiction room of the school library where only myself and one other kid ever hung out.
- Why you’re not supposed to talk religion at parties
Last night, at a friend’s roommate’s barbecue, I found myself discussing religion with my friend’s friend. Anyone who knows me knows that I have some opinions on the subject, and that I have a tendency not to shy away from controversial conversations. Always a recipe for awkwardness.
The thing about religion is that you can’t really define it, because it has so many different definitions to so many people. Most people stick by standard definitions that refer to a belief in the supernatural somehow. But really, what’s supernatural? Why require a supernatural component? After all, I tend to think that the most prevalent religious system in America today is science, and I’ve gotten in lots of trouble for saying …
