"I am not aware that any man has ever built on the spot which I occupy. Deliver me from a city built on the site of a more ancient city, whose materials are ruins, whose gardens cemeteries." ―Henry David Thoreau
I spent most of the weekend finishing up a big project and was reminded of something I've known for a long time: people resist change. I don't know if it's more a matter of resisting change or defending the status...
Read MoreIn society it was once common for public servants and polymaths to write in newspapers under pen names. We now have bots and nameless naysayers poisoning public discourse on social media. Somewhere, something went wrong. Maybe there're more who are...
Read MoreIndividuals make for poor judges of themselves. Amateurs, knowing so little of all there is to know, assess their abilities too highly. In the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself." Those who are more skilled,...
Read MoreIn Walden, Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." When considering the cost of a...
Read MoreIf I go more than a few weeks without taking time to look up at the night sky -- free from artificial lights and atmospheric pollution -- I begin to feel claustrophobic. I benefit from gazing up at the beauty...
Read MoreCool Runnings is 25 years old, and I probably haven't seen it in 20. It's a 90's classic. Even after all these years, I can still quote many of the memorable lines: "Sanka, mon, whatcha smoking?" "I'm not smokin', I'm...
Read MoreI've been listening to a lot of Christmas music lately. I finally found the Christmas radio station, and my Spotify playlists are finely curated masterpieces. Even when I'm not listening to my favorite songs, I can imagine every harmony, every...
Read MoreI appreciate a heated discussion -- particularly with individuals who hold differing opinions -- but there's a fine line between heated and too heated. I can sometimes be an intense individual, and I sometimes lean toward coming off too hot. I know this;...
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