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

In many respects modern life in America has never been better. From healthcare to the economy, technological innovation like smart phones and handy gadgets of all kinds, people enjoy conveniences and opportunities unimaginable 25 years ago. And yet, many people are angry. Civilization has always... Continue

Emotions are contagious. If you’ve ever been to a theatre to watch a comedian perform his schtick and found yourself guffawing along with the rest of the crowd, you’ve experienced the power of psychological mirroring. People are social animals, and elements of our behavior -... Continue

Life appears purposeful and growth to be an imperative of life itself. Even a single-celled amoeba must grow large enough before it divides in two. Solar energy constantly bathes our planet, stimulating an over-abundance of growth and what often seems to us as great excess:... Continue

Without doubt, the state of Arizona features some of the most spectacular landscapes in America, mind-boggling sandstone canyons sculpted by millions of years of wind and water and vast moonscape-like deserts which challenge life entirely. My wife and I are currently traversing such areas, and... Continue

“If the strong person exercises all his rights to oppress and pillage the weak, he is only doing the most natural thing in the world.” — Friedrich Nietzsche When we observe the imperatives of nature, it might appear that might makes right. With relatively few... Continue

Humanity’s place in nature is terrifying. Fires, floods, landslides, predatory animals, starvation, poisoned water, infection, plague; the list of depredations goes on. Were it not for each other we’d have never survived; alone we are weak and vulnerable. Some animals are solitary, but human beings... Continue