Author Archives: John Swinburn

I visited a web site this morning, wisegeek.com, and was surprised at a statement asserting that 70% of red meat eaten worldwide is goat meat.  I was stunned by it; I decided to explore a bit.  I did some checking.  According to … Continue reading →

On rare occasion, there is nothing to say at just the right time.

Mistakes cannot be unmade, so the best course of action after making them is to take away enough from them to ensure you won’t make the same ones again.  Fortunately, there are enough variations on mistakes that you need not be … Continue reading →

When things begin to go your way, get on board and ride for as long as you can.  You may find difficulties ahead— you always will— but don’t turn your back on positive circumstances. Let it play out. Don’t do … Continue reading →

Shedding clutter from one’s life is not just about living minimally with respect to material possessions. It’s equally about abandoning the clutter of bad ideas and about leaving behind the attitude that “new” and “more” is better.

Relax and let the world adjust to your pace.

If someone could find a way to eliminate the caloric and liver-destroying aspects of alcohol, I would be thin and healthy and clamoring to award that person a humanitarian prize.  And you would, too.  Yes, you would!

When I viewed a video taken from space of lightning storms in an around Houston, I was in awe.  I wish I could be in the International Space Station for just a few revolutions around earth.  But watching the video … Continue reading →

To some people, life is a beautiful thing, occasionally fraught with pain and ugliness. To others, it is a painful and ugly existence, punctuated by rare exposure to beauty. Those who fall in the latter group are the ones most in … Continue reading →

I cannot help but feel absolute loathing for people who profess their deep moral values out of one side of their mouths, while out of the other advocating for sending refugee Central American children to their deaths by deporting them. The … Continue reading →

If I could experience life through the brain of a salmon, would I feel fear when a grizzly bear lunges at me, attempting to make me his meal? Or would my attempt to escape its presence be simply an automatic reaction, triggered … Continue reading →

I write to see myself think. It’s not always pretty, seeing what emerges from my fingers on the keyboards.  There are days I’d be better off wearing mittens. But I don’t own any mittens.  Until I do, I will tolerate … Continue reading →