Monthly Archives: August 2011

Quote for the Day

Posted on August 31, 2011 by

The Solution by Bertolt Brecht After the uprising of the 17th June The Secretary of the Writer’s Union Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee Stating that the people Had forfeited the confidence of the government And could win it back … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Humor, Quotes | Leave a comment

New Book

Posted on August 26, 2011 by

This afternoon, I received copies of my new book, The Bible: A Reader’s Guide. They arrived from London via FedEx.  Thus far, I’ve only found one online seller offering it for sale: Herron Books. Send to Kindle

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Bananas

Posted on August 22, 2011 by

Many years ago, between my Freshman and Sophomore years of college, I spent two summers working and living on a kibbutz in Israel near the Sea of Galilee—what the Israelis now call Lake Kinneret (meaning “harp”). A kibbutz is a … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science | Leave a comment

Why Send People?

Posted on August 17, 2011 by

I get puzzled by many things. One question that I’ve never really quite fathomed goes like this. Given the success of the unmanned space probes, such as the twin rovers on Mars, or Cassini and Huygens at Saturn and Titan, … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Space, Technology | Leave a comment

Erased

Posted on August 16, 2011 by

In the first Back to the Future movie, as Doc Brown examined Marty’s photograph of his family in which his brother and sister’s images were slowly vanishing, he commented, “Erased from existence” to describe what was happening to them. I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Space | Leave a comment

A Million Miles a Day

Posted on August 13, 2011 by

Voyager 1 left Earth aboard a Titan III rocket on a bright summer day in September, 1977. It reached its first destination, Jupiter in 1979, then visited Saturn in 1980 before heading out of the solar system. Currently traveling nearly … Continue reading →

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Chasing Happiness

Posted on August 8, 2011 by

When a crisis hits, it is impossible to see or to think about anything but the problem. Gaining perspective in disastrous circumstances is virtually impossible. But even when life is more ordinary, the daily stresses of life can make it … Continue reading →

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Quote for the Day

Posted on August 5, 2011 by

The Yiddish author, Sholem Aleichem, “never uses humor to escape from what’s terrible. He creates a perspective from which the most terrible things are funny too. He believed that the highest form of faith was not to accept but to … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Religion, Theology, Writing | Leave a comment

Annabel Lee

Posted on August 4, 2011 by

When my oldest daughter was about five, she discovered a set of small red books by Edgar Allan Poe in our church library. I suspect her initial interest in them was related to their small size. But she had me … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Leave a comment

What Decline?

Posted on August 2, 2011 by

There is much hand-wringing and muttering about how bad things are now, compared to the good old days of the past. Clearly, say many experts, the glory days of America are over and we are faced with inevitable decline and … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History | Leave a comment