I read Ian Morris' Why the West Rules—For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future about ten years ago. Good book. Big history. My recollection of his closing argument is that great universities constitute the apex of the arc of history, i.e., the emphasis that a robust university places on inquiry and epistemology, i.e., how we know what we know, the best path forward for our species in the Anthropocene. There is nothing "unworldly" about institutions like MIT, especially when they are at their best. In fact, they may be the North Stars through which we can get through this challenging and exciting era. (Many, if not all, of the courses at the Institute are recorded and available for viewing for free.)

Bob Dylan is one of the three people whom I do not know who've exerted the greatest influence on my view of what is and who I am in it. The other two are Wilhelm Reich and Karl Marx. However, as I've gotten older, others are poking their noses into the tent as well. Bucky Fuller and Carl Jung are candidates for the second edition of My Mind According to Me. I've listened to every cut in Hwy 61 Revisited, Bringing It All Back Home, and Blonde On Blonde more times than anyone else I know, which probably means I don't know enough people. Here's a fave:

The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg FL is a treat! Great building! Challenging art. The Virtual Reality component of the museum makes the admission price well worth it to someone like me. The rest of the art is like a dividend of a martini. As evidenced by this t-shirt, the gift shop has its charms as well. (Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones was a close friend of Dali's. The Quiet One provides an in depth look into Wyman's life and his achievements.)

The Stax Box set of CDs is one of my prized possessions! Who can't use ten hours of ecstasy?! (To Anika)

Frank Zappa was an extraordinary prodigy. Everyone always asked him what drugs he took, and he never took any. Drugs took him! He was backed by The Turtles at one time.

I saw Elvis the day before my twelfth bday in 1956. Talk about a life changing event!

In my experience, very few people understand Newtonian physics, let alone the Einsteinian version. But they sure get it at NASA! When they say "It is rocket science," they ain't kidding! Several years ago NASA launched a satellite that had to swing shot around the Sun twice (!) to get to one of Jupiter's moons at a precise time on July 4th. (That's about 540 million miles away!) It landed almost precisely at its intended destination right on time. It was thrilling to me, a guy who'd get lost driving around the block if I didn't have my GPS. The satellite's mission, in part, is to study the climate of this moon and report back. So, consider this: the people of the United States are okay with NASA studying the weather of a moon 500+ million miles away, but a whole bunch of us don't want to hear what NASA says about our own climate changes right here at home.

I had a short lived career at the University, but my daughter, Leila, is a proud graduate and editor of We Made Uranium!

I had the privilege of seeing Otis perform twice when I was a teenager. On one occasion I got to sit next to Muhammed Ali (aka Cassius Clay at the time) and on the other, somebody got shot. So, memorable. As Dylan said when he heard Hendrix' recording of "All Along the Watchtower," Otis' version of "Satisfaction" was better than the Stones.