Art, Film, Photography, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Siracusa: “My sins are all mortal.”

Caravaggio is one of the bad boys in the history of art with a biography so outlandish it reads like fiction. When he arrived in Sicily in 1608 he was wanted for murder in Rome and had brawled his way across the Mediterranean. There a story of his entering a church in Messina where he was offered a bowl of…

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Education, Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Leadership, Problem-Solving, Compassion and Empathy

As Donald Trump spirals deeper into madness and depravity the toll on the collective psyche just grows. Fortunately help is at hand in the form of the example of Hillary Clinton who recently demonstrated her tremendous problem-solving and self-calming abilities. We all know that cats saved the internet. Now it seems they are saving people from the stress of this…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

Those Apocryphal Flying Cats of Borneo: The Real Story

The flying cats of Borneo – apocryphal? Hyperbole? Fantasy? Jungle legend? Imaginary animals? In response to a request from a professor at The University of Iowa I provided one piece of the story of Operation Cat Drop backed by the official record. When I first heard of this improbable story and the ridiculous claim of 14,00 cats parachuted by the…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Great Cat Drop: Take this Test of Critical Thinking

We are all very fond of talking about critical thinking. But what does it actually mean? In the classroom, in reality, in our lives? And how is such a skill developed? Awash with information, how do we determine truth, integrity and merit? The skills of discernment and discrimination are more crucial than ever as we all sort through what we…

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