I’ll Take Mine On the Rocks, Please

Among non-geologist members of the public there’s a  fascination with glaciers and a deep, almost reverent mystique – a sort of atavistic, prickling-behind-the-neck connection with the Ice Age. In Europeans, it seems to be more a vestigial connection – a sort of cultural memory. Perhaps it’s why the western populace is so consumed with the…

Spring Water

I really like the latest “Green” thing in the form of these stainless steel water bottles people carry around with them rather than buying “Spring water” in throw-away plastic. I want to talk about spring water, but first I want to address the bottle issue. These bottles are marketed by Sigg out of Switzerland. For…

Caution: Mountebank at Work

Back in 2009 I was on several pretty long-distance business trips with the result that, in that inevitable state of boredom and frustration one always experiences while burrowing through the labyrinth of store-encrusted tunnels in the many indistinguishable airport stop-overs which are part of every post-modern flight plan, I found myself, inexorably, speed reading the titles…

Here There Be Monsters

Before the age of global exploration the edges of the then known world were annotated on maps with one or both labels: “Terra Incognita” and/or “Here there be monsters.” I really like the optimism of the “Terra Incognita” label. It implied that there were, quite literally “Unknown lands” beyond the edges of the map. Up…

Time and Place

Hesitantly, reluctantly, Helen slipped out of a slim, tight-waisted leotard and stood naked in the moonlight before me. Somewhere a clock chimed three. An owl hooted in the nearby copse. No wind stirred the casement window as she stood in the pale, translucent light on the Persian carpet. A minute passed – then another. Then…

You are Going to Die

Genetic engineers are going to have to figure out how we can all be born with a ‘best by’ birth mark dated for about 80 years following our nativities. Otherwise, they will be sent to prison for not telling us that we are going to die. Idiotic?  Too stupid to even be worth a chuckle?…