The Nature of Things

On September 24 ( Corrected from 21 ), 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi, a genius was born. True, it took the world a few years to recognize and acknowledge that genius, but by the 1970s when James Maury Henson joined "Sesame Street," he was already well on his way. It was "Sesame Street" and a certain green frog that made Jim Henson a star and a household name. Henson continued with the show until his untimely death on May 16, 1990. During those years, he also created films like The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper and was involved in creating the puppets for Dark Crystal and Labyrinth , as well as the television show "Fraggle Rock." All of these titles were staples of my daughters' childhood. They watched them - and I watched with them - over and over again. We never tired of them. Henson's creations live on and continue to entertain and inform children - and adults - right around the world. How fortunate we are that that is true. On wh...

One of the headlines that I read online today in regard to the sad passing of Steve Jobs was that he "invented our modern world."   That might seem like typical journalistic hyperbole and yet, if you think about it, there's more than a grain of truth there.  The world is a very different place because Steve Jobs lived among us.  He packed a lot of innovation into his short 56 years. When I came into the world, the reigning "world genius" was still Albert Einstein.  He was nearing the end of his stay on this planet, but he was still very much with us.  In his lifetime, his theories and insights had transformed our world.  Things could never go back to the way they were before Einstein.  He changed the world forever and he was gifted with a long life to see the results wrought by some of his accomplishments. When I think about other "world geniuses" that have been present on Earth during my lifetime, two names spring readily to mind:  Jim Henson and...