Phone Nix
We’re off to Switzerland to visit our son and then take a few days for a jaunt along the eastern shore of Lake Como. I’ll spare you the details of the usual miserable airport preliminaries and start with our arrival at our coach seats. Seats 40F and G were ours and with the crowd pushing […]
The Weather and AI
I read today that Microsoft is working on using its AI to forecast the weather. What’s the big deal, I randomly thought. It’s already there. I use Chatgpt as my AI and I decided to give it a test. I should begin by informing readers that I was once a professional meteorologist with a master’s […]
A Word About Thought Questions
My whole educational life, I wanted to understand Einstein’s relativity and quantum physics. I never had the time because my education always interfered – a common sarcastic complaint. Trying to understand Einstein, Planck, Heisenberg, Shrodinger and all those guys was, and is still a chore. Whenever there’s a discussion about those two subjects, it always has to be a book. The concepts are so counter-intuitive that the only way to explain them is with the history of discovery.
Dick Tracy et al
Whenever my son Peter has to go for a long ride alone in his car, he asks me to keep him company. I usually go with him. It always turns out to be an adventure. One of the reasons is that we always talk or fight about something bizarre.
A Musical Legacy
I love J.S. Bach’s Cantata #54. Widerstehe doch der Suende. Translated it means something like “Stand firm against sin.” It’s for an alto voice. I read that the late Canadian pianist Glenn Gould who made a video of it with counter-tenor Russell Oberlin, wanted Barbra Streisand to do it with him. It never happened. Either […]
Understanding and Belief
Many years ago, I had a computer store. Every so often, a Rabbi named Balfour came in to have his computer serviced. Whenever he did, he always wanted to discuss religion. I told him, “Frankly Rabbi, you’re wasting your time with me.
Loosies and the Price of Eggs
I went into a supermarket where the price of eggs not too long ago was around a dollar a dozen. I was stunned that the price of a dozen was eight dollars and there was a limit of four per person. Limit of four? I could barely afford one dozen and would hope something would bring the price down.
Skiing
I started skiing in my late twenties. Some of my friends, having recently returned from military service decided to ski and I, knowing nothing about it except seeing some in newsreels, decided it might be fun. At the beginning, it wasn’t.
THE PLANETARY LINEUP
I got interested in astronomy as a kid about seven years old. My grandfather, who lived in the same building as we did, got the first volume of the Wonderland of Knowledge, an encyclopedia which was being advertised in the NY Daily Telegram.
Winter Thunderstorms and the Colonel
My dog, who is panicked by thunder was hiding in my office this New Years Eve. She has learned that my office, with no windows, mitigates the thunder claps. Winter thunderstorms are rare but it reminded me of my meteorological past.
