William Hardy

  Super performing athletes, during moments of peak performance, report the experience of seeing an activity as if it were in slow motion while they were doing it, making the task easier or, at least, doable.  Also, recently,  neuro-scientists have discovered that the brain takes slices of time, snapshots, to capture in the memory of … Read moreHeretofore Former Glory

When I was working at HP in the 80’s there were a lot of Chinese students working there as interns.  The view in Silicon Valley was that sharing information and using synergy to create fresh ideas was the best way to develop advanced technologies.  Because this was the only place that I had worked up … Read moreAntikythera Mechanism

The lake at Big Bear is perhaps 20 miles long.  On the East end there is another small natural area that, this year, has become a small lake, thanks to the copious amount of rain and snow during this year’s winter.   Yesterday Nancy and I walked through this preserve.  For a large part of … Read moreStansfield Cutoff

Nancy asked me to buy two pounds of ground beef at the Community Market on the corner after I had my tires rotated.  No problem.  I parked, went in, strode with purpose to the meat cooler and looked for some ground beef.  No ground beef.   But, there was some ground chuck . . it … Read moreGround Chuck at the Community Market

Last week I was driving out of Tehachapi headed east toward Barstow, and eventually to Big Bear, when I spotted hundreds of gigantic white windmills spinning their massive propellers and generating power to support our technological infrastructure.   They were dotted across the fields and up the mountains like white splatter on a Jackson Pollock painting.  … Read moreJackson Pollock and Tehachapi

The basic assumption that someone will do the right thing depends on the character of the person and the situation.  This also depends on what the right thing is, because not everyone has the same set of values.  A bigot, for example, might feel that the right thing to do is prevent a person of … Read moreFruit of the Poisonous Tree

Since I was a little boy in Uncle Dickie’s back yard, scratching at the ground with a recalcitrant nine iron trying to coax a golf ball to soar like an eagle, I have wanted to play good golf. Somewhere along the line I realized that this was going to be a lifetime endeavor for me. … Read moreFrom Here To Eternity

I once had a great idea, but now it’s gone.  I am not sure where it went.   The more I think about it, the more I think that it couldn’t have been a great idea if I forgot it so quickly . . an expression direct from my mother.   But we all know … Read moreI Once Had A Great Idea

The weather was frigid.  I would look out the window at the the Schlicting Candy Store across the field.   During the summer Cher would go into the grass behind the candy store and catch grasshoppers.  One day she came running back.  She tried to kiss one and it latched onto her lower lip and wouldn’t … Read moreGrasshoppers at Valley Stream

The last scene in Can-can, Cole Porter’s quintessential musical of France’s golden age, was an explosion of song and dance that rattled the rafters of the, then, Honolulu Community Theatre in the early 60’s.  I stood transfixed after every performance.  Paul Tremaine, the technical director, loved the last scene, and we would come from the … Read moreA Tap With A Slap Of A Fan Can, Yes You Can Can-Can, Too