Recent Posts
- Daylight Saving Time: A Century of Moving the Hands and Getting Nowhere
- Take the Extra Minute to Rest: The World, Upside-Down
- Bologna: The Meat That Sounds Like a Lie
- The AI Gold Rush: What Happens When Everyone Strikes the Same Claim?
- Why Are the Oceans Salty? Because People Have Been Peeing for 10,000 Years, Obviously.
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Category Archives: Culture
Daylight Saving Time: A Century of Moving the Hands and Getting Nowhere
Every year, twice a year, we participate in one of the strangest government sponsored rituals of modern civilization. We change the clocks. Today, we fell back to Standard Time, dutifully moving the hands of our clocks backward one hour. Somewhere, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Science, Society
Tagged accident, agriculture, Biel Mean Time, Congress, daylight, Daylight Saving Time, debate, DST, energy, heart attack, history, school, science, Standard Time, Sun, Swatch Internet Time, technology, time, time zone, UTC, War Time
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Bologna: The Meat That Sounds Like a Lie
There are foods we celebrate because they represent the pinnacle of human culinary achievement. There is chocolate. There is pizza. There is a perfectly cooked steak. Then there is bologna, the meat that looks like a giant pink hockey puck. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
Tagged bologna, cancer, devon, fleischwurst, food, fritz, health, history, lunch, lyoner, mortadella, National Bologna Day, nutrition, October 24, parizer, polony, sausage, science, World Health Organization
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Gravity Didn’t Turn Off (and sadly, neither did the internet)
I recently met up with a friend for lunch to catch up. He mocked me. “It didn’t fail,” he said, struggling to contain himself. “What didn’t fail?” I asked. “Gravity. It didn’t turn off.” Then he laughed uncontrollably. This was … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Science
Tagged Albert Einstein, August 12, conspiracy theory, Erwin Schrödinger, general relativity, geodesic, gravity, Isaac Newton, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Philipp von Jolly, physics, relativity, Richard Feynman, science, spacetime, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli
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The Future We Have Yet to Build
I like science fiction, but not all of it. A great deal of science fiction is little more than technological window dressing wrapped around a familiar story. Somebody gets a spaceship, somebody else gets a laser gun, somebody discovers a … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Society
Tagged Alexander Belyaev, Arthur C Clarke, Dune, entertainment, Eragon, Fermat’s Last Theorem, future, Gene Roddenberry, Harry Potter, Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, Robert A Heinlein, science, science fiction, space opera, Star Trek, Star Wars, technology, The Last Starfighter, The Lord of the Rings
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The Table I Wish I Hadn’t Sat At
Sometimes the greatest lessons in life are not taught by mentors. Sometimes they’re taught by people who accidentally show you exactly who you never want to become. Recently I found myself seated with three seasoned managers. They had all spent … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Leadership, Philosophy
Tagged business, corporate culture, ethics, integrity, leadership, morality, servant leadership
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The Curious Case of Gold: A Brick Looking for a Greater Fool
A friend of mine told me something dubiously profound the other day. We were talking about the state of the world, which is always a dangerous conversational trailhead, and he leaned in with the intense, hushed tone usually reserved for … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Economy
Tagged business, civilization, economy, finance, gold, greater fool theory, investing, prepper, society, speculation, survivalist, valuation
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Juneteenth and the Dangerous Lie
There are holidays that celebrate victories. There are holidays that celebrate sacrifices. And then there are holidays that exist because humanity made a terrible mistake. Juneteenth belongs to that last category. But for many, Juneteenth has already been neatly packaged … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Economy, Society
Tagged African Americans, America, Civil War, emancipation, farming, freedom, history, industry, institutions, Juneteenth, oppression, religion, serfdom, slavery
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100 Things I’ve Learned from Writing 100 Tales
Fourteen months ago, I started a blog called Tales of Many Things because I have never been particularly good at focusing on one project at a time. Normal bloggers pick a lane. Travel. History. Science. Politics. Food. Technology. I looked … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Philosophy
Tagged anniversary, milestones, opinion, philosophy, writing
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The True Value of a Milestone and the Devil You Know
My manager retired this week. Twenty-eight years with the same company. Let that number sink in for a moment. She was a tough woman, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, an absolute hard-ass when the mission demanded it, but a … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Leadership, Philosophy
Tagged career, celebration, experience, fine dining, leadership, life events, luxury, mom and pop, restaurants, retirement, things that matter
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