Humans are strange creatures. We are thrilled when we get a raise until we find out a colleague received a larger raise. There is an old Yiddish saying, “When does a hunchback rejoice? When he sees one with a larger hump.” ...
I have always believed the moon appears bigger when on the horizon than when it is overhead because of light refraction. When looking at it on the horizon we are looking through much more atmosphere therefore it appears to be very large. ...
It happens every semester. Term papers are due and someone comes up after class and says, “Dr. Bothwell, I need more time. The computer printer would not work. My paper is all finished. I just can’t get it out of the...
While walking my dog last evening I looked up at Arcturus. It is easy to find in the night sky. Just allow your eye to follow the arch created by the handle of the big dipper and it is the first bright star...
Today I saw a limousine waiting outside a Burger King. The two items, the limousine and Burger King, do not seem to go together. It had all the incongruity of a Picasso in a Wal-Mart. It was like the President of the...
The mystery of the missing fluid for the clutch in my old truck is solved. Upon opening the bell housing we found a community of small animals. One was dead and the others went running across the garage floor. The leaking fluid...
The fluid in the master cylinder for the clutch in my old truck has disappeared. Obviously that makes shifting gears an extreme challenge. This is puzzling because there is no puddle or signs of leaking where I park it. The man at the...
If we have good vision we are capable of seeing about 5,000 stars on a clear night. That is hardly a good start. The latest calculation of astronomers for the total number of stars in the universe is 70 sextillion. That...
This evening I found myself staring into the refrigerator. I wasn’t really hungry so what was I doing? I must be a conditioned lab rat and something triggered a “Go to the fridge” response. Without thinking I was going to put unnecessary...
My four-year-old granddaughter approached me today with a blank piece of paper in one hand and a handful of markers in the other. She was all excited about writing me a letter. Soon she returned with a long list of squiggly lines and...