Posted inScience

Still time to be part of the Elegant Universe

If you didn’t catch the first two hours of PBS’ “The Elegant Universe” with string theorist Brian Greene, the final third hour is coming up from 8-9 pm on Tuesday, November 4. We haven’t finishing watching the initial episode, but what we’ve seen has been great. I’ve read most of Greene’s book by the same name, and am passingly familiar with string theory. Still, there’s no substitute for special effects, and having complex physics/cosmology explained by an expert with a gift for communicating. Greene can write; he can talk; he’s likable and expressive; and he’s also a top-notch scientist—a rare…
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Posted inMiscellany

We interrupt this weblog…

We interrupt this weblog for some commercial messages. Well, quasi-commercial, since HinesSight is not supported by any dependable source of income, in the traditional writer’s spirit. I’ve just built up a small stack of items that are calling out to be publicized, and want to shut up those annoying little voices from the pieces of paper on the rug beside my desk. Plus, I want to stop rolling over them every time I push my chair away to get another snack, or take a nap, after laboring at my literary projects for the usual half hour or so at a…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

I’m dreaming of killing someone

Actually, several someones. My fantasy starts with the Fulton County (Georgia) school system, which recently expelled a high school freshman for writing a fictional tale in her private journal about a student who dreams she kills a teacher. I saw this girl, Rachel Boim, interviewed on CNN today. You couldn’t ask for a more intelligent, articulate, and mature 14-year old than Rachel—who undoubtedly surpasses the Fulton County school administrators in all of these qualities. When asked if she would write the tale again, given what has just happened, she wisely said, “Of course I would. It was just a story,…
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Posted inPhilosophy

God, save us from “God”

If you read Meister Eckhart, and I certainly recommend that you do, you’ll find numerous references to freeing ourselves of “God”—the false thing— so we can truly get in touch with God—the real thing (there are lots of translations of Eckhart, this Penguin Classics book is my favorite). Here’s an example, where Eckhart praises genuine spiritual poverty: I said before that a poor person is someone who does not even will to perform God’s will, but who lives in such a way that he or she is as free both of their own will and of God’s will as they…
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Posted inDogs Recreation

Dining tip/Triathlon win

First, a dining tip. We heartily recommend, whether you are a vegetarian or not, the “Garden Plate” dinner selection at the Black Butte restaurant—where we just celebrated my second birthday dinner, ten days after the first celebration with my sister and brother-in-law. One difference this time: I had to buy my own dinner. Another difference: as good as DaVinci’s restaurant in Salem is, this Garden Plate dish was really spectacular. Since we want Black Butte to keep offering the Garden Plate, and our waiter said it took some serious lobbying from the waiters/waitresses to get the chef to make a…
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Posted inRecreation

Central Oregon excitement!

Wow, it’s been a pretty exciting day here in Central Oregon! We just got back from a trip to Bend and Sunriver in which we visited a Costco store! Yes, it isn’t politically correct to admit this, since Costco is one those giant “big box” stores that squeezes out local competition, but we love Costco. It’s so full of surprises. We went in with the single-minded intention to buy some supplies for the Camp Sherman cabin, and as soon as we passed through the door we were sidetracked by the giant display of men’s and women’s winter jackets. A men’s…
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Posted inRecreation

Camp Sherman catch-up

I always feel guilty when a week or more goes by between HinesSight postings. So it is time for Camp Sherman catch-up, now that we’re ensconced in a quiet cabin in Central Oregon for a few days with no TV to watch. I emphasize those words to demonstrate our Thoreauian commitment to natural simplicity—though actually it is less a commitment than necessity, since television signals can’t make it through the trees and Black Butte to the cabin, and neither cable TV nor cellular service has found its way to Camp Sherman yet (for which we’re grateful, really, except on Saturday…
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Posted inDogs

Why dogs don’t invent computer chips

Recently Laurel excitedly pointed out to me a news item about dogs sharing 75% of human DNA, or something along those lines. I wasn’t impressed, since I knew that chimpanzees and people are 98% genetically similar, which makes our dog a much more distant relative. And the more I play “buddy ball” with Serena, the more I am convinced that even that 75% may be a decided overestimate. For those unfamiliar with dog play paraphernalia, “buddy ball” is the brand name of Serena’s light-up-in-the-dark ball, the light-up feature being a necessity given her underdeveloped retriever skills, as it allows me…
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Posted inEntertainment Philosophy

Joan of Arcadia: God Appears on Prime Time

We just experienced a miracle—the premier of a prime time network series that we actually enjoyed. "Joan of Arcadia"(CBS, Friday, 8:00 pm) is about a sixteen year old girl who starts to encounter God in all sorts of guises. First, just a voice. Then a shadowy figure who seems to be an old man. Then a hunky teenage boy. And finally a black woman, for the requisite non-sexist political correctness. Personally, I was rooting for God to always appear to Joan in the guise of a male, since this seems to me to be the most appropriate and natural form…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Land use twists and turns

Ah, the wonder of all the twists and turns in our appeal of the neighborhood (Spring Lake Estates) proposed lot partitioning. First we win the appeal. We’re up! Then that decision is appealed. And we lose the second remand decision. We’re down! Then we ask the County Commissioners to reconsider the remand approval, and they decline, thereby sustaining the atrocious decision. We’re even further down! Then, after consulting the level of our psychic energy and bank balance, we decide to take another step and appeal to LUBA—the Land Use Board of Appeals, a $375 step. Though it is customary to…
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Posted inEntertainment

Swimming Pool

As a rule of thumb, whenever a movie review contains the words, “Rated R (for strong sexual content, nudity, language, some violence and drug use),” I’m pretty sure I’m going to like the film. And indeed I did like "Swimming Pool," our latest art flick entertainment at Salem Cinema. On the face of it, it’s one of those “repressed old maid writer unleashes her unexpressed wild side” movies, which wouldn’t make it too special. But the gorgeous Ludivine Sagnier, complete with alluring French accent and even more alluring frequent topless scenes, makes Swimming Pool special, as does the ending, about…
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Posted inHome life

Where is it???!!!

I haven’t posted anything for almost a week because I’ve spent most of my time camped out in our driveway, looking for the Mini-Cooper with my personalized license plate already on it to arrive from God. By now, I’m almost beginning to think that the comment attached to the posting below may have been tongue-in-cheek! But no!!! I must end that beginning of my thinking!!! My faith in God’s omnibenevolence must not slacken. And it will not. I shall consider that Keith’s comment, though perhaps not objectively factually true, still is, as he says, “a sign from a higher power.”…
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Posted inSustainability

Cool EEI web site

In my guise as the Communications Director for Eco-Enterprises, Inc. (a wonderfully impressive title, you must admit, which doesn’t begin to reflect the wonderfully humble reality behind those words), I’ve had the pleasure of working with a talented young web site designer, one Matthew Flook. His design talents can be perused at the newly released www.eco-enterprises.com, along with the written content that I supplied as my half of the partnership. The logo was designed by Matthew’s father, Randy. It nicely reflects EEI’s commitment to basing our property development model on nature’s wise cyclical way of doing things, rather than the…
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Posted inPhilosophy

Need to revisit Life Plan for Happiness

Earlier in the week Laurel had prominently displayed page 99 from the September 8 issue of TIME magazine so I couldn’t miss the item called “No Price Tag on Happiness.” To make sure I got the point, she crossed out “Porsche” and wrote in “Mini-Cooper” on the item’s first sentence: “Think that Porsche and boat and beach house you have been dreaming of would make you happy? Think again.” Richard Easterlin, an economist, found that “while healthy people are generally happier than unhealthy ones and married people are happier than unmarrieds, increases in wealth and material possessions improve happiness only…
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Posted inHome life

Secret shame confessed

It’s been a few weeks now since I engaged in an activity that needs confessing, but which I still can’t bring myself to speak openly about. So please excuse me for speaking indirectly in this posting. I hope you understand how difficult it is for me to talk about this. I mean, I’ve always known that I had a secret passion for it. And now that satellite TV (we subscribe to the DISH network) brings so many channels right into your home, it isn’t necessary to skulk around to view this sort of stuff any more. It’s right there in…
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Posted inHome life Neighborhood

Fire karma comes closer

Nothing grabs your attention like hearing the phone ring, picking up the receiver, saying “hello,” and then having the neighbor across the street excitedly tell you that he has just called 911 because there is a wildfire burning a few lots down from you. The neighbor was out of breath because he had noticed smoke, went to check it out, and ended up trying to put it out with a garden house (the people whose house the fire had started next to weren’t home). Laurel was in town, so I left a message at one of her likely stops, LifeSource…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Recreation

Rain dances, please

We would most appreciate some rain dances tonight and tomorrow, focusing your attention on the Camp Sherman area in central Oregon. Rain prayers are fine as an alternative. Rain magic…rain wishes…rain sorcery…rain making. Anything that will put out the Booth Fire before it torches Camp Sherman, and the cabin we own with three other people on the Metolius River, do it. The weekly newspaper in a nearby town (Sisters), the Nugget, has been doing a fine job reporting on the fire via their web site. Camp Sherman has been evacuated as a precautionary measure, even though the fire is still…
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Posted inHome life

Correction!!!

The publisher of HinesSight, namely me, has been contacted by someone, namely my wife, who was prominently mentioned in these pages recently, namely in the last posting. The publisher rashly printed out this post for Laurel’s information and amusement, and discovered that she was more informed than amused. Even though the publisher emphasized that some exaggeration is central to humor (do dogs really talk to bartenders?), my understandable desire to be able to go to sleep tonight without fearing that, sometime during the night, my head or some other important bodily organ will be smashed with a baseball bat by…
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Posted inHome life

What Laurel leaves me

Recently a HinesSight reader, who would remain nameless except for my writing “Karen Lord,” asked a question that goes right to the heart of my marital relationship, and deserves answering in some detail. Before we get into this, I should add that Karen is our CPA. And a very good CPA at that. Further, she is probably the only liberal/progressive CPA in the entire United States, a real mark of distinction. So, if you call up Karen, tell her Brian sent you. Recently we referred a new client to her, which means, I hope, that we get a free tax…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Anti-partitioning battle continues

The Hines’ battle to save the Earth from greedy land developers, or, at least, the small corner of the Earth that is Spring Lake Estates, continues. A few weeks ago we were surprised and dismayed to learn that the Marion County Hearings Officer had overruled herself on the Nielsen’s lot partitioning case. We won the first appeal, as the Hearings Officer found that the Nielsen’s hydrologist had failed to demonstrate that this partitioning wouldn’t harm the long-term sustainability of groundwater in the surrounding area. When the Nielsen’s appealed this denial, the Marion County Board of Commissioners remanded the case back…
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