My day took me near some woods with well-made trails, and I got out of the car to sit amid the trees for a while. Wish I'd had better microphones etc., but making a recording wasn't my goal; it just happened. It's hard to give a sense of how quiet it was and how full that quiet seemed.

I didn't see the bird whose call opens up the recording. A turkey maybe?

When I was called for Jury Duty last month, it turned out that all the potential jurors were being considered for one trial--a murder case with burglary as an "aggravating circumstance." One by one, each juror was interviewed in the presence of the judge, attorneys for the defense and the prosecution, various court officials, and the defendant himself.

I'm not usually tongue-tied, even in public speech, but this setting made me quite uneasy. As you can... read more