Reflecting on this election involves both Big Questions and smaller thoughts. Some of my friends offer conspiracies of how the election was rigged. For weeks we knew that this election was too close to call. Statistician Nate Silver predicted the election had a 40% chance of being a blowout for either side. In short: I […]
Many years ago I was gamboling about the Peabody Charter school playground with my toddler, a redheaded sunflower (today a 6’ grizzled Viking). At a given moment, another little boy of about six years old approached out of the blue, stood before me, and without preamble began declaiming. “There’s no such thing as ghosts or […]
Recently Trending
More from Montecito
With more and more of our work now being done by machines, the question naturally arises, how are we to spend all that “leisure” time? One answer is “Recreation.” But what are we re-creating? According to the Old Testament account, which we call Genesis, the whole world was created by God in six days – […]
One of several mass movements which have shaped the modern world is that of organized workers, usually campaigning for more pay and better working conditions. A key moment in this struggle occurred in 1848 with the publication of a document written by two German Jews, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It was called The Communist […]
According to the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, Jesus taught his followers that nothing – even moving a mountain – is impossible to those who have faith. Some 600 years later, the Prophet Mohammed apparently had a very different take on this idea. He knew that no amount of faith would bring a mountain to […]
As I finish this, dock workers have paused their strike in the East and Gulf Coast. Workers have won a bigger cut of the massive profits of the shipping industry. But they are still demanding a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks used for loading and unloading freight. Two years […]
Why do we say “OK,” and say it so often? Where does it come from? There are various origin theories, but the one I like best involves a kind of humorous misspelling which, about 200 years ago, Americans used to think was very funny. One common expression at that time was “All Correct,” which had […]
As a child growing up in wartime, I was not unfamiliar with talk of guns. But even in peacetime, especially in America, guns were always literally child’s play. I had my own fake revolver, which fired rubber suction cups, but never worked very well. This may be the only country which guarantees to its citizens, […]
By 1973 I had a red Panasonic ball radio parked in the darkened little hutch that was built into the headboard of my bed, and was discovering both the inchoate power of music, and words like ‘inchoate’. I’d bought my first LP with my own money, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, played McCartneys’ RAM album till […]
Read more...
My life story nearly had an early ending when, at the age of 18, I was in Israel, traveling on my own and often visiting ancient ruins. One was of a Crusader castle, many of which were built during the centuries after the First Crusade, which had succeeded in capturing, or re-capturing Jerusalem from the […]
Only recently have I been introduced to a well-established genre of music, and particularly of singing, called “Country.” It seems somehow to be peculiarly American, particularly “Southern,” and “Western,” and apparently derives from what used to be called a “Hillbilly” sound. I would say it’s the opposite of sophisticated, embodying the social outlook of people […]
Our friends were out of town and had graciously loaned us their home while ours was being bombed for termites—a species we’ve completely conquered in the Darwinian Race To the Top®, except for the poison-filled circus tents we’re occasionally obliged to flee with our belongings. On the third day the tent was removed and that night […]
What is it that makes us not want to be alone – at least, not all the time? The poet William Cowper put the question this way some 300 years ago: How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude!But grant me still a friend in my retreat,Whom I may whisper—solitude is sweet. Not that there is […]
How can we use behavior science to persuade people to solve the Climate Crisis? I recently attended a UCSB Psychology talk on this subject. To me, facts and evidence should be enough. It takes a lot more than that for most people. It turns out that people who are most environmentally aware are often worse […]
