Pioneer science fiction author Jules Verne (1828-1905). Today is 08 February, the birthday of Jules Verne. To my mind, one of the truly great visionaries of the modern age. Here was a man who could write of skyscrapers and exploration … Continue reading
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Preliminary note: I would have written this some time ago, but I’ve been beating my head against a wall trying to get YouTube videos to run in a window on this blog. So far, no go, so I must content … Continue reading
Some time ago I blogged on the use of cards as a means of generating ideas, learning, and thinking. Recently I’ve come to realize that the subject needs revisiting in light of an on-again, off-again quest I’ve had in my … Continue reading
A skill not commonly taught in school, and certainly not taught (or even encouraged) in our deadline-driven workplace is the art of incubating ideas. Not all ideas spring from our brains like the Athena fully grown from the head of … Continue reading
Burning a library, especially an ancient one, is usually seen as the act of ignorant, barbaric, people with the intellect of a crow bar. The Library of Alexandria is the canonical example; burned once by the Romans, and later again … Continue reading
Waterfire brazier. Photo by the author. Despite my passing through middle age, I am still naïve enough or wise enough to argue that it is the duty of any creative intellectual to improve the place where he or she lives … Continue reading
It was never my intention that this blog become an obit page, but in spite of recently noting the death last month of Paul MacCready, I can’t let Saturday’s passing of Marcel Marceau go unremarked. Marceau brought the art of … Continue reading
This past week I was in Washington DC on business. I’ve only been to DC a couple of times, and each time left little room on the schedule for sightseeing. But this time, as I was being driven back to … Continue reading
When starting one’s private intellectual journey the question often come up: what shall I study? Sometimes it isn’t even clear which subject area a person wants to pursue. Generalists like Your Humble Correspondent find this a persistent, nagging, and fiendishly … Continue reading
When I was in grade school, I had the good fortune to benefit from the fact that the Russians, via Sputnik, had scared the bejesus out of America, prompting our leaders to the very sensible conclusion that we needed more … Continue reading