To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” That’s a great quote. Those 21 words are routinely attributed to Mark Twain. In fact, I attributed them to Twain in a reflection a number of years ago. So did the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Schools are constantly changing. Every few years kids are drawn to new fashions, new pop stars, and new definitions of what is cool. Old Math gives way to New Math which ultimately reverts to Old Math. Educators adjust what rightfully belongs to the core curriculum, and school board members adjust to… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Journalists are running out of words to describe the cataclysmic wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Apocalyptic. Unimaginable. Catastrophic. Heartbreaking. Life-altering. Firefighters have been battling fierce Santa Ana winds and hydrants devoid of water. At least 16 Angelenos are known to have died, and damages are expected to… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What goes into the flavor of a great-tasting tomato? That question is more complicated than it sounds. Exquisite tastes are seldom straightforward things. Summer-ripened strawberries, for instance, offer a symphony of about 600 distinguishable flavors. Rich chocolate turns out to be a rock concert of more than 900. And chocolate-covered strawberries? No wonder they’re… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Jimmy Carter, whose life will be celebrated today at his funeral at the National Cathedral, has always been an anomaly among U.S. presidents. His one term in the Oval Office (1977-1981) ended in apparent disgrace. Voters, weary of stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis, rewarded his opponent Ronald Reagan with a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Of the more than 4,300 episodes featured over the years on Sesame Street, #1839, which aired on Thanksgiving Day 1983, stands alone. That show has been identified as one of the ten most influential moments in the history of daytime TV. During that episode, the Sesame Street cast confronted the real-life… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Last year Mary Sue and I did what an average American will do 11.7 times during the course of their life. We moved. We left behind the little horse farm where we had lived for almost 19 years and moved to another little horse farm about a dozen miles up the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here On April Fool’s Day, 1975, a drunk awoke in a doorway on Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His shirt was splattered with his own vomit. A street person had stolen his shoes during the night. As best he could remember, he had been drunk every day for the previous 18… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here One year ago today, a 13-year-old kid from Oklahoma did what was widely considered impossible. He beat Tetris. “I’m going to pass out, I can’t feel my fingers,” said Willis Gibson after conquering the mythical level 157 of the best-selling video game in history. Tetris, to put it mildly, can be… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Last fall I broke the rules at the airport. And I had to pay the price. Just as I was about to retrieve my carryon suitcase following its journey through the scanning machine, a polite man wearing the bright blue shirt of the Transportation Security Administration motioned me to stand back…. Read more »
