1973

Thick hair long sideburns Future bright but hazy. Bell bottoms with low-slung waist flowered shirts with big collars and full sleeves. Sneaking smokes of both kinds, beer, wine too. Parties in the woods in the car on the beach. Summers up late Tv until High Flight signed off. Sleep in Eat whatever you want it was all bad but you worked it off. Phones in this room, in that room only in the house. Driving just to drive. Music sounding tinny at night you could hear WLS in and out. Sitting on the porch on a swing talking listening to Simon and Garfunkel in the other room playing same two songs over and over Her mother yelling, drinking. Singing to the same two songs over and over. When am I going Where am I going Why am I going Do I have to go What will happen I'm afraid, sad, angry, confused, hurt. Life is bad good about to change but change is okay not good bad just change. Things work out but you don't know at the time. 1973.

Interview with Linda Hoy, author of 'The Effect"

'The Effect'

I had the pleasure today of interviewing Linda Hoy, author of a terrifically entertaining and thought provoking book called The Effect.  The book explains how spirituality and science not only can co-exist, the principles of one can actually help support those of the other. 

Ms. Hoy takes readers on a bit of an intellectual roller coaster, exploring issues of life, death, afterlife, time and multiple universes.  The ride includes Aboriginal philosophy, research into near-death experiences, quotes from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, the art of Salvador Dali, a primer on quantum physics and lessons learned from the movie, Groundhog's Day.  It's written in an fun and accessible way that is sensitive to the inevitable questions the topic raises from both the scientific and religious communities.

I'll have much more on this book soon.  Stay tuned...

Curious choices

I'm at work on a day when one of the worst storms on record is about to come on shore.  They're predicting all sorts of doom and destruction.  A co-worker was kind enough to bring in two boxes of donuts for those of us who came in early. 

In the boxes was an assortment of donuts - glazed, cake, frosted, sprinkled, cream filled.  I normally would have passed altogether, but using the far-fetched rationalization that if the storm is as bad as predicted, this could be the last donut I'll ever eat, I took one.  But I was very curious about the choice I made for this last-ever donut.  It was some sort of weird-colored cake donut.  Not one I would have picked if I had gone to the store myself. 

Hate to think that I'll spend my last day on earth obsessing on why I picked this particular donut.

View from the Preakness starting gate

My colleague Karl Ferron attached eight small cameras to the Pimlico starting gate on Preakness Day 2012 to capture this extraordinary video.

Moira's 'Peep Jousting' video

Grammarnoir

A collaboration with my colleague and fellow Kentuckian, John McIntyre. He voiced the original "Grammarnoir" scripts that were written starting in 2009 to celebrate the National Grammar Day. I added a little audio sweetening.