“He who ignores the Law of Probability challenges an adversary that is seldom beaten.” Ambrose Bierce * * * It’s a waste of time to watch paint dry or speculate on the numerical quotient of angels on the head of a pin. The same might be said of trying to compute the coefficient of probability …
Year: 2022
Easter opens the door to Spring. Flowers are blooming, leaves are green, and pollen wakes up our slumbering allergies. Nature is coming alive again. For Christians, it’s a time of reflection and renewal in the vicarious reliving of the final days of Jesus’ life. The Jewish Festival of Passover was a time of high religious …
Cogito ergo sum…I think therefore I am. Rene Descartes *** Bogey greets the red fire hydrant. It’s on our morning walk route. It’s a magnet for him, and others. Not me, I’m not a dog, but I can relate to the call of nature. It’s the island’s puppy post office, the pee-mail deposit center. Today …
Nature is a lender; its ledgers are precise. The loan always comes due, sooner or later. A couple weeks ago the sports sections set on fire the course of nature. Tom Brady, the celebrated NFL quarterback, is back. Mass hysteria ensued. The fans were delirious, the bookies recalculated their algorithms, and the Bucs increased …
“Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do.” Charles Bukowski * * * What do we do when we don’t know what to do? That’s not as stupid as it sounds. It’s the Universal Conundrum we’ve all faced at one time or another, and it’s what I’m facing today. You know the effects, the …
There comes a time in a person’s life when they must take the bull by the tail and face the consequences. Four score years of age is one of them. –80– I never thought I’d see it, but here it is, staring me in the face. Turning 80 has sneaked up on me. Some things …
Players assemble. Sides are chosen. Game on. Once upon a time we played sand-lot softball behind the schoolhouse gym on Sunday afternoons. The Olympic stadium it was not. Bases could be anything—rocks, tin cans, sticks. The pitcher’s mound was flat and there were no referees. Who needed referees, we handled our own calls? The playing …
Count them. You have ten. What are you doing with them? * * * Last Saturday was brutally cold on the beach. Hypothermia stalked walkers. Why, later in the day it was possible to find fingers littering the beach, fingers that had frozen and fallen off like the last vestiges of a once fiery but …
Hope is needed for the new year, but it begins as a wadded-up mess. This past week consisted of name-calling, finger pointing and character assassinations over the demise of democracy. Where? Why, in the hallowed halls of higher power where the clown charade performs. Business as usual there. Confusion reigns. Can Hope live again? The …
Let come what comes, let go what goes. See what remains. * * * Here we go again, a new year, a new beginning. Whoopee. Give this baby a good spank, get it breathing, screaming, wild for life. Then hug it, kiss it, embrace it. It’s ours now. What will we do with it? Say …