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Coincidence of the Week
Seth also chose this week to write about entropy.
"Sooner or later, unless you push back, you’ll end up at room temperature."
Photo Memory of the Week
Music of the Week
Quotes of the Week
“Only entropy comes easy.” - Anton Chekhov (c.1900); also stated by Lewis Mumford (1970)
“You should call it entropy, because nobody knows what entropy really is, so in a debate you will always have the advantage.” - John Neumann (c.1939), suggestion to Claude Shannon on what to call his new formula for information
“Just as the constant increase of entropy is the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to be ever more highly structured and to struggle against entropy.” - Vaclav Havel (1986), Czech playwright
Source: EOHT
Posted: 2026 Jan 10
Category Archives: Through Space
Did You Ever Wonder?
Seeing books used as props, anywhere other than on a theatre stage, baffles and annoys me simultaneously. Books, dagnab it, are not meant to to complement the wallpaper, but to inform, teach, divert, or elevate. Continue reading
Working This Weekend?
Now, you can argue about the wisdom of messing with the environment on any scale. But what hit me was his sense of working on — of belonging to — a noble and enduring endeavour that would last well beyond his lifetime. Continue reading
Mind the Hole
Holes in the desert, ranging from the Grand Canyon to burrows for tiny rodents, inspire awe, albeit short-lived. Skunks, on the other hand, inspire a more focused mindfulness. Standing on the edge of a hole in the ground, I take … Continue reading
The Place Where
A trip back to my place of birth and home for a few decades leads to ruminations on home – what it has been for deep thinkers and poets, and what it is for me. Home is the place where, … Continue reading
We Got a Few of My Favourite Things
The last of eight observations on a recent Caribbean cruise, with apologies to both Toby Keith and Oscar Hammerstein II. Favourite question and answer on an island tour: Fellow traveller: Are the roads always busy like this? Guide: Not sometimes. … Continue reading
We Got Buyers, We Got Accosters
As we move through the Caribbean, the view changes with the location, but two things stay the same. The wind keeps blowing, and the crew keeps selling. Continue reading
We Got Rich Folks, We Got Poor Folks
The sixth of eight observations on a recent Caribbean cruise. In my own mind, I’m not rich: I work for a living, I make trade-offs, I watch my budget. But the Caribbean islands make me feel as uncomfortably rich as … Continue reading
We Got Photo Takers, and Music Makers
The fifth of eight observations on a recent Caribbean cruise. Brring, brring. It’s oh-six-hundred and something-or-other. The automated wake-up phone call startles me awake, as it has every morning since we sailed. We always seem to be (over)eating at sunset, … Continue reading
We Got Shoppers, We Got Sellers
The fourth of eight observations on a recent Caribbean cruise. Making my still-uncertain way from cabin to, well, anywhere on this ship, I pass shops selling cruise line souvenirs, jewelry, fine timepieces (aka ‘watches’), specialty liquors, leather accessories, and modern … Continue reading