“ I see,” said the blind man. “Good,” responded his blind companion. “I too saw the light of day the moment I heard the explanation.” Never mind what the blind man “saw,” or what his blind companion heard. I know precisely what the two blind men meant: they “saw” – understood – “the light [...]
Oh, irony, what complexity! I love irony for its veneer covering insights beneath the surface. I know, with one stroke I’ve opened pandora’s box filled with more than anyone could cover in a lifetime. Never mind; I don’t need to be comprehensive or even consistent to explore ideas that strike me, such as I did [...]
Strange, isn’t it, that the highly evolved sense of smell has been disparaged by the metaphor of “being nosey.” Why drag the nose and smell down to the level of gossip instead of being appreciated as a marvel of evolution? Why suck curiosity to learn into dangerous, muddy quicksand? Elevate your thoughts on smell.
While not conceptually new, robots are rising from science fiction to an ambiguous reality. The latest frontier: Creativity! If an artist uses a robot to create art who is the creator? The artist? Programmer? Robot? All three?
Noise! So annoying. So prevalent. So important. Not always heard. The shrill noise we hear in our neck of the woods these days comes from the vibrating tymbal organs of male cicadas chorusing females – an invitation to mate. Tymbal organs are stretched across the space between the thorax and abdomen, which is hollow and [...]
As we turn our thoughts to the new year, my gaze also turns toward the past. I met my Russian relatives for the first time when I accompanied my father to Moscow in 1962. During this visit, my uncle Anatole gave me a row of plastic elephants symbolizing family unity. I was touched and have kept this Russian heirloom, shown here, for 58 years. That blood is thicker than water holds true, despite language, political and cultural differences.
