Chicken or Egg

The query of which came first, the chicken or the egg, is a popular riddle, used to illustrate our inability to understand the relationship ...

The Nature of Oppression

Human societies have been ruled by warlords, kings, queens, emperors, pharohs, chiefs, generals and other self-appointed dictators throughou...

March Preview

An early taste of March has descended on central Missouri today. Caught between two lows along an undulating jet stream, we are enjoying a ...

A Message from Christchurch

Today's tragic earthquake, in Christchurch, New Zealand, is just the latest reminder that the surface of the Earth continues to evolve a...

Colorado's State Bird

Since the State is famous for its scenic mountains and canyons, one would think that Colorado's State Bird is a resident of these landsc...

Waiting for Snows

After spotting a flock of snow geese over central Kansas yesterday, I was eager to visit Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area this morning. That ...

The Nature of Wind

Wind is the movement of air from atmospheric domes of high pressure, beneath which air is sinking, to zones of low pressure, where air is ri...

The Big Melt

After more than a month of extreme cold and heavy snow, the Heartland will enjoy a warming trend over the coming week. Our change in fortun...

The Evolution of Bare Skin

Walking to work on frigid winter mornings, I often ponder the loss of body hair that occurred as humans evolved from apes. Like every other...

The Nature of Leadership

Despite the growing industry of leadership camps and a huge variety of books on the subject, I have come to believe that the traits of a lea...

A Musical Interlude

Yesterday morning, the overnight low was 34 degrees F, the warmest in more than a month. On my way to work, in the predawn twilight, I was ...

The Ritual of Sports

Humans are social creatures and have long been enamored with ritual. Most of these ceremonial activities have centered around religion and ...

Mind & Soul

It is our brain power that sets humans apart from other animals. Nevertheless, we are members of the animal kingdom and share most of the a...

From Blizzard to Deep Freeze

Now that the powerful winter storm has moved on to the Canadian Maritimes, the dome of Arctic air that fueled its wrath has dropped into the...

Deep Snow

The twenty inches of snow that fell across mid Missouri yesterday poses a significant hardship for human residents but may prove to be deadl...

Blizzard Warnings

The warnings began a few days ago. What appeared to be a minor disturbance along the West Coast would become the Storm of the Century, a Wi...