In the autumn of 1690 the New England fleet under Sir William Phips anchored off Quebec and demanded of Louis, Count Frontenac, that he surrender New France to the English. Phips picked a fight with the wrong guy. Governor Frontenac, with his long and legendary military history, was not one to back away from a…
On November 26, 2018 spokespersons for General Motors issued a press release advising of some “assembly plants that will be unallocated”. “Unallocated” is corporate-speak for “closed”. “Unallocated” is a beating-around-the-bush word, a pocketful-of-mumbles kind of word that you utter when you don’t want outright to lie, but you can’t bear to speak the truth. To…
I’m no theologian, and certainly no dogmatist– in fact, I’m rather betwixt and between in terms of my personal beliefs. Nevertheless, the Christmas story never fails to move me deeply. Whether you believe in a Baptist God, a Catholic God, a Jewish God, something or someone else– or nothing at all– the message of Christmas…
Some off-the-cuff remarks from friends got me thinking about how we might start to save the planet. But first, a little math. Most of us know the answer to this riddle: “Would you rather have a million dollars today, or would you rather have the result of one penny, doubling every day, for a month?”…
This is a communication lesson, not a political diatribe, although I’ll confess to a little bias. From all accounts, Sarah Huckabee Sanders grew up a good Baptist girl, went to Sunday School, Youth Group and Bible Camp, then off to a Baptist college where she was elected student president. One would think that if anyone…
Opacity? What the heck is that, and how can I put it to work for me? Well, let me be clear and transparent: opacity is the state of being unclear and non-transparent. It’s adjectival form is “opaque”. Lots of things in nature, like a muddy pond, are opaque. Often, we create opacity for a purpose–…
We have an inside joke, Karen and I. It’s about driving to Toronto with any new acquaintance. Ottawa to Toronto, counting for a pit stop along the way, is about five hours if the weather is good and road conditions are reasonable. With the right travel companion, the time flies by in pleasant conversation, fellowship,…
I don’t pretend to know the surefire tricks for identifying any liar, any place, any time, but I have learned a few useful things, mostly the hard way. I’ve been fooled more times than I care to admit– by people looking straight at me, by people looking at the floor, looking at the ceiling, looking…
Nearly every Washington Post article is a work of art, and the one I had just finished was no exception. Yet somehow I was left feeling that something was amiss. While the story itself was excellent, as I stood back for the long view I realized the problem: the visuals. It’s not that the visuals…
Who would imagine Bambi to be the most dangerous animal in North America? Well, in fact, Bambi is far more likely to kill you than would a shark. The truth is that “Jaws” author Peter Benchley should have written “Antlers”. Seriously? Yes, seriously. In the US, where they have both deer and sharks, more than…