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Author Archives: The Narrator
The Airlock Bank: When Security Becomes the Customer Experience
My wife and I are currently on a hunt. Not for a house or a car. We are in the market for a new bank. Our regional bank was recently absorbed by a much larger national institution and with that … Continue reading
Posted in Money, Society
Tagged banking, credibility, fees, fortress paradox, hostile architecture, mantrap, security, security vestibule, trust
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Take the Extra Minute: An Imperial Safety Briefing for the TK-Trooper
As search and rescue volunteers, we live by the creed of preparedness, planning and visibility. We preach the gospel of readiness, the wisdom of planning and the essential need for high-visibility gear. The Empire, on the other hand, apparently skipped … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Humor, Search and Rescue
Tagged armor, Dark Side, Galactic Empire, May the 4th, New Order, Rebel Alliance, safety, search and rescue, Star Wars, stormtroopers, TakeTheExtraMinute
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When Winter Doesn’t Come: A Look at Wildfire Risk
When it comes to search and rescue messaging, I usually talk about twisted ankles and lost hikers, but in a year where winter simply didn’t show up, search and rescue has a different battlefield: the wildfire. Members of search and … Continue reading
Posted in Search and Rescue
Tagged draught, fire safety, rural living, search and rescue, snow drought, TakeTheExtraMinute, wildfire, winter
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One Last Ride from Timbuktu, a Story for the Five of You
As National Poetry Month comes to an end, I’d like to wrap up the tale of Tim and Buck and Belle and Mae and Sue. This can be a Hollywood trilogy like no other, with an amicable ending, to boot. … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Poetry
Tagged Academy of American Poets, Edgar Allan Poe, humor, poetry, redneck, rhyme, Robert Frost, Tim n' Buck, Timbuktu
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Why Leave Earth? (An Earth Day Reflection on Going Beyond It)
This Earth Day, while we celebrate the only home we’ve ever known, it might seem strange to talk about leaving it, but after my recent post on the Artemis II mission, a reader asked a question that stopped me in … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Technology
Tagged Artemis II, Earth, Earth Day, exploration, International Space Station, Mars, Moon, NASA, science, space
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The Return to Timbuktu, New Poetry for Part Deux
Of course all good stories must come with a sequel, so let’s see what that would look like. Me and Tim Went Huntin’ Too (The Return to Timbuktu) Me and Tim, some months gone by, Still dreamin’ ‘bout those … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Poetry
Tagged Dolly Parton, humor, music, poetry, redneck, rhyme, Tim n' Buck, Timbuktu, William Shakespeare
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Tim and Buck Went Hunting in Timbuktu, Found Some Adventure and a Story or Two
Following last week’s introduction, let’s explore a grander tale of our two rednecks meeting some gals in the wilderness. Me and Tim Went Huntin’ Me and Tim went huntin’ bold, Out where nights get dark and cold. Packed some … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Poetry
Tagged humor, music, poetry, redneck, rhyme, Tim n' Buck, Timbuktu, Tom Lehrer, Weird Al Yankovic
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Riding the Invisible Currents of Gravity
After exploring why gravity doesn’t “turn off” and why astronauts in low Earth orbit are really just falling forever, we can finally follow that idea to its natural conclusion: what happens when you keep falling all the way to the … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Technology
Tagged Artemis II, Christina Koch, Earth, equi-gravis, falling, free-return trajectory, gravity, Jeremy Hansen, Lagrange points, Mars, Moon, orbital mechanics, physics, Reid Wiseman, rocketry, science, space travel, three-body problem, translunar trajectory, Victor Glover, weightlessness
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The Odd Tale of Tim n’ Buck
It’s National Poetry Month, an annual event organized by the Academy of American Poets to raise awareness and appreciation for poetry in the United States, and I feel compelled to dig, just a little, into the use of language that … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Poetry
Tagged Academy of American Poets, humor, poetry, punk rock, redneck, rhyme, Tim n' Buck, Timbuktu, Yale
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