Writings

Several years ago I learned a fascinating piece of information about seeing. Even if you already know this, it’s still fun. Mechanically speaking, our eyes see everything upside down. According to an article I found on Mental Floss, “That’s because the process of refraction through a convex lens causes the

We’ve all played hide-and-seek, a game that holds some possibility of both excitement and fear. Fear? Well, it did for me. The excitement was that no one would be able to find me. The fear was that no one would look for me. I loved the idea of being stealthier

Good and Friday are pals. They go together like a boy in high school and the girl wearing his lettermans jacket . “Thank goodness it’s Friday!” We’ve all used that, either verbally or by texting TGIF!. All of that, theoretically, has to do with the delightful fact that it is

I have a confession to make, and I’m going to make it here: Last weekend I spent way too much time watching sports. When I say way too much, I mean waaaay too much. It’s the first time in years I’ve done that. Maybe I’ve never done it. But man

Everybody knows something. I know some things. My wife knows other things. Expand that list to our families and friends, and together we know far more. One piece of knowledge we share is who to call about things we don’t know about. Is it a good thing that in these

Back in our Palo Alto days, we had several delightful and interesting neighbors. Across the street lived Van and Martha. Wonderful people. We went over to their house for a party once and discovered a slot machine also lived there. Martha loved playing slots. In fact they frequented a gambling

“What do you do?” That may be the most common question asked when meeting someone. It is “understood” that the real question is, “What do you do for work?” Sometimes they actually want to know, though in my experience it’s usually an “ice breaker.” Perhaps if we made our answers

When you hear the phrase, “Do be do be do”  what comes to mind? If you said Frank Sinatra, give yourself a gold star. He made the phrase famous when he substituted it for lyrics in a recording of Strangers In The Night. The song was written by Rodgers (music)

No, that headline is not click bait. Happiness is available to every person, including you. In fact the Declaration of Independence says that happiness is your right. In these days of so many individuals declaring their own self-interested rights, the historic document takes us to far greater heights. The second

We are now far enough past Christmas to breathe a sigh of relief. The shopping frenzy is over, the exchanges have been made, the decorations are down and stored, and the crazy relatives are home and safe. Even if that is us, our lives are back to normal crazy instead

“How do you feel?” That’s a question we usually ask someone who has been ill, or hurt physically in some way. The most common response — and I have not conducted a poll — is probably, “Fine.” There is also the old reliable, “Better,” and, popular among pessimists, “I could

Whether or not we are superstitious about numbers, we are all aware of numbers. Recently I was in line at a restaurant counter when the customer in front of me heard the cashier say, “That’ll be $19.54.” He said, “That was a great year — I was born in 1954!”