Our classics and great traditions are a corpse that we resurrect every time we engage with them. If neglected, they remain a corpse—rotten, dead, forgotten—to our eternal detriment. The collected wisdom of the ages, disposed with like so much refuse. When engaged with properly, they are made new and live once more to illuminate the […]
I’ve been taking my health for granted. I’m well into my thirties now and I’ve yet to have been hospitalized for any illness. On the rare occasion I do fall ill, it’s most likely a quick flu that lingers around for a day or two. Even then, it’s an event that seems to happen around […]
Ah, the sun! The great giver and destroyer of life; oppressive and deadly, illuminating and vital. I like to keep out of its reach. My summer days are whittled away in the shade or in the comforting gloom of a darkened room with my face in a book, anticipating the return of the cold somewhere […]
We like to ignore our problems. Glitches go on overlooked. There is disorder and chaos everywhere, right down to the core of our being. Something needs to be terminated—a bad habit, a relationship, a job, a friendship. We have problems like you wouldn’t believe. It’s an unpleasant task. There will be tears, so we distract […]
I’ve been fascinated with complicated surgeries and the surgeons who are capable of doing them since I was a kid — especially neurosurgeons, cardiovascular surgeons and transplant surgeons. I scour the internet for videos of brain surgery with some regularity. I enjoy watching them for the same reason I enjoy watching a symphony or a […]
The story of LA as a major world city really starts in ernest with the arrival of the aqueduct. How the city acquired the water and what happened afterward is the stuff of legend. The story has been dramatized and mythologized through the years. A lot of information has been mixed up or made up. […]
Here is my most recent history video on plague. This time it’s about the Black Death, the plague that we all know and love. This is a very important event that helped to shape Europe and the rest of the world. I talk about the impact of plague on society here:
Terrifying World 