Three times now I’ve seen the Oscar and Golden Globe winning film, the enigmatic Flow/Straume. The last was an exceptional event with a full symphonic orchestra! Caption: At the Riga Arena, May 23, 2026, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra performed the film’s score, composed and conducted by Rihards Zaļupe. Since I’m always on the lookout…
Free will
The Bumptious Among Us & How They Get That Way
The word, bumptious, has found recent currency, mostly in political discourse, but the Trumpian allusion is not what I’ve in mind. Nor will this be a plea for others, always others, to be kinder and more considerate. Rather, I’ll explore the seeming lack of courtesy (rudeness) which is central to being bumptious. What promotes rudeness?…
Aesop’s “ZEUS AND THE DONKEYS”*
The donkeys were tired of being burdened with burdens and labouring all the days of their lives, so they sent ambassadors to Zeus, asking him to release them from their toil. Zeus, wanting to show them that they had asked for something impossible, said that their suffering would come to an end on the day…
Blog Update: A Pilgrim’s Progress
As the reader may know, I have moved my 15-year-old blog from the Nucleus platform (no longer supported) to the WordPress platform which, I am told hosts 40% of the world’s blogs. My progress has been akin to traversing a squelching bog at midnight. . It’s been trial and error (or sink or swim) as…



