by david allan van nostrand | Sep 21, 2026 | Americana, Human Behavior, The Wayback Machine, The world around us
Eugene O’Neill wrote “The Iceman Cometh.” I only learned this week that his title was inspired by the New Testament book of Matthew, specifically, the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. As the story goes, ten virgins were chosen to be part of a wedding. The...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 24, 2026 | Human Behavior, Items in the News, The Wayback Machine, The world around us
Francisco de Goya painted Niños Jugando al Balancín in 1792. They’ve just kids, goofing around, making their own plaything from what’s handy. No GameBoys for these game boys. My first impression was how unstable it must be, one round log teetering on another round...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 17, 2026 | Behind the curtain, Inventions, The world around us
When we look at maps, what we see is not what we get. In 1569, Gerardus Mercator solved the problem that had forever vexed mapmakers: maps are flat and the Earth is round, more or less (technically, it’s an oblate spheroid). The biggest downside to the Mercator is...
by david allan van nostrand | Jul 27, 2026 | Actively observing, Human Behavior, The Wayback Machine, The world around us
As the story goes, Jasper Maskelyne outfoxed the Germans by making the Suez Canal disappear. From my safe distance high atop Civilization’s Hill of Knowledge, built on all the things we’ve learned in the 85 years since 1941, I feel confident that the Suez Canal is...
by david allan van nostrand | Jul 20, 2026 | Americana, Human Behavior, The Wayback Machine, The world around us, Young moderns
My concept of hobos was taught me by tv. The first I remember was a hobo that came thru Mayberry. Opie liked him right away, but the hobo turned out to be a ne’er-do-well that was teaching bad habits to the gullible kid. Andy put a stop to it, of course. TV and movies...
by david allan van nostrand | Jul 6, 2026 | Actively observing, Items in the News, The world around us
Burmese pythons are ambush hunters that can grow to be as much as 19 feet long in the wild in the Florida Everglades. Females are five or six feet longer than males and may lay as many as a thousand eggs over a typical life span. Burmese pythons rarely move about,...
