But where’s the butter?

“Hon, where’s the butter?”—a cartoon on our fridge. A cartoon hung on our fridge for a couple of years. Its caption became a humorous private code, let’s call it The Code, between my wife and me. The Code is about assumptions, although, … Continue reading

Of Small Men: Apparatus and Scaffolding

[Washington, DC, 2005] I turn off the alarm. It is just after 6am on a cold, overcast Thursday. The idea for this expedition surfaced several days ago, while listening to the news on NPR. I have been imagining different scenarios … Continue reading

The Gray Man

The Gray Man is master behind the government-issue desk, in the gray building, in the gray city, under gray skies brooding over a dun land. His eyes are small, sunk in oversized sockets. They stare, implacable, dark steel. The Gray Man’s eyes are a lifetime of empty, … Continue reading

Hornet Whiskey Tableau

We are stretching our legs from our van ride back to the Thai border through seemingly endless, lush jungle and verdant rice paddies. Despite their tiredness, my eyes feel contented in a way they rarely do; even on a cloudy day, there … Continue reading

Preparations

The evening looks promising. Transparent air, crystalline blue—emblematic of Flagstaff even in summer—has soothed my soul since childhood. “I can see for miles and miles…” spins in my head, unbidden, as I walk a short patch of worn asphalt, dull gray and pitted from winter’s … Continue reading

Prolegomenon

You recognize as a youngster that science, and music, and literature and writing—creative wonders—draw you along comfortable invisible force lines.† But not opera. Overbearing, embarrassing falsetto vibrato is just wrong. As your joints grow creaky and more of your pate warms to the Sun, you … Continue reading

Sense and Sensibility and the American Gun Culture

Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austen put these two words together for a specific reason. Sense: meaning, understanding, prudence, sound judgement. Sensibility: sensitivity, awareness, empathy. She didn’t have to worry about guns the way we do, the way America does today. But if … Continue reading

Protected: Why doesn’t everything mix into everything else?

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Nutballs and the Mode

Recently, Atheist Republic (AR) posted this image (⇒) in response to the Supreme Court’s decision (pdf) that legalizes marriage in the U.S. It is a Photoshopped image of the Kaaba in Mecca. The reaction from noisome elements of the Muslim community has been, predictably, swift, violent, … Continue reading

The Printer and I: A Tale of Spinning Fans, Diseased Hearts, and the Tragedy that is Life

  This (see photo) is how I spent my afternoon and evening, today. I have a conference to attend next week and must present a poster paper on some recent research results. Because I know by now that both Old … Continue reading