Redux: Vanishing Points

This essay originally appeared in 2012. If the artwork above looks familiar, the reason might be that it was part of the argument that Ann made in a recent post. She suggested that the beauty of the Florentine paintings of the fifteenth century—“stunning, literally; you look at them and can hardly breathe”—couldn’t have been due […]

Toward a theory of cuteness aggression

I want a dog. For a while now, my awareness of this has been getting louder. It was when I encountered these little gentlemen that the urgency of the situation became undeniable. (If you value your hearing turn down the volume before you hit play.) I’ve lived with many canines – parents’ dogs, roommate dogs, […]

This Is Not a Snake, Though It Is Snake Shaped

Look at this worm!! Folks, I met this giant earthworm during a trip to a cloud forest in Ecuador where I was covering amphibian declines with photographer Joel Sartore for National Geographic. It may recall one of those corrugated plastic pipes you use to run water from your downspout to the street, but it’s not […]

Space Is Real

A defensive back playing for a Texas university football team recently said something unusual into a press microphone. “I don’t believe in space,” he said. “I’m religious, so I think, like, we’re on our own right now. I don’t think there’s, like, other planets and stuff like that.”  I welcome eccentric ways of thinking. Being […]

The Queen’s Speech

This piece initially ran exactly a year ago, and it’s no coincidence that the Canadian Broadcasting System had me on air again today. This time, though, it was a program called Good Question, Saskatchewan! which addressed the issue of why that province (mostly) dodged the hassle of daylight savings time. If you would like to […]

Amphorae

This post first appeared in March 2021. My longing for more spontaneous museum visits continues. A little over a year ago I made an unplanned trip to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. I had driven to the city to run errands but then decided to go look at art instead, a moment of pre-pandemic […]

Any Chance You Have Time to Read This Post?

*If you are home and not busy, would F. be able to get a Ziploc of ice? *Would one of you be able to do Monday morning carpool next week? *Any chance you’d have time to work Friday lunch? S. is home sick. *S. is staying home sick. Is there any chance you have time […]

Sleep Talk with Me

My 4-year-old has developed a borderline unhealthy obsession with Star Wars over the past month or so. Yesterday, as I was reading from our latest purchase, 5-minute Star Wars Stories, I fell asleep. I was in the middle of a chapter about Ewoks. I’ll give you the gist: Heroes end up on a planet with […]