From the windswept moors of Scotland, I have returned to the warmer clime of southern New Mexico. Glasgow is a nice city and , given the change, I would definitely return to the banks of the River Clyde.

The Hunterian Gallery at Glasgow University has a display on Whistler. The Museum of Transport has a small display on the American Civil War (as related to the shipyards on the River Clyde). Without even noticing, in Scottish museums my attention was drawn to Americana. How American of me.

Unfortunately, thought the Queen was in Scotland at the time of her big day, she was on the Edinburgh side, so I didn’t get a chance to see her as she toured. Too bad.

About eight years ago, I was waiting in the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. I was on my way to Kodiak. The part of the airport that serviced that destination had few other destinations with multiple flights. After Kodiak (or maybe before; it was a long time ago), the most popular on the list of flights was Denali. I didn’t know what that was. Rather than ask, I looked around. From a brochure, I gathered that Denali was the place I had always known as Mount McKinley. It was never referred to as Mount McKinley anywhere in the airport (at least as far as I noticed on a cursory glance).

Have you ever had a dinner for one take two hours?

I have.

Today.

There is something very wrong with the way people have evolved. We are extremely adept at discerning patterns. These patterns, unfortunately, are of a size appropriate for hunter/gatherer bands. For great societies, these perceived patterns simply delude. In a lifespan of fifteen or twenty thousand days, a one in 10 thousand event is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. “If I conduct a single activity with a fairly low probability of a disaster occurring, it is OK.” What these people fail to realize is that they, along with their dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of counterparts are presenting the fates with an almost inevitable disaster.