“How many bags do you want?” So indicated the screen at Whole Foods. “Are you sure you only want one?” I turned to my friend Rick, who often supervises the self-checkout registers. “They ask more questions about how many paper bags I use than anything... Continue

If this recent election indicates anything, people have deep dissatisfaction with how things feel in America, and for a majority, it feels like shit. In the thoughts and feelings of many, the institutions we have created to ensure the health, wealth, and welfare of society... Continue

I grew up at the feet of a fabulous cook. My mother was a natural, able to make something delicious out of almost nothing. She was not recipe dependent, although she had taken classes in French cooking and had a thick notebook of recipes. Accordingly,... Continue

The power of ideas is, well, powerful. Ideas can literally change the world and alter the course of history. With the rise of social media, more and more people are trying to become influencers, some to make money, others to become famous, and yet others... Continue

Is the universe intelligent? It often appears that way. Over the course of earth’s 4.5 billion year history, nature has produced countless lifeforms. Each of these, in a sense, is an experiment. And that includes us. We like to think we’re special; the penultimate form... Continue

Trapped as we are in the Realm of Desire, we always want something. I’m reminded of a scene from the movie “Groundhog Day.” Phil Connor, played by Bill Murray, is stuck repeating Groundhog Day, seemingly for eternity. Initially he wants the day to end, but... Continue

Every year around the holidays my father received a delivery of liquor. The foyer of the house would suddenly be filled with a dozen cardboard boxes and an afternoon was spent unpacking them and putting bottles of booze in The Liquor Closet. The Liquor Closet... Continue

All and everything in the universe is moving. Matter, sub-atomic particles, energy and even ideas are on a 4.5 billion year trajectory, and it’s all happening at once. And yet, borrowing from Physicist Richard Feynman’s ideas, each “object” has its own “world line,” a trajectory... Continue

Small towns in California are an endangered species. The combination of expensive state and federal mandates and regulations, rising costs of government, internet-based consumer spending, and limited revenue opportunities poses an almost insurmountable obstacle to survival. It was not always this way. When I became... Continue