“‘Curiouser and curiouser’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment, she quite forgot how to speak good English).” Lewis Carroll’s famous words from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland have taken on new meaning as the world struggles to come to grips with a pandemic while a befuddled…

Let’s not beat around the bush. Denial and stupidity are on the march in the United States. The sane and sound minds of Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris (who have all suspended their Presidential campaigns) are blessed with a respect for math…

Numbers don’t lie. As statistics on COVID-19 infections grow and the death count continues to rise, I recommend that everyone read an OpEd by Farhad Manjoo entitled “Coronavirus Is What You Get When You Ignore Science.” …

Man’s desire to travel uncharted paths, sail unexplored seas, and conquer new lands and peoples (starting with the Phoenicians, Romans, Polynesians, Vikings, and moving through history to the achievements of Spanish, Portuguese, and English explorers) has led to the study of cultural anthropology. Long before the Vikings landed on North…

Few artists get things right on their first try. Writers rewrite, artists repaint, sculptors reshape, and composers keep tinkering with sounds and beats until they’re satisfied. Even the greats have doubts and regrets. Now that Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Jerome Robbins are dead, the only surviving member of the…

When was the last time you held a piece of scrimshaw in your hands? Although the term first achieved popularity during the 19th century, according to Wikipedia: “Scrimshaw is scrollwork, engravings, and carvings done in bone or ivory. Typically it refers to the artwork created by whalers, engraved on the…

Once upon a time (and not so very long ago), people expected a reasonable amount of privacy. When mailing lists first began to be purchased and traded as a commodity, junk mail suddenly began to fill everyone’s mailboxes. With the onset of the computer age — and the accompanying digitization…

Though often marketed to the public as a commodity, one’s interaction with art is a highly subjective experience. If you don’t believe me, check out this recipe for dill pickle jello from The Vulgar Chef. The mere thought of tasting the above item produces responses of “Ewww,” “Blech,” and “Ugh…

As a child, I could never understand the second line of The Battle Hymn of the Republic: “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” Why not? I liked grapes. And the two most frequently heard references to food back then were “Eat your vegetables!”…