I’m sharing because after the email I sent below, I realized I’m approaching things differently. My friend, a practicing Christian, asked my thoughts: I’m wondering what you think about their idea of people working more to join or form a community to take action, rather than guilting themselves into thinking they have to do everything on their own (drive an electric car, or no car at all, not use any[…] Keep reading →

Someone suggested I learn about a writer named Pico Iyer. In an interview I listened to he talked about the musician Leonard Cohen, who apparently spent time living as a monk. Cohen’s practice, according to Iyer, included scrubbing the floor. The practice doesn’t sound glamorous. You can hire someone to do it. Why bother if you can afford not to? The movie Amazing Grace, about William Wilberforce, showed John Newton[…] Keep reading →

Since I grew up taller than average, adults often asked if I played basketball. My parents weren’t athletic, so younger than high school, I got little experience practicing. When my mom lived on Rockland Street, an economically depressed block where we were a small minority as one of I think three white families out of about a hundred households, it was Philadelphia in the 70s. Dr. J was huge, so[…] Keep reading →

Why do so many people lecture me on what it’s like to be a straight white male, and why is what they say invariably unlike my life? Do they tell other people what they should be like due to their sexuality, skin color, and sex? Why do they presume to know so much about me and what motivates them to tell me about my life? Why do they tell me[…] Keep reading →

Do you avoid asking for help because you feel like it might present you as not knowing something you should, or lower in status than the person you ask for help? I would. I felt like it made me look ignorant and lesser. But asking someone for help is an act of leadership. It leads them to help you. I’m not saying this is a deep realization, but I think[…] Keep reading →

Since sharing my September 11 experience on the podcast, I lost $10 million on September 11, 2001. Here is what I learned from those who sacrificed and served, I’ve shared my story of loss with friends and family. As I have for twenty years, I hedged describing that loss with the context of those who died, those who volunteered to put themselves in harm’s way with the intent to defend[…] Keep reading →

Every time I look at my floor sponge I think, “it’s beyond the end of its life. Time to get rid of it.” Below are pictures of the front and back. It’s in tatters. But look at the third picture. It still cleans the floor. Why get rid of something that works? I’ve cleaned my floor every fifth day without fail for about five years, maybe more. I do it[…] Keep reading →

With the recent civilian billionaires heading to space, Rob and Andrew invited me as a guest on their show After Dark on America Out Loud to speak about space, humans going there, and my helping build satellites with NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency). I haven’t gotten to nerd out on my rocket-based work in years, even decades. I don’t remember the hard equations since I’m out of practice,[…] Keep reading →

How many times have you heard people suggest the answer to our environmental problems is more technology? Have you heard of carcinogens or other toxic chemicals coming from places other than our technology? I guess some things like animal venom or naturally occurring heavy metals, but there aren’t too many of them. Volcanoes may emit carbon dioxide, but not enough to raise Earth’s temperature by a degree per decade. For[…] Keep reading →