On my drive into work, there is a sign attached to a telephone pole that says “Missing Parrot”. The sign has a photo of the parrot. The sign is laminated, and has been stapled to this telephone pole for years. Sometimes I see the sign, and I wonder where the parrot went. —– On March […]
My Pink Toilet
I’m staying at a hotel 7000 miles from home. My hotel room has a toilet (that’s good). The toilet has a seat warmer (in theory, not so bad). The seat warmer is set to “cook Hal’s derrière” (that’s bad). And I can’t figure out how to turn off the derrière cooker. So I decided to […]
The Widow Maker
Wednesday, August 20, 2014. A beautiful day in the Cyclades, an island chain southeast of Greece, in the Aegean Sea. My family and I were on day 8 of a 9-day vacation. We were on Kamari Beach, a black-sand beach, on the island of Santorini. It is one of the most beautiful places in the […]
Random Thoughts Part XXVII
Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer used to write columns with the theme “Random Thoughts and Second Thoughts”. With apologies to Bill Lyon, this essay is like that- a collage of miscellaneous thoughts. —– Was Vincent van Gogh a successful painter? Of course. He painted over 900 paintings, and drew 1100 sketches and drawings. One […]
Privacy
I remember reading George Orwell’s “1984” (around 1975 or so), and I thought “this guy is paranoid-no way this will ever happen”. I was wrong. While there is no Big Brother, there is a Big Data. And Big Data can record my location, my spending habits, my work habits, my driving habits, and my cholesterol. […]
A Letter to Heather, on her Spring Break Service Trip
What follows is a letter to Heather, from me, on her Spring Break Service Trip. She is currently in Mississippi, with Villanova University. They are working with Habitat for Humanity to provide affordable housing to those in need. She is currently out of touch (no cell phones, no e-mail) as part of the Service Trip […]
A Letter to Heather, from Darwin
A Letter to Heather, from Darwin, on your Spring Break Service Trip: Dear Heather, I’m sure that you’re surprised to receive a letter from me! First of all, you’re probably wondering- how did I do this? Well, first I had to hack the password on the computer. Easy Peasy….your father picks the easiest passwords. By […]
The Law of Averages
The Law of Averages is a principle that states that a large randomly selected subgroup is likely to reflect the population as a whole. For example, if 10% of the entire population is left-handed, then it is likely that 10% of a randomly selected large group will also be left-handed. But that law doesn’t work […]
Philadelphia Sports
The two most watched TV shows of the year both happen in February, and they both end with trophy presentations. The winners of the Super Bowl receive a trophy at the beginning of February, and the winners of the Academy Awards receive their trophies at the end of February. I haven’t seen a trophy hoisted […]
Darwin
“Shaggy”, the animal rescue people called him. He didn’t have a name. That is what the animal shelter called him while they were taking care of him. He also didn’t have a collar, or tags, or a history. He was a little homeless dog, found wandering the streets in Northeast Philadelphia. Sometime in May 2013, […]
