We tend to think of intelligence as something that can be acquired. However, intelligence is a primordial attribute of living things that predates any specifically human activity. Knowledge, of course, can be acquired by people, enhanced, embellished and expanded. Intelligence, on the other hand, is... Continue
Public Citizen
My goodness, people are terribly clever. Really, we must be the cleverest creatures ever born, anywhere! After all, it’s we who created the iPod, the microwave oven, the combustion engine, can openers, deodorant spray, pop-top soda cans, four-blade razors and disposable diapers...you can’t get more... Continue
It was with good reason that wise ancients designated four primal elements of existence: earth, air, fire and water. Many make the confused mistake of assuming that past cultures thought of elements the same way we modern people do, scientifically. However, while correspondences can be... Continue
An article by the NY Times columnist David Brooks has stuck with me, not because it made me angry but because it made me sad. Mr. Brooks is an intelligent, albeit conservative, fellow who also appears regularly on the “Lehrer News Hour” on PBS. In... Continue
The physical sciences are all about observation, measurement and statistics. Our “scientific method,” in fact, requires the ability to repeat, measure and verify results; lacking that ability, a hypothesis cannot be “proven.” Despite the fact that on an individual level, human beings are far too... Continue
The world in which human beings emerged once was entirely natural. Fire, one of the primal elements to which beings were exposed, provided heat, safety and transformed other natural substances. Along with water, air and earth, people had all they needed to survive and thrive... Continue
Upright between gusts, Bamboo sways in a strong wind. A robin sits undisturbed Amid shifting shadows. We are surrounded by the successful combination of flexibility and firmness, and equally witness the failure of one without the other. As in most things, finding balance and equilibrium... Continue
It has long been council policy, albeit not in written rules of order, that any member of the city council could add an item to the council agenda. This has been an open-ended right, completely unencumbered by the opinions of other councilmembers or city staff,... Continue
For the love of a great shine There's a lot to see and do in New York City, my home town: Music at Lincoln Center, exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum, theater on Broadway and foods from every corner of the globe. And of course, there... Continue
Have you noticed how many television ads for food are followed by ads for weight-loss programs? No sooner has the jumbo-sized 16-cheese eight-meat pizza filled the screen then it is immediately followed by tantalizing images of pizza, hamburgers, pasta and chocolate deserts from Jenny Craig,... Continue