As the 2014 golfing season winds to a close, it's time to fondly remember some of the more fun (and/or crazy) times on the course this year. Here's one: the craziest place a golf ball I hit ended up in 2014. The course was Crestwood Golf Club, my home course. I'm on the 18th hole, a par 5 dogleg right. My tee shot was unremarkable, which for me is good because that means I kept it in play. For my second shot I took out my #5 hybrid, aiming to send it as close to the angle of the dogleg as I could manage. Instead, I shanked it to the right in a low and fast arc. Whack! It hit the trunk of a partially-rotted...

Every year about this time (for the past decade or so) the Somerville district of Boston plays host to the Honk! Festival. Billed as an extravaganza of "activist" street bands, it's an excuse to get out and shake your booty to the high energy music. Yeah, some of the bands feature folks waving signs and no, I didn't agree with all of them. It didn't matter, I was there for the music! My brother-in-law lives very close to Davis Square, so my wife and I journeyed to Somerville to enjoy his hospitality—and the festival—for the long weekend. The schedule for this fest is fairly simple: on Friday...

Sometimes I feel this bears repeating: "science" is more than just our body of knowledge; it's also the methodology—the so-called scientific method—for adding to that body. No, we don't know everything, we haven't had time enough to discover it all—yet. In the meantime, I contend there exists no other reliable method for doing that discovering; anything else falls under the heading of "making shit up." I would certainly be interested in hearing about other possible reliable methods for discovery—properly sourced, of course.