Louise Clark’s accent was as thick as hominy grits. No one else in the Philadelphia branch of her family. Her mother and father had dropped theirs as soon as they crossed the Pennsylvania line. ~Fran Ross Yeah. I’ve talked about corn before (March 6, 2025), but that post gave the topic a lick and a […]
Corn By Any Other Name Read More »
Epidemiologists routinely turn to models to predict the progression of an infectious disease. Fighting public suspicion of these models is as old as modern epidemiology, which traces its origins back to John Snow’s famous cholera maps in 1854. ~Zeynep Tufekci Just when I think I have a satisfactory vocabulary, a new word inserts itself. Epidemiologists
Cholera and Typhoid – 19th Century Killers Read More »
Salad can get a bad rap. People think of bland and watery iceberg lettuce, but in fact, salads are an art form, from the simplest rendition to a colorful kitchen-sink approach. ~Marcus Samuelsson He’s not wrong. Sometimes we make judgment calls before we’ve considered all the options. I wouldn’t say that an aversion to salad
Lettuce Consider Greens Read More »
Observed from behind, however, you completely lose sight of the whiskers, and so fail to realize how immensely important they are. ~ Norman Lindsay As with many topics I research, I don’t know what prompted my interest cats’ facial hair. The only thing I knew about cats’ whiskers–or thought I knew–was that cats use their
Cats’ Whiskers & Bees’ Knees Read More »
The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few in most personal experience. There’s lots of good fish in the sea . . . maybe . . . but the vast masses seem to be mackerel or herring, and if you’re not mackerel or herring yourself, you are
Idioms–They’re a Dime a Dozen Read More »
Grammar is a piano I play by ear. ~ Joan Didion, Joan Didion: Essays & Conversations Well, not exactly, but I come closer to playing that instrument naturally than any other. For some people, rules are constraints and are therefore to be cast aside like a flip-flop with a broken strap. Not me. Rules are guardrails that
Grammar Rules–How To Undo Read More »
Did you know that when Dave Navarro first met Carmen Electra, rumor has it that he was so taken with her beautiful eyes that he went out and bought over a hundred pairs of sunglasses for her to wear to cover her eyes whenever she left her house so no one would fall in love
Sunglasses – Shady Business Read More »
Baseball isn’t just a game. It’s the smell of popcorn drifting in the air, the sight of bugs buzzing near the stadium lights, the roughness of the dirt beneath your cleats. It’s the anticipation building in your chest as the anthem plays, the adrenaline rush when your bat cracks against the ball, and the surge
Batting History & Louisville Slugger Read More »
If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out… Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And
Complaining–Personality or Physiology? Read More »
You can’t escape the cultural associations embodied by plants. You can’t have one without the other. ~ Ayurella Horn-Muller, Devoured: The Extraordinary Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Ate the South As I reflect upon the green vines that blanket hillsides all around these parts, I wonder if well-read visitors think about Southern authors and their use
Kudzu–The Gift That Keeps On Giving Read More »
Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. ~Albert Einstein Well, it might have worked that way for Einstein, but most of us don’t have his wiring. Even if we–well, you–are that smart (I know I’m not), there are some practical reasons for maintaining order. Let’s look at
Clutter – What’s The Impact? Read More »
The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he’s one who asks the right questions. ~ Claude Levi-Strauss In full transparency, once I found this quote, it made me want to go down a different rabbit hole than the one I planned, but that will have to wait. Today is all about
How Much of a Question Is That? Read More »
I like snorkeling, it’s the only thing I’m able to do that makes me think I can fly. ~ Luigina Sgarro Funny, that. The only time I attempted snorkeling, it made me think I could drown. More on that a few sections down. First, we’ll take a look at the folks who created this “sport”. It
Know Before You Go – Snorkeling Read More »
When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water. ~ Benjamin Franklin According to the EPA, about 43 million people have private wells on their property. I didn’t expect to see a number that large, but it’s probably because my head is stuck in the 60s and the type of well my grandmother used
Well, It’s a Deep Subject Read More »
“[My uncle] would pick me up in the driveway after I’d gotten off the bus and take me to the grapevines and put me on his shoulders,” she explains, “and I would pick the muscadines and fill up a shoebox and then just eat them until I got sick.” ~ Chef Vivian Howard The heady
Muscadines – a Fragrance with a Punch Read More »
Rice is great if you’re really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something. Mitch Helberg I personally think rice is always great, and this quote makes me want to see how many grains I can get on my next forkful. Not everyone agrees, and there are naysayers who wish we would change our
Rice & Its Undeserved Bad Rap Read More »
Head Vs Heart: A crowded mind leaves no space for a peaceful heart. ~ Christine Evangelou, Beating Hearts and Butterflies: Poetry of Wounds, Wishes and Wisdom Clearing our heads can be challenging, and we sometimes need to pursue environments that support our efforts in that direction. I’ve been forthcoming about what offers me that framework, but
Peace – Where’s Your Place? Read More »
When we developed written language, we significantly increased our functional memory and our ability to share insights and knowledge across time and space. The same thing happened with the invention of the printing press, the telegraph, and the radio. ~ Jamais Cascio One day, I’ll research the claim about functional memory, but not today. For
The Printing Press – History & Impact Read More »
You look like the Fourth of July! Makes me want a hot dog real bad! ~Jennifer Coolidge, as Paulette in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blue Americans of the U.S. variety have celebrated Independence Day with hot dogs since for over 50 years *, and we have two parties to thank for that. The
Everything happens for a reason, whether it’s something you’re excited about or hate. It’s all for a purpose in the big picture. Knowing this, relax. Enjoy the process, trusting that it will somehow be used to make you stronger in the long run. Sometimes, certain events are necessary for a grander opportunity to arise. ~
Seeing the Big Picture Read More »
Lean on me when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend;I’ll help you carry onFor it won’t be long ’til I’m gonna needSomebody to lean on. ~ Bill Withers Tell me you didn’t sing that. Seriously, I doubt you sang out loud, but you must be familiar with the lyrics. Have you ever thought about
Help in Times of Need – Friends & Others Read More »
If an architect makes a mistake, he grows ivy to cover it. If a doctor makes a mistake, he covers it with soil. If a cook makes a mistake, he covers it with some sauce and calls it a new recipe. ~ Paul Bocuse While I disagree with the quote on some points, it is true that
A1 and Other Sauces with Secrets Read More »
Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes. ~Bertolt Brecht We all know that television heroes aren’t the real deal. But when I was a kid, there were many characters who–at least on screen–represented the best in human behavior. This post is a salute to a few of my favorites. Yes, in my unplugged
Television Heroes from the ’50s & ’60s Read More »
“…to Junior’s mind, there had always been cicadas. But sometime, long before he could remember, he’d been on his father’s hip, looking up into a tree at a cicada for the first time—for the very first time; that buzzing saw had always been there, but to know where it came from—to see the frantic flutter
Cicadas — Menace or Manna? Read More »