• What is energy?  I picture it as the distinction between existence and non-existence.  The dissipation of energy is the ongoing process of reconciling these states.

• When my mother made bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwiches, she always cut the bread on the diagonal.  She didn’t do this for baloney sandwiches or chipped ham sandwiches or any other type of sandwich except BLTs.  Naturally, I believe that the lunch world should do exactly what my mom did, and I am disappointed when I am served a BLT (or any other bacon-based sandwich) cut into rectangles.  It represents a lost opportunity in eating.

• Last week, I updated my article Why Frames Tilt Forward.  I had received comments on the original post as to how helpful it was, which got me to thinking: if people are actually reading this and relying on it, how sure am I that my math was right?  My doubts led me to tackle the problem all over again.  Luckily, I obtained the same answer as before but in a cleaner, more straightforward fashion, so I decided to edit the post and draw new charts.  And this time, I added a link to the solution so I would not forget it myself.

• I am pleased that Why Frames Tilt Forward is the first entry you will see if you search for why frames tilt and the third entry under frames tilt.  But you will not find it under tilt and please don’t ask why.

• I am liberal but not all liberals speak for me.  There exists a subset of liberals (as there are conservatives) who seem to be willing to parlay any promising but fragmentary set of facts into a narrative that advances their worldview.  Here I refer to the “clock invention” that 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed brought to his Irving, Texas, high school last month.  President Obama tweeted “Cool clock, Ahmed.”  Hillary Clinton weighed in with “Ahmed, stay curious and keep building.”  But when it was shown that Ahmed had simply stuffed the innards of a vintage clock radio into a pencil case, what did we hear from Obama, Clinton and the news media?  Tick tock.

• Some products do get better over time.  My new paper shredder did not cost a lot but it can shred credit cards.  I just did one.  I watched it get chewed up and I was fascinated.

• On the other hand, it is incomprehensible why Google Mail does not allow people to share and synchronize contacts unless you are business clients.  My wife and I have separate Gmail accounts but wish to share an address book.  I’ve found that the only way to sync contacts between two accounts is to make all the edits on the primary account (an inconvenience for both parties), then delete the contacts on the secondary account and import the list from the primary.  In the process, the secondary account loses all its speed-dial icons, since images are not exported with the rest of the data.  And this software is from the same company that wants you to ride in driverless cars.

• Network news is one product that has not improved with time.  You have a choice of CBS Evening Drama with Scott Pelley, NBC Nightly Drama with Lester Holt, or ABC World Drama Tonight with David Muir.  What these three shows have in common, besides the drama, is how deftly they move on to the next story just before the viewer is about to learn something.

• If you don’t have a good time at an amusement park, they should give you a refun.

• The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church visits the United States for several days and is treated like the hottest celebrity on the planet.  It is too bad that we elevate individuals to act as our moral exemplars without leaving it at that — no, we also insist that moral people buy into the belief-in-invisible-beings thing and some arbitrary set of superstition-based rules and practices that were enshrined centuries ago.  Why must our culture weigh down good behavior with bad dogma?

• I have not watched Trevor Noah on the Daily Show yet.  Nothing against him, but I have been more interested in Stephen Colbert’s new show.  Speaking of which, I am still waiting for Colbert to drop the “character” he said he would retire at the end of The Colbert Report.  Seems to me that the same high-strung, high-ego persona has simply switched jobs, from conservative pundit to late-night talk show host.  I’m ready for Colbert to get more real and play it down.  And one audience chant of Ste-phen Ste-phen per show is enough, please.

• On that note, I end with a Fresh Market grocery ad that would have made Jay Leno proud: