What came first? The chicken or the id?

In my unconscious mind what will I find? A depth of perception? A constant reflection? Or something far more benign? Below a thought's surface will I find a purpose? (How different are my thoughts from those of a porpoise?) Deep in my inners will I find a child? or something more freewheeling, randomized, wild? During …

No one actually knows what you are saying.

When we are speaking to others, what they understand is only partially influenced by our intended meaning.  A large part of receiving information is subject to one's emotional state, attention to the details of our speech, current thoughts, ability to understand our words, and especially what the receiver expects us to be saying.

They is home sick today.

Thee and thou died as singular second person pronouns.  They has arisen as the dual-edged sword of first person pronouns: both singular and plural... which is really the way we have always accidentally used it anyway, just with the wrong verb conjugation.

The [black] lady [with the purple lipstick]

I am finding it more and more difficult to work toward a world in which our children have so many rich experiences of their friends that the last thing they would think to use as a reference is skin color. In many ways, it is my white privilege that has permitted me to try and ignore racial language.

By the numbers: when you should NOT do the experiment.

Doing scientific research on medical treatments helps us to know whether or not they work. That seems obvious, but there are times when a scientist may not want to test whether or not something works. Let me explain. It may seem obvious that we should not conduct medical experiments on treatments like castration for depression. …

What does GMO-free mean?

GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are often perceived something like "Grossly Monstrous & Odious." What are they anyway? Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Strict definitions of GMOs usually refer to transgenic organisms: those that have had a gene from other species inserted into them. The techno name for changing DNA is mutagenesis, but transgenic mutagenesis not …

Is there a little truth in everything?

The short answer is: the frequently false should be treated as entirely false. If you have to use a ton of time trying to find the truth in the haystack, then in the process of trying to find it, you are most likely to get soaked in conspiratorial, factless dribble. Move on. The problem with …

Largely ignored reports predicted the sh*t-storm that is happening now

The pandemic we have isn't the one we wanted, but we weren't prepared for that one either. Most of the reports below predict an influenza pandemic because that is what happened before. The main points are just as relevant to the pandemic we have, and they consistently echo that we were not prepared even for …

Let them eat imaginary cake

Business, politics, entertainment, art, education, and even frying eggs seems to require a constant connection to the digital world.  Now with COVID-19 amplifying this perceived need of digital connectedness into a necessity, I wonder how the digital recovery will play out. My 7-year-old who already knows how to fry eggs, impulsively asked our Google Home …

I am almost never right: a doctor admits how he thinks

One of the principles that drives my curiosity is that the first and second (and third) thing I think is likely wrong.  Driving past this insecurity into a confident stance of ignorance is hard.  At the foundation is accepting my failures is using them as a springboard toward my next magnificent failure.  When I am …