Author: Eric Scheie

The pair of Chickadees who decided to nest in my back porch birdhouse despite my warnings have gotten quite used to humans — and to Coco (which I’m not sure is a wise idea, as she is very jealous, and knows I like them). Here’s a picture I took earlier of the one I think…

Earlier while I was shaving in the gym (clothed only in a towel wrapped around my waist), a total stranger suddenly came up right behind me and exclaimed, “I bet you never lived in California!” Taken somewhat aback, I replied, “As a matter of fact, I lived in California for 26 years.” (Actually, that’s a…

Did you know that America is in the middle of a deadly flashlight epidemic? I didn’t until this morning, when I read about exploding “flashlight bombs” wreaking havoc. The first bomb was spotted by a passerby on May 13 in a suburb just west of Phoenix. It was sitting behind a palm tree in a…

As one of those stubborn people who absolutely hates being told what to do but who lives in a society increasingly in the grip of unreasonable busybodies and nannies who make careers out of telling people what to do, I spend a lot of time griping about the problem. I especially hate having my life…

One of the things I most like about Glenn Reynolds is his knack for linking just the right Amazon sale item at just the right time. I am absolutely delighted with two recent purchases I would otherwise not have seen. One was this absolutely nifty little 64 Gigabyte thumb drive, which of course is not…

I’ve been driving now for over 40 years, and I have been noticing a relatively new problem. Whether it is generational I am not sure. I live in a college town, but I Have been living in college towns for most of my life. Anyway, the problem is drivers who are driving in the middle…

Quite inadvertently, I stumbled onto an interesting ancient shape known as the Brunes Star. Here’s what it looks like:   While it might not look like much, it was used as a sort of ancient calculator: Here’s an example of how it was used: Almost like having a calculator or slide rule before these things…

Coco has the right idea. And so does this bee: If I had any sense I’d be doing the same thing right now.

Here’s a good one for those who appreciate the national kindergarten approach to policing: Police in Aurora, Colo., searching for suspected bank robbers stopped every car at an intersection, handcuffed all the adults and searched the cars, one of which they believed was carrying the suspect. Police said they had received what they called a…

Here it is nearing 11:30 p.m., and I have to be up and out first thing in the morning, and no time for blogging. (A grueling routine which fortunately will not last forever.) However, at least I have something, for a friend kindly emailed me a link to this video purporting to demonstrate how stupid…

A couple of years ago I asked my doctor what he thought about salt. He said I didn’t need to worry about it, as I have never had a blood pressure problem, and it poses little or no risk for me. However, he warned me that there was a lot of medical opposition to salt…

This is a bad time to get sick — especially in the hospital. While there are a lot of theories, the responsible parties seem unwilling to explain the current plague of major drug shortages, which are so bad that doctors are getting discouraged. Even basic anesthetics are unavailable, leading to postponements of surgery and hospital…

Governments work very hard. Really, it has to be hard work to be able to look this ridiculous: Got that? They (Bloomberg and his cronies) are actually making large soft drinks illegal in New York. Take that, all you working class peons who might think you should have the right to cool off with a…

Sarah’s latest post reminded me of the stubborn, irreconcilable divergence between communitarian and individualist thinking. While it is a recurrent topic here, I’m afraid that it’s not much of a political winner, because even though Republicans are more individualistic and Democrats more communitarian, politics inherently lends itself to communitarian “we” style arguments (which means that…

In light of the constant stream of ugliness into which I seem duty-bound to wallow, it’s nice to have a reminder that not everything is ugly. Especially this time of year. A black-capped chickadee couple has decided to build a nest in a funky-chic handmade decorative birdhouse hanging only eighteen inches away from the back door…

Until a few days ago (when my computer was having some downtime and I was blogging erratically), I had never heard of Brett Kimberlin. (Just what he and the powers that be at Wikipedia want.) I have now read more about him than I care to read, and not only do I have a creepy…

As someone who complains frequently about out-of-control government, and armed bureaucrats conducting raids, I read with avid interest an article by Mike Riggs about 15 Republicans who backed an amendment by Senator Rand Paul that would have slowed the FDA’s war on farmers by preventing them from carrying firearms and making warrantless arrests. Noting that every…

While for most people today is a time to have fun, it is also important to remember the purpose: to honor those who fought and died to preserve the freedoms we not only take for granted, but which some of us are so willing to abandon. Not to be confused with Veterans Day, this day…

A commenter to my post about drive transplantation asked what I think is a good question: Every time I read stories like this one I wonder: do you value your time at all? How many hours have you burned using obsolete equipment? Hmm… The same question could be asked about forcing my aging body to…

A nasty virus infected me because I clicked on a link which was sent to me through a local political organization. I knew the sender and the group, and I did no more than go there. It was obvious spam, so I posted the group thusly: I have anything against legitimate Ukrainian businesses, but personally,…