9/7/16 Racing Minds and Monkeys

Do you ever have a racing mind? Mine is going ninety miles an hour. I can’t sleep. All I can do is think of electrons, masses of electrons, and how they will be safely connected underground to feed new buildings while keeping existing buildings serviced and working properly so overhead lines can come down that…

9/5/16 Honest Work

I have come to loathe August in the Mississippi I love. It saps my strength. It strains my soul. The hot torpor, the burning sun, the rising afternoon humidity makes every move an effort worthy of Atlas, as it seems the weight of the world rests upon my shoulders, and I cannot breathe. Every shallow,…

8/28/16 Mourning and August Malaise

Several of you have e-mailed me since my hiatus from FaceBook, wondering if I am OK since I have not posted to my blog in a while. I am making it, me and this ruxolitinib, making it in spite of the August torpor, miasma, and malaise that strikes Mississippi every year. August is the most…

8/11/16 Leather Bound

I spent this past weekend in July binding five complete volumes of THE CHRONIC DIARIES. I think I did a pretty good job with the sewn bindings, leather spines, and leather covers. A professional bookbinder might snicker a bit at my work, but if I had a large book-press instead of the make-shift press I…

7/27/16 One of Us, Please

“Champion of the Underclass,” Bill Clinton said about his wife. “I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people,” said Donald Trump. And who cares anything about what Lena Dunham may have said at any time about anything? Do you? Really? Does Donald Trump…

7/25/16 Irony Beyond Measure

The irony of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) erecting an eight foot high four mile long fence around  convention headquarters in Philadelphia bears mention, and I cannot let it pass. No doubt, there will be armed security all along the perimeter of the fence, because someone must mind the fence. Who are they trying to…

7/23/16 BTUs Feed the Storm

British Thermal Units (BTU) are a standard measurement for a unit of work (energy). One BTU is the amount of work needed to raise 1 LB of water by 1°F. In the international engineering world at large, it has given way to the Joule, much like the meter and kilo have supplanted our British Foot…

7/22/16 Studies Show….

There’s lots of studies. I’m in one and being studied right now, except the study I’m in is called a trial, though it’s a study just the same. “Studies show” has become the hallmark defense of mostly indefensible opinions. There’s lots of opinions, and nearly three times as many studies. You can choose from the…

7/21/16 Some Day You’ll Be Mine

Here’s a song I wrote that my daughter, Piper, absolutely nails, right along with the fabulous band playing with us. Captured in 2012 in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. And just for fun…. Blaine Sprouse and Bob Applebaum wearing out the tune Angelina Baker I listen to these every couple of days and never tire of…