Readers, are you old enough to remember the classic Game of Life endorsed by Art Linkletter? In exchange for his endorsement ("I heartily endorse this game!"), the portrait of Arthur Linkletter, Esq. appeared on the $100,000 bill. The $50,000 bill featured Milton Bradley's portrait, and on the $20,000 bill was my favorite portrait of all, that of the fictional character G. I. Luvmoney. Art Linkletter and Milton Bradley were actual people, but G. I. Luvmoney was a made-up name

One of my favorite recreational activities is hiking along a forest trail on a cool, sunny morning. The peacefulness of the forest, the crisp feel of the air, the beauty of nature all around—it all combines in my mind and spirit to form a sense of connectedness to God and His creation. Just wonderful! Here I am hiking up 4-Mile Trail at Yosemite National Park in June 2017. What a great morning—cool mountain air, lots of sunshine, and a magnificent view of Half Dome greeting m

Scientists and mathematicians propose so many interesting, exotic ideas to explain the truth about reality, don't you agree? Here's a nifty example from Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist who wrote A Brief History of Time, and made several TV guest appearances on shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Big Bang Theory. (You know, I bought A Brief History of Time back in the early 1990s, when it was on all the bestseller lists. It's not a long book at

I was traveling recently in our nation's capital. During my visit, I had the opportunity to swing by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, located on the south side of the Tidal Basin. The Jefferson Memorial is one of several prominent landmarks that form a ring along the shoreline of the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. (Parenthetically, the statue of Jefferson, the archetypical Democratic-Republican, stares out from his Memorial across the Tidal Basin at the imposing Washington Monu

Friends, do you know about tropes? Tropes are commonly used literary devices that provide context and familiarity to readers. Used properly, they can help advance a story along and even add to the reader's fun! But sometimes a particular trope will be used so frequently it gets worn out and becomes a cliché. Although writers should avoid using a lot of clichés in their writing, most every good storyteller ends up using an occasional trope or two, now and then. Let me guess...

I confess I'm no athlete. I can't catch the ball, I can't throw the ball, I can't hit the ball with a 3-wood. I'm a bit overweight and rather slow. When I believe I'm "running," I appear to others to be "jogging"—or maybe even "lumbering," "shuffling," or "fast-walking." (Look, that morning the lady pushing her baby in a stroller passed me up, I hadn't eaten a good breakfast, okay?) So I surprised myself a few years ago when I decided to train for and complete a marathon. Hmm

Readers, do you know about the "invisible hand?" Sounds kind of creepy, doesn't it? But really, it's not creepy at all. Actually, I think the invisible hand is one of the best things we've got going for us! The invisible hand. We've developed this image using special techniques and advanced filters so you can actually observe how the invisible hand is gently holding the earth in its palm. Rest assured, the invisible hand is taking care of us every day, even if we don't notice

Today is the 49th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down in the Sea of Tranquility in their spaceship Eagle, and became the first humans in history to travel to the surface of another world. The Moon. The little yellow dot shows the approximate location where the Eagle landed on July 20, 1969. (However, certain conspiracy theorists contend the moon landings were faked, and the Eagle actually "landed" at the si

Dinosaur fans, I think I made a math error in my last entry here on THE MAIN THING, in which I claimed Dragons > Dinosaurs. (Tapping the underlined link takes you back to that blog post.) When I went back to check my work—I know, something I should have done in the first place—I discovered the correct answer was actually Dragons = Dinosaurs. Look at these REAL fossils of dinosaurs, friends! These are REAL! You could literally go up and touch them—but don't do it because Museu

Look dinosaur fans, I don't want to start an unhealthy rivalry thing with you, but as the mathematicians might say, DRAGONS > dinosaurs. Consider: As treasure hoarders, dragons have more financial wherewithal than dinosaurs. Many dragons can communicate with us directly through human speech. Dragons are flyers, whereas most dinosaurs are not. And the real clincher: dragons breath FIRE! Observe this majestic dragon soaring through the ancient forest! So incredibly magnificent

Do you know about nanobots? Nanobots are tiny robots that are small enough to be injected directly into the blood stream through a syringe. Once they are circulating around our bodies suspended in our blood plasma, they can analyze the "what's what," as the youngsters say, with our cells and membranes and tissues and so forth. If they find a problem, they can self-replicate many copies of their teensy-weensy little selves to correct the problem. Look! Tiny little robots! They