‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse,
Little Susie asleep with her dollies galore,
And a dozen stuffed animals strewn on the floor.
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In search of universe’s point
Nobel prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg is perhaps best known to the general public as author of a scrappy remark near the end of his 1977 best-selling book, “The First Three Minutes.” He wrote: “The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.”
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The gray areas save the world
Let me speak for gray.
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Can’t see heavens for all the stars
This is the time of year when anyone who teaches or writes about astronomy is deluged with the question: What kind of telescope should I buy my kid for Christmas?
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Memories etch sense of self
Neurologist Antonio Damasio suggests in his book “Descartes’ Error” that the great French philosopher got it backwards: Not “I think, therefore I am,” but rather “I am, therefore I think.”
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Pondering death in this life cycle
My first Social Security check arrived this week, a bittersweet milestone. On the one hand, it means a modest release from the pressure of making a living; more time to smell the roses, so to speak. On the other hand, the check will be a monthly reminder of…
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Instinctive speech diminishes us not
Is language something we are born with, or is it something we learn in the first few years of life?
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Human lessons from birds’ vee
Honk time. One of those late fall mornings when the sky turns a Maxfield Parrish blue just before sunrise. One, two, three ragged files of Canada geese skim the treetops above my head, preceded and followed by their honking chorus, a noise of ram’s horns and shouts that would have toppled the walls of Jericho.
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Best cool things are often free
Hey, I think of myself as an outdoorsy kind of guy. I walk the woods and meadows every day. I bike. I climb mountains. I do my bit for the environment. So, when Outside magazine promises to tell me “The Best 120 Cool Things” for the outdoorsy life, I’m ready to listen.
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Organic machines aren’t expendable
They took the stage as representatives of “reason and wildness,” respectively, two articulate authors and thinkers who come at the world very differently.