One God

Since you go to a church, any church, I think you should consider a few things about your belief in God, His “son”, The Holy Ghost, virgin births, The Assumption, transubstantiation and His famously inspired book, the Bible, which will never be mentioned in your church (or any other church). Think of this as a … Continue reading →

Trayvon Martin: Letter to the Editor of The New York Times

Every one of us with a three digit IQ knows who killed Trayvon Martin; the NRA. The NRA is the hand-maiden for the gun industry and lobbied strenuously for “stand your ground.” No matter how many American children die of handguns every year (about 3,000) Colt, Winchester, Remington, and Ruger want to sell more guns … Continue reading →

Tim’s Vermeer. Penn and Teller.

First of all, what a dreadfully pretentious, expensive, meaningless, stupid idea to begin with; to make a copy of Vermeer’s The Music Lesson! If the raison d’etre of this movie were to illustrate thoroughly to the lay public what art is not, then this might have been a worthwhile project, albeit ridiculously expensive and time-consuming. … Continue reading →

Why Stephen Lyman Is Not An Artist* (Letter to a Philistine)

When you told me that Stephen Lyman was “the second best-selling painter in America” and I replied, without ever having seen any of the man’s work, that “he must not be much of an artist” you took umbrage at, what you said, was my unqualified presumptuousness. The next day when we went to see Mr. … Continue reading →

See La Paz

I guess an illustration of the Zeitgeist is that now a popular feature in the New York Times is their weekly “36 Hour” travel feature. Why should I be surprised when, instead of actually reading War and Peace we now just read the Cliff Notes or rather than the entire concerto, we are lucky to … Continue reading →

Scott Frost at Paradise Billiards

Recently I was at a birthday party for a friend’s wife at a cozy tavern along the shore of Lake Washington just north of Seattle. The joint has three very nice Gold Crown IV’s and eventually several of us were playing inebriate eight ball. Our gang was mostly physicists, lawyers and musicians so you can … Continue reading →

“Respect Few, Fear None.”

Personally, I love government. I love my Social Security checks, Medicare, my Golden Age Pass; and I love the government agencies which make sure my food and medicines are safe, our air and water pure; and when disaster strikes, FEMA and others come with aid and succor. It ain’t perfect, but it is sure as … Continue reading →

Philosophy of Teaching

Many years ago, when I took my little girls to see Namu, The Killer Whale at Sea World, Namu was having a bad day and refused to do the little tricks expected of him. He swam listlessly around and around the far end of the pool only reluctantly coming to the surface to spout a … Continue reading →

Our Most Valuable Natural Resource

Generally, most people agree that, “You get what you pay for.” And, usually it is true. So, assuming most of us subscribe to this bit of common sense, why do we think our children can get a good education at bargain-basement prices? First of all, I cannot understand why we do not consider the young … Continue reading →

My belief

I have been an atheist as long as I can remember. My parents took me to a Unitarian church when I was very little. Later, when we were living in a small town in upstate New York I attended an Episcopal church, due almost entirely, I suspect, to the efforts of my stepmother. When I … Continue reading →