Archive for February, 2009

February 7, 2009 : Leave a comment »

Ram the Wrestler vs. Snuggles the Kitten

Some people believe we are what we eat. If that’s true, I’m a taco salad with a side of tortilla chips. But surely we’re also what we see, what we hear, and what we think about all day.

I believe what we witness has a cumulative effect on our psyches, just as excess calories accumulate on our thighs. I plead guilty to putting too many carbohydrates into my body, but I’m really careful about what I put into my head. 

I won’t watch TV shows with violence. At least, I don’t watch them with my eyes open. If there is unexpected bloodshed or cruelty, I close my eyes and cover my ears. Sometimes I jump ship and go do the laundry or scrub the toilet. Either task is preferable to poisoning my mind with the ugliness of man’s inhumanity to man.

I sound like a priss, don’t I? Listen, I’m not some hothouse…(Read more)

February 4, 2009 : Leave a comment »

Plumbing the Depths With Your Mouse

Want to feel miniscule? Go look at the new Google Earth. In addition to taking pictures of every house on your block, the Googlers have been busy mapping the oceans. 

Go ahead. Download Google Earth, put your curser on the virtual globe and give it a good spin. The earth is, indeed, a Big Blue Marble. We are but tiny specks huddled on land masses that stick out of vast oceans throbbing with marine life. Giant kelp forests dwarf our massive redwoods and fantastic creatures that not even Jules Verne could imagine roam the depths. 

Now zoom in on the Atlantic Ocean until all you see is waves, and drag your mouse along the endless stretch of blue. It’s disorienting, no? This must be how Columbus felt after months at sea with no sign of land.

The ocean and I don’t have the best relationship. On one trip to the Delaware Shore, the…(Read more)

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