Author Archives: Bill

Calling All Astronomers. . . Something Doesn’t Add Up

Posted on 2022-04-20T13:05:25-05:000000002530202204 by Bill

I took an astronomy course at Vanderbilt more than fifty years ago; an enjoyable and thought-provoking course which informs the following: Something of indeterminately large size, a singularity, may have exploded, or unimaginably expanded, billions of years ago, ejecting material … Continue reading →

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“Ideas Have Consequences” – Forthcoming Essays

Posted on 2020-12-02T00:27:46-05:000000004631202012 by Bill

“The past shows unvaryingly that when a people’s freedom disappears, it goes not with a bang, but in silence amid the comfort of being cared for. That is the dire peril in the present trend toward statism. If freedom is … Continue reading →

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Letter to a Friend Who Loves the Word

Posted on 2020-10-13T19:53:02-05:000000000231202010 by Bill

In this time when circumstance and scientism endeavors to prevail over definition and faith; praise for what you do. For about six years now, beneath my name and contact information for every email sent is the acronym HUMSFOR: humility, understanding, mercy, selflessness, forgiveness, obedience, … Continue reading →

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First and Third and Three Seventy-Five

Posted on 2018-06-29T22:45:30-05:000000003030201806 by Bill

Summer 1972: It felt right to settle into the catching position, as though that was where the baseball diamond wanted me. More than a year before, of necessity, I was called upon to catch while playing a college baseball game. … Continue reading →

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‘Clipper’ed then ‘Splinter’ed

Posted on 2018-05-10T23:29:32-05:000000003231201805 by Bill

To Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees faithful I am an unrepentant apostate because I want both teams to flourish. My first love was the Yankees, for which I had no choice since it was for all intents and … Continue reading →

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Machiavelli Might Agree

Posted on 2018-05-05T12:38:50-05:000000005031201805 by Bill

If zealots with nefarious intent toward this republic ordained to exercise long term dissemblance to foment authoritarian ends, why would their subversive endeavors be directed toward targets other than a receptively mendacious and tendentious Media, an impolitic Education, and a … Continue reading →

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Blank and Galled

Posted on 2018-04-01T23:47:31-05:000000003130201804 by Bill

Why did Vanderbilt Magazine editors repeat equity, diversity, inclusion, and identity more than sixty-five times in the Fall 2017 issue? Were they merely informing VU alumni, or trying to proselytize us? Those four words excessive use made me think the university’s … Continue reading →

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Worth the Wait

Posted on 2017-09-25T13:07:21-05:000000002130201709 by Bill

Bring home Epiphyllum oxypetalum, the magnificent night-blooming cereus, but expect no one to say nice things about your new plant . . . because they won’t. Then be patient. Be very patient. Two to three to five years patient. The … Continue reading →

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True Colors

Posted on 2017-08-29T22:31:25-05:000000002531201708 by Bill

God, I cannot make it through this day without You; yet I know before my feet hit the floor this morning that I will turn my back on You today. How can You love such a fraud?

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He Saw This From Afar

Posted on 2017-07-28T15:37:15-05:000000001531201707 by Bill

A few words about TE Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom: Read the book. Linger over chapter three; only six pages. Better still would be to read that chapter again and again until you’re sated in Lawrence’s narrative. But at last … Continue reading →

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Talk About Offensive

Posted on 2017-05-22T11:14:05-05:000000000531201705 by Bill

Consider the many opportunities for removal and relocation of Roman historical sites deemed “on the wrong side of humanity” which would be available to New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu were he mayor of Rome, Italy. Is it a fair reflection, Mitch, to … Continue reading →

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Twinkle . . .

Posted on 2017-04-21T23:20:43-05:000000004330201704 by Bill

Sometimes on warm, clear, moonless nights I would gaze up at the stars while lying in our front yard; wondering what was that hazy stripe which looked like a far off cloud across the roof of the sky. At nine I … Continue reading →

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It’s for the Birds

Posted on 2017-03-29T20:33:11-05:000000001131201703 by Bill

Thirty years ago I bought a bird seed feeder at our local hardware store. One feeder eventually became many, meaning that in my yard today birds can find feeders holding black oil sunflower seed and hulled chips, nyjer seed, hulled peanuts, suet, … Continue reading →

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Dear MSM: Your Allegations Don’t Add Up

Posted on 2016-12-11T17:48:23-05:000000002331201612 by Bill

Impressive. Voters in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York must have remained immune to purported Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. How else to explain those four states’ voters giving Clinton a 7.8 million vote buffer over Trump? The … Continue reading →

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Heavenly Lace

Posted on 2015-02-01T00:33:28-05:000000002828201502 by Bill

Sometimes adherence to grammatical rules fails in the attempt to convey a particularly lofty exuberance of the senses. So I will not apologize, nor repent for what follows: The most delicious-est thing I’ve ever eaten is a cookie my wife makes which … Continue reading →

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Gruber’s 279

Posted on 2015-01-07T22:57:33-05:000000003331201501 by Bill

Professor Jonathan Gruber’s roster of American voters whose ‘stupidity’ was integral to passing H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (henceforth ACA) should encompass millions. Coverage of his statements was variously slanted across the media spectrum. The Right … Continue reading →

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Bear Scrawl

Posted on 2013-02-18T23:41:16-05:000000001628201302 by Bill

I couldn’t get close to the same spot today. The wait was interminable, and several times I was certain he had slipped past me. Finally, he walked out of the clubhouse, two shoe boxes under his arm, and dropped them into the limousine’s open … Continue reading →

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An Inch of Rain

Posted on 2012-11-25T23:01:43-05:000000004330201211 by Bill

Consider one inch of rain falling onto one acre of land. Is that a lot of rain? How many gallons of water fell, and how much does the rainfall weigh? Yes, that is an immense amount of rain because it equals about 27,000 gallons which weighs approximately 113 tons. Yes, one hundred … Continue reading →

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Wasp Stealth

Posted on 2012-11-25T22:53:13-05:000000001330201211 by Bill

I jumped from our low porch and told my grandfather to move away. Previous red wasp encounters had ended badly for me, so I wanted no part of the cranky red-winged family living alongside the two who had flown from directly underneath where I had been sitting a couple of breaths … Continue reading →

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