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Over the Moon?

July 16, 2014

Forty-five years ago, on July 16, 1969, a Saturn-5 rocket was launched from Cape Kennedy on Florida’s northeast coast. Carrying three astronauts, the spacecraft circled the globe one and a half times, then re-ignited its engines and headed toward the moon. Much of the human race watched, excited and nervous. Before Apollo 11, there had […]

Aboard this Tiny Ship

July 14, 2013

I waste too much of my brain engaged in trivial thoughts. I’m frequently tempted to call the toll-free numbers on the sides of food packages, just to see if anyone is really there. I struggle to remember what ever happened to those poor people stranded on Gilligan’s Island. Mostly, I wonder how extension cords manage […]

Are We All Getting Dumber, Or Is It Just Me?

October 8, 2010

At some point in my formal education I was taught that humanity was an integral part of the evolution of the universe. Teilhard de Chardin, a French philosopher, said that through our collective consciousness, we are following a path toward what he called the Omega Point, a place of intellectual and spiritual godhood. Teilhard believed […]

Pluto: Dwarf Planet, or Just Small Thinking?

May 12, 2010

It’s been four years since the International Astronomical Union kicked Pluto out of the Planet Club. Most people may be too busy reading their horoscopes to care about actual planets, but for the rest of us, this Pluto thing isn’t over yet. Why do we care about a speck of light four billion miles away? […]