Back to Sweden

Position: 58°39’58.3″N 13°51’51.0″E It’s been quite a week. Quite a couple of weeks in fact. Fans of this blog will be happy to know we are back on the road and exploring exotic and out of the way places again. …

The Death of Common Sense

Position: 29°57’19.8″N 90°04’06.5″W It is not entirely clear when common sense died. Perhaps sometime between the invention of the nanny state and the concurrent exploitation of tortious liability for the benefit of hucksters. Harms, real and invented, are big business …

Failure is an Option

Position: UPWARD DOG Despite what the folks at NASA might tell you, failure is an option. Otherwise, why would experimental aircraft have ejector seats? Or why would prototype rockets have a self-destruct mechanism to initiate a RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly)? …

Sounds in the Night

Position: 35°11’09.2″N 106°28’52.5″W Around 10PM I take Bodhi for his late night walk. Turning left out of the front door we head down the steep drive and turn right. No matter when the sun sets, at this altitude darkness falls …

A Nomad’s Life

Position: 34°35’42.9″N 106°17’45.4″W Nomads come in all shapes and sizes. Take us for instance. A mere foot of height between Carol and me makes the difference between seeing over the dodger or having to stand on Aleta’s cockpit seats. It …

Spring, or Humboldt’s Gift

Position: 35°10’37.9″N 106°27’59.9″W Besides a penguin and a current, Alexander von Humboldt gave the world the Naturgemälde, a theory of ecology based on altitudes. Over five years, Humboldt and his buddy Aimé Bonpland explored and measured every square centimetre of …

April Fools

Position: HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE I’m going to tell you a story about the most brilliant April Fool’s prank I ever played. I promise it’s a good one. Especially if you grew up in a household with a telephone wired …

Dali vs. Aleta

Position: 39°13’00.9″N 76°31’40.1″W A bit of maritime history was made this week when the appropriately named bulk cargo carrier MV Dali crashed surreally into the Francis Scott Key bridge just outside Baltimore Harbour. Unless you were living under a rock, …