Random posts along the way, sometimes serious, often not.
“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” -Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I have this watch from communist-era Czechoslovakia that I bought from an antique shop in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. It has no battery, relying…
This is Part Two of an as of yet undetermined number of posts (probably three, we’ll get there when we get there). In Part One, I introduced the concept of global citizenship, the benefits–past, present, and future–of a global society,…
Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and…
In reading the classic social science book, “The Guns of August,” I can’t help but think how relevant this book still is to today’s society. The book–often considered the definitive World War I narrative–spends the first third just discussing the…
Some mornings, when the air is particularly clear, or the sunrises particularly grand, I take a brief moment to reflect on the grandeur of mere existence. I don’t do it enough, but how could I possibly give All of Existence its due credit…
I always bring a deck of cards with me when I travel. This was my uncle’s suggestion. He told me on more than one occasion, “The most important thing to bring is a deck of cards, because if you get…
I love poker. It’s a game that reveals the inner-workings of the human mind better than any, and the small battles that take place on the felt translate directly into the real world. Legendary poker psychologist Mike Caro says the…
Border crossings are at best tedious and at worst terrifying. More often than not they’re quite boring, waiting in long lines to have some border guard give your passport the briefest of glances before stamping or not stamping it on…
Exactly two years ago today, Christine and I were robbed in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon in Buenos Aires, Argentina. What unfolded from that point forward was an unforgettable, life-changing trip. Was the robbery a low-point in our adventure,…
Author’s note: this is a follow up to my piece “Working to Live or Living to Work?” And if you’ve not seen “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” this is my spoiler alert! One of my favorite movies of the…
Americans generally feel a close connection to their European brethren for a variety of reasons. We share many of the same Enlightenment values (e.g. freedom of speech), most American families have ties to Europe through heritage, and our strongest military…
My birth year is naturally misleading, seeing as I only experienced roughly 10 days of 1982, though “experienced” might be a generous word to use, insofar as a newborn baby doesn’t experience much of anything beyond the feeding/pooping/crying/sleeping cycle. While…
