Communication between people is a mix of words, gestures, facial expressions and tonality; in many circumstances, how we communicate is what we communicate; it's a matter of nuance. Words delivered with a sneer are received differently than those delivered with a smile. By observing the... Continue
Public Citizen
Among the many effects of the Corona virus pandemic, one of the most remarkable is the widespread use of facial masks. Initially such masks were medical in style, the antiseptic-type nurses and health workers wear in hospitals; but before long a cottage industry of mask-making... Continue
When I was just a wee lad seven decades ago, Sundays were different than any other day of the week. For many Americans, Sundays were a day for Church or Temple; we were not a religious family, however, and Sunday services played no major part... Continue
We live in two worlds, the world of the large and the world of the small. The large world includes those things we can see with the naked eye, and the small world includes those things we can see only by using instruments, like electron... Continue
What's to be done when those we love and care about become the potential agents of our own demise? This pandemic presents us with an entirely foreign situation in America, where we have been largely spared the horror and pathos of war and the intimate... Continue
Super Tuesday appears to have provided the likely answer to the question of who will be the Democratic Party’s candidate for President this November, and it ain’t Bernie Sanders. Despite his win in California, the combined votes for Biden and Bloomberg in this state outweighs... Continue
Life on planet earth is a complex, adaptive system programmed for growth. Thus despite periodic major extinctions over its long history, earth continues to be populated by millions of species of plants and animals which have variously adapted to a wide range of habitats and... Continue
As I see it, evil is the willful infliction of pain and suffering on others. It's been with us for a very long time, and will continue to plague humanity into the future. Although people have wrestled with the problem of evil in various ways... Continue
Sonoma County estimates 3,000 people are homeless in the county, and is struggling to respond to this human crisis. $11 million was recently allocated by the Board of Supervisors, this largely in response to a homeless camp now occupying the Joe Rodota trail in the... Continue
"We'll make you big money by renting your backyard, and it won't cost you a dime!" So advertise backyard lease, development, and property management companies in the process of aggregating an ADU portfolio. Promoted as a solution to California's affordable housing crisis, new ADU regulations... Continue