Oct 234 min readLet’s Get Weird!Words are weird. The word “weird” is a particularly weird word. Aside from the spelling, the way it has been used is hard to pin down,...
Oct 166 min readWelcome to the Rage Machine!One of my all-time favourite songs is Welcome to the Machine , by Pink Floyd. While the song appeared on the 1975 album Wish You Were...
Oct 95 min readRasputinIt’s been more than two years since I last posted, so I’m trying to remember which buttons to press to make this happen. Life has a...
Jun 26, 20224 min readMove the Earth!“Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth” “δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω” Archimedes is described as a mathematician,...
May 1, 20223 min readSilos!“Why can’t we all just get along?” This was the question asked by the incomparable Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks! Nicholson’s...
Apr 24, 20224 min readJust asking questions!“That is the question!” Or is it? The problem with many questions nowadays lies in the motivations behind the asking. By quoting out of...
Apr 17, 20224 min readRelativity!M. C. Escher has always been one of my favourite artists. From the moment I first saw his work (I think it might have been Waterfall), I...
Apr 10, 20223 min readThe Name is the Thing!Some films age well. An example is the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, which was fairly successful when it was originally released...
Mar 27, 20224 min readAll in this Together!When I write, I sometimes have a topic in mind, and look for an interesting way to introduce it. This time, I ended up going down an...
Feb 13, 20225 min readMoo!A farmer asked a physicist to help him figure out how to increase milk production. After gathering data and studying the problem, the...
Feb 6, 20226 min readLingua Franca!Recently, I was listening to an old episode of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, (actually, episode 803, dated 28-Nov-2020), in which...
Jan 30, 20224 min readMajor GeneralistIt’s interesting that everyone needs to come up with their own “process” for writing. And, while there are certain common elements, each...
Dec 12, 20214 min readThe Haywain!In the late 1980’s I liked to collect “taglines” to include in my interactions with people. While these included many “pithy” statements...
Nov 21, 20214 min readYou need to start somewhere!You need to come up with something, so keep it simple. Even if it starts out with only six words, you can always add more later....
Nov 14, 20214 min readWhat a Jerk!Everyone knows what a jerk is. And everyone knows someone who is a jerk. But why? Why are some people jerks? Or rather, why do we...
Nov 7, 20213 min readThe Power of NiceCanadians have a reputation for being nice. I’d like to think it’s well-deserved, but it’s more of a notional goal than a day-to-day...
Oct 17, 20213 min readDreamer!Recently, after I described the way I was approaching a project and its “ultimate goal”, a colleague laughed, and called me a dreamer. ...
Sep 26, 20215 min readSound and Fury!The phrase “full of sound sound and fury, signifying nothing” is part of one of the most famous soliloquies in the English language. It...
Aug 29, 20214 min readPay attention!This might look like a standard cup game, but it’s actually a very interesting test. I won’t spoil it for you – give it a try. Attention...
Jul 25, 20214 min readX Marks the spot!In the classic Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Dodgers_in_the_24%C2%Bdth_Century), Duck Dodgers...