Pedro Lilienfeld

After living for well over half a century in this land of exceptionalisms I have made some observations that have left me puzzled if not bewildered. I want to share some of these American idiosyncrasies with you. Units of Measurement We all know the centuries-old resistance of the US to adopt the metric system –…

Herein I describe our experiences during our trip to the Greek island of Syros in the company of Paul and Mary (names changed for anonymity), in July 2015. Don’t misunderstand me. I like Paul with all his idiosyncratic warts. We first met him and his wife Mary on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts in…

I penned this short essay towards the end of 1999 amidst the anxieties of the impending Y2000 transition Our Western frenzy about the upcoming millennium should be tempered by the realization that: a) the timing of this momentous occasion is simply a quirk of the decimal counting system that we have chosen to adopt, and…

Humanity’s accepted taxonomic classification is as follows: Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Primates, Family: Hominidae, Genus: Homo, Species: Homo sapiens, Subspecies: Homo sapiens sapiens. Why double sapiens? Because we are the modern subspecies of the species that includes homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Not surprisingly it is we, ourselves, who have labelled us as such.…

I am writing, gathering and organizing this collection of essays based on my writings over many years. This undertaking was started shortly before my ninetieth birth-year and I expect to continue it until the end. I was inspired to embark in this endeavor by an example that I will not try to emulate: the two…