The worst name for a food item in all of human history
I'm obsessed with how food is named. Chilean sea bass, for example, is really Patagonian tooth fish. Order Patagonian tooth fish the next time you want Chilean sea bass. Please?…
27 Things I Wish I Had Known 10 Years Earlier
I read a post on Medium entitled 25 Things I Wish I Had Known 10 Years Earlier. I hated the post. It was filled with platitudes, cliches, and enormous, nonspecific…
A famous writer and I agree on the worst part of sleep
Someone on Twitter sent me this poem: "Sleep. Those little slices of Death. How I loathe them." I read these three lines and thought, "Yes! I'm not alone! See? Someone…
She wrote “No.” My heart soared.
My daughter had to vote for her "favorite groovy expression" from the list below. She read through the choices. We explained what each expression meant. Then she refused to pick.…
Deep, scary, philosophical Star Trek thoughts.
Somehow a discussion about how the transporters work on Star Trek had me in an existential panic.Granted, this is easier to accomplish with me than most people, but still. This…
Few things are as bad as we want people to think. I think.
I was speaking to a friend about the college application process her daughter recently went through, who I taught years ago. Her words: "It wasn't so bad. Not a big…
There was a lot wrong with the 1970’s, but these two things might have made up for it.
The 1970s may have been bathed in secondhand smoke and disco, and the decade's dominant political figure may have been Richard Nixon, but people didn't speak about hummus as if…
Group selfie on smartphone. Photo portrait of friendly youth team, friends make photos on phone camera or teenage character taking friendship selfies on telephone. Cartoon vector illustration
My son has cleverly ensured future access to my phone
Charlie has learned to take video selfies — if that is a thing. What he chose to discuss on these videos has guaranteed him future access to our phones, at…
A simple geographic reminder to those overly insistent, overly-aggressive people of faith
When someone becomes overly insistent and aggressive about the truth behind their deeply held religious beliefs, I like to remind them that their beliefs are almost certainly predicated on geography.…
Listen to this.
I have heard a few things more enlightening and moving than this. I think everyone should spend 20 minutes listening to this — children especially. Please listen and share with…