It’s Black Friday, the annual tradition where families of vampires awake before dawn and then shuffle in zombie-like shambling hoards through the parking lots to the gates of hell.  Or at least Macy’s.  Hey, that actually sounds like fun when put like that! But this holiday season, I’d like to recommend one gift that doesn’t [...]

If you didn’t catch the release earlier this week, the groovy folks at Symphony of Science have released a new video.  This one features Carl Sagan, Robert Jastrow, Michio Kaku and some Richard Dawkinsy goodness. Now I know you want to get your galactic groove on to the rest of the videos. Man, the song [...]

I keep learning interesting literary tidbits from Garrison Keillor’s daily radio bit, The Writer’s Almanac.  Today’s story was particularly interesting. It’s the birthday of Asa Earl Carter, who wrote under the pseudonym Forrest Carter, (books by this author) born in Anniston, Alabama (1925). The Education of Little Tree was published in 1976, a memoir by [...]

This summer, while I’m studying the wonders of the Universe by day, and spending my nights peering into the deep star-filled desert sky, I often relate to how a certain fictional explorer felt. Long Ago, Louis Wu had stood at the void edge of Mount Lookitthat.  The Long Fall River, on that world, ends in [...]

Through today’s Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor, we are reminded of the birthday of Paul Coeho, whose real-life search for inspiration was the catalyst of a literary career that has inspired millions. It’s the birthday of novelist Paulo Coelho, (books by this author) born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1947. He said, “I always [...]