I’m back on a train today, which is somewhat surprising given our questionable experience with Amtrak on the California Zephyr a few months ago. The romance of train travel is a hardwired sensibility that must be embedded deep in the Amygdala, where memories with emotional weight are tagged. This is why intense or emotional experiences like train travel feel “deeper” or more vivid and are recalled more easily. A few things converge to make train…
I’m 72 years old, started riding motorcycles in Rome, Italy at the age of 14 (legal for any motorcycles up to 50 cc’s) and have been riding more or less continuously for 58 years now. Like most activities in our lives, the level of my engagement with motorcycling has ebbed a flowed a bit over the years, but mostly it has been my favorite and most engaging activity that gives me pleasure and, dare I…
In the past two days I have had business calls with two financial professionals in connection with a process of possibly joining a board (something I generally am not inclined to consider). Why don’t I like boards and board membership? Not really for the same reason that many in my position have. Many people are troubled by the potential liability of board membership, but that is much less my concern than the potential for some…
Disneyland came into existence just when I was born. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, in Anaheim, California, and is the only Disney theme park personally built and opened under Walt Disney’s direct supervision. Walt got the idea in the late 1930s/40s while watching his daughters play at amusement parks and wishing there was a place parents could enjoy too. He wanted something clean, family-friendly, and immersive, unlike the seedy carnival parks of the era.…
For people of a certain age and temperament, there is a wonderful Chris Farley and David Spade movie called Tommy Boy, made in 1995. The duo are on an epic roadtrip to sell brake pads and Tommy (Farley) has a hard time containing his natural exuberance. Spade, on the other hand is a cynical young man who finds everything Tommy does as some combination of distasteful and idiotic. In one scene, Tommy is trying to…
In my recent meanderings through anthropology and human development, I stumbled on a book titled Unbound: How Eight Technologies Made Us Human and Brought Our World to the Brink by anthropologist Richard L. Currier. Currier’s thesis is that over roughly five million years, eight key technologies (broadly defined) gradually freed humans from the limitations of our animal origins. Those eight he defines as tools, fire, clothing/shelter, symbolic communication, agriculture, technologies of interaction (wheels, ships, travel),…
On this early July morning, Kim was getting her morning coffee and, sure as June Gloom goes away by July 1, so the Argentine red ants that have marched their way up from Patagonia have returned for another summer of fun, watching Kim pull out the stops with all her anti-ant programs. Kim will not kill a spider, but she gives no quarter to ants. They are her mortal enemy because ants impugn her good…
Today is our first activity day of summer vacation with our grandkids. One of the things we like to do every year is go to the San Diego County fair at the Del Mar fairgrounds. Like much of California, San Diego County is truly a blend of urban coastal elite areas with expensive homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean and rural ranch country where cattle and coyotes are still the main topics of conversation. In between…
Today I saw a reposting of the June, 2024 cover of Rolling Stone that had a picture of Donald Trump adjusting his tie with the headline: “The Most Corrupt President Ever. Ever.” It went on to say, “From self-dealing to abuse of power, no president in history has put personal greed ahead of the country like Donald Trump.” And of course, that was BEFORE he started his second term and his recently exposed $2.2 billion…
Starting around 1887, foot races started with a “mark” or a line drawn to indicate the starting point of a race. Before that the lineage of “mark” meant a target or marked point, the same root behind “marksman” and “to make one’s mark.” Before starting blocks existed, race officials would scratch or paint an actual line into the dirt or track at the starting point. Runners had to position their feet exactly on or behind…