I was watching a movie recently in which a plane landed on the runway. There was a blue cloud of smoke that erupted from the tires at the moment of contact between tire and asphalt. I wondered why they couldn’t spin the tires just before landing to reduce the risk of a blowout. My curiosity…

I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘Catfishing”, so down the rabbit hole I went. I wasn’t disappointed. Let’s get on the same page. What does Catfishing mean? It comes from a 1913 book title. This leads to the modern-day Catfisher – one who breaks hearts and passwords with nothing but wi-fi and creativity. But let’s…

I enjoy reading about predictions. The most common one I pay attention to is the weather. I, too frequently, get a laugh with a report of ‘currently raining’ as I look out my window to see nothing but bright sunshine. And not even a prediction. Of course, the farther out the prediction, the greater the…

I’ve heard that phrase many times, usually in the context of someone telling their beliefs based on their lived experience. Sometimes it is rephrased as ‘speaking truth to power.’ That doesn’t mean that the facts are ignored. First, their lived experience is a fact. Also, the person may call upon other sources to strengthen the…

I often buy Adventure Passes. I don’t find them advertised as such, so I have to look hard for these passes. They are hidden in plain sight. For me, an Adventure Pass helps me get out of my comfort zone or Zone of Familiarity. Here is a recent example. I bought a Coffee Pass. It…

I have been to Pegasus Bridge. That trip brought tears to my eyes. The picture above is a photo I took of the bridge, now resting as a museum piece, a few hundred meters from its original position. The British paratroopers climbed out of glider planes that had landed on French soil in the pitch…

I want to explain! A few years ago, a picture of a dress went viral. When people looked at it, they saw it coloured a combination of black and blue or white and gold. How is that possible? Folks got into online fist fights over their respective views of this dress. Thanks to neuroscientist Pascal…

I want to be sure you realize the title is not a typo. I meant to say ‘Times.” I was looking at pictures that randomly appeared on my digital frame. The frame has a database of about 10,000 photos from which it chooses. Most shots bring back memories shared with others, happy times.  The one…

I have noticed the increasing use of folks telling me their preferred gender pronouns. I see it sometimes on Zoom meetings and as part of a signature block in emails. For example, it is often written as she/her or they/them/their. Recently I came across a one-pager from my city explaining all this. I thought I’d…

I came across this title in an article. It caught my eye, and I wondered how it applied to me. Many years ago, I was having problems fitting in at work. At least my employer thought so and decided to have me take some sick leave to get better. Nothing could have been farther from…