In early July 2014, I was sitting in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, excitedly awaiting the first keynote of one of my favorite conferences during the year, WDS. This year, A.J. Jacobs, known for pouring his everything into his life experiments and writings was the opening keynote. During his career he has done many things, […]

Schrödinger’s Dreams
In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed an interesting thought experiment, which has come to be known colloquially as Schrödinger’s Cat. This thought experiment is an illustration of one of the peculiarities of quantum mechanics. In this thought experiment a cat is placed inside a space with an agent (poison or explosives) that at a […]

Remembering Fred Rogers
From the blinking yellow street light, to the picture frame that simply held the word “Hi”, so many of my early days were blessed by the kind wisdom of the sweater-changing man who always said he’d always wanted to have a neighbor just like me. Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was something very special. Whereas TV tends […]

Life By Choice
A favorite poem of mine is Robert Frost‘s The Road Not Taken. While some use it as a rallying call to walk one’s own path (the road less traveled by). Yet, I believe its meaning is far deeper and more sublte. It’s really about choice. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I […]

Christmas Music
One of many things I really love about the Christmas season is the music. My listening habits and tuned radio stations change for this short season every year. I just really love Christmas songs. There are many that are fun, and some that are silly. However, I’d be happy if I never had to listen […]

Christmas Gifts
In the penultimate scene of Dr. Seuss‘ 1957 classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch stands, feet freezing in the snow, to hear the anguished cries of the present-less (and presumed Christmas-less) Whos down in Who-ville. Instead, to his surprise, he heard their thankful singing rise up over the snow. And, he was puzzled. […]

Superhero
This morning I had a very special experience… I went to the funeral of a child. Admittedly, this generally this does not rank very high on the list of things I want to do on a beautiful Saturday morning. Funerals are emotional times, especially when the deceased is a young child, whose short life, still […]

The Fruits of Fear
This last weekend I had the great opportunity to attend the World Domination Summit (WDS 2014). For those of you who are new to the blog, you’ll see a number of references to it made throughout the year. It’s a community of people built on the values of Community, Adventure and Service, a powerful triumvirate. […]