By James Aitchison When words don’t come easily, invent them! William Shakespeare did, along with J. R. R. Tolkien, Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. In fact, Shakespeare invented 2,000 new words and phrases such as hurry, eyeball, puppy dog, dauntless,…
By: Kristian Keefer Dear Nan, There are things I wish I had said while you were still here. I think about that more now than I used to. You weren’t the kind of grandmother people usually picture. You didn’t bake…
Review of Scenes from the Magic Mountain: Five Seasons in the Mussoorie Hills and Beyond, published by Speaking Tiger Books By Mitali Chakravarty Ruskin Bond’s Scenes from the Magic Mountain: Five Seasons in the Mussoorie Hills and Beyond has writings…
By: Aritra Basak The first time I learned about random walks, I dismissed the concept as an academic toy. Left or right, heads or tails—it felt like a game for people with nothing better to do than count coin tosses….
By: Christopher Johnson Wachusett Mountain in central Massachusetts is one of the most climbed mountains of North America. The name “Wachusett” is derived from the language of local Native Americans and likely means “mountain-place.” This modest mountain is only…
By Stephen Alexander Learning about the Science Essay while Walking in Nature There is a wetland area a short walk away from my home in southwest Portland, Oregon. I have often stopped there to watch Rough-winged swallows darting about as…
By Thomas Sanfilip I am not a believer in destiny or fate, neither chance nor serendipity, but rather fatedness, that is, the congruence of certain factors that coalesce in synchronous fashion to bring about an inevitable outcome. But as a…
By James Aitchison Think today’s bestsellers, and the usual suspects spring to mind: J. K. Rowling, Danielle Steel, Lee Child, Stephen King, John Grisham, David Baldacci and James Patterson. And while their sales achievements make headlines, some less familiar names…
By: Andrew Nickerson Sun Tzu and Entertainment: Girls Und Panzer[i]’s Anzio Battle Many tactical theorists have come and gone throughout history, but none have had the influence of Sun Tzu, an ancient general/tactician/strategist whose masterwork, The Art of War,…
By: Jun A. Alindogan I remember growing up in a neighborhood that was surrounded by nature. Our yard was filled with guavas, duhat (java plums), atis (sugar apples), tamarinds, coconuts, and bananas. Outside the yard, there were mango, santol (cotton…