Thoughts on history, ideas, and life.

Kostka the Service Dog

July 18, 2026

What the ADA actually says about service animals—and why a 12.5-pound mutt named Kostka counts: trained tasks for PTSD, not paperwork.

Does Mormon Qualify as a Historian?

July 16, 2026

The Book of Mormon presents Mormon as a historian, but what does that mean by ancient standards? A closer look suggests he did far more than simply record events.

Plans to Prototypes

July 15, 2026

Artificial intelligence has collapsed the cost of prototyping. That makes prototype stewardship a necessary new capability for project managers.

How We Got to Scheherazade

July 13, 2026

From royal courts and Haydn’s leash-breaking to a Russian sailor’s voyage around the world—how Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade came to paint the Arabian Nights in pure orchestra.

King Benjamin’s Salvation

July 11, 2026

What “salvation” means in English, in comparative religion, and—most carefully—in King Benjamin’s Mosiah 4:8: covenant, retention, and care for the poor.

Imagining the Basin Full: A Thought Experiment from a Salt Lake High-Rise

June 6, 2026

A multi-century thought experiment: what if the Great Salt Lake basin got Arkansas-level rain—and the lake rose toward the old Provo shoreline?