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Creamation

“Cremation is my last hope for a smoking hot body” A popular meme with many creators. The photo was taken by my Great, Great Uncle J.C.Burrow at a church yard in Cornwall about 1900. I used it to demonstrate how the treatment of human remains has changed over time.

Serendipity

You can’t plan for serendipity But you can leave space for it. This is another of a continuing series of posts about serendipity. Simon and Serendipity are alliterative and I should be able to make a nice motto out of them but the only one I’ve come up with so far is “Simon Seeks Serendipity.” Which doesn’t work because serendipity has to find you. The very seeking of a serendipitous moment makes it less serendipitous. It requires more work. Meanwhile you can admire me holding… Read More »Serendipity

Words Seldom Seen: Kismet

Kismet Noun: Fate, Luck, Destiny Example: “My kismet was strong and I succeeded.” Kismet is often associated with Yiddish but it’s origin is Arabic via Turkic. Photo is of another Inukshuk, this one built in the lee of Piestewa Peak.

Endurance Hiking

“I like to hike long distances. I want to feel the high that comes from exertion and to see strange things that are not near the road.” Photo is from our day of hiking in the Dolomites in Northern Italy in 2023.

If _______ is Elected I’m Leaving!

This is a rewrite of a post from 2008. “In a British newspaper interview published May 24 2008 actress Susan Sarandon told London’s Telegraph she’ll consider moving to Italy or Canada if John McCain wins over Barack Obama. In an interview, Sarandon fumed: “If McCain gets in, it’s going to be very, very dangerous….It’s a critical time, but I have faith in the American people. If they prove me wrong, I’ll be checking out a move to Italy. Maybe Canada, I don’t know. We’re at… Read More »If _______ is Elected I’m Leaving!

Lev Malone

Lev Malone evolves.. Becomes “Leve M alone” becomes “Leave Me Alone.” Think of it as code: Lev Malone means “Leave me Alone.” The flowers are unknown. The photo was taken on a recent hike along the Arizona Canal near 24th St.

DEI vs MEA

Diversity, Equity and InclusionvsMerit, Experience and Attitude. If you needed to choose a doctor and you had data, would your criteria be more DEI or more MEA? How about when you were choosing a lawyer, a restaurant manager or a football coach? I rest my case. It is not popular to say but in our personal decision making we are mostly MEA. In the long run only natural monopolies can hire based on DEI and survive in the marketplace.

Words Seldom Seen: Leitmotif

Leitmotif Noun: A leitmotif is a “short, recurring musical phrase” associated with a particular person, place, or idea. Leitmotif is also used in movies to create a sense continuity. Example: “In the TV show Law and Order the piano chord leitmotif always precedes a court session.” Another of the February sunsets in Phoenix.

Fine, Just Fine

“What could we have done better tonight?” This is what a restaurant manager should be asking instead of the usual “How is your food? A small change might elicit some useful information and some goodwill. “How is your food tasting?” usually doesn’t do that. Photo is of one of the postcards I send that is most often liked in Postcrossing.

Lost in Melville

“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” Herman Melville Melville who wrote Moby Dick among other classics also made this cryptic comment. I was impressed that he ended the sentence with a verb. The map is from the cover of The Mapping of California as an Island. it was part of the Border Map collection that I donated to the ASU School of Transborder Studies about ten years ago.