Ideas & Open Forum is a place to think out loud about ideas, questions, and things worth discussing.
Exploring Our World Energy Story
The essays you are about to read grew out of something none of us could ignore — the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and what it revealed about how dependent the world remains on a remarkably fragile energy supply chain. Three essays became seven, and seven have become the foundation of something larger: a new series called Exploring an Energy Story Still Being Written.
A note on the images in this series: the photographs throughout MY VIEW are my own. For these essays, where the subjects range from underground salt caverns to battery chemistry to the Strait of Hormuz itself, we are using AI-generated images to introduce and illustrate the content. They are created to fit the subject, not to represent actual locations or events.
Before you read these essays, you might want to know how they get made.
The Next Two Chapters In Our Energy Story
The Promise and the Distance: 4-What Fusion Energy Actually Is Today
July14, 2026 Every energy source in this series has involved burning something, splitting something, or capturing something that already exists — oil, sunlight, heat from… Read more…
The Invisible Fuel: 3-What Hydrogen Actually Is — and Isn’t
July 10, 2026 The Invisible Fuel: What Hydrogen Actually Is — and Isn’t When most people hear “hydrogen vehicle,” they picture something like a gas-powered… Read more…
Heat From the Earth: 2-The Geothermal Breakthrough
July 7, 2026 Every energy source this series has examined so far — oil, batteries, solar, wind, nuclear — draws on something that can run… Read more…
View All Posts in This Series
On My Mind
How These Essays Get Made (and many of my other writings)
June 13, 2026 Someone asked me recently how I go about putting these essays together. I thought it was worth sharing, because the process itself… Read more…
B-Color Sweet Corn
May 31, 2026 We had a wonderful surprise Saturday. Our neighbors Carl and Carrie drove up to Charlie’s U-Pik in Wiggins and stopped by on… Read more…
Memories of our home in Amstelveen, The Netherlands
May 30, 2026 This video below brings back a memory I love to share. Shopping in Holland is a daily affair, largely because the Dutch… Read more…
View On My Mind Posts
Living With AI
Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape many kinds of work, often quietly and unevenly.
This series is an attempt to watch that process unfold and think about what it might mean for the way people work and live.
This has been and is continuing to be quite a learning experience for me; one that I want to share with you.
#10 – The Turning Point We May Be Living Through
Living With AI Looking back at history, certain moments stand out as turning points. When electricity began spreading through cities, it transformed industry, transportation, and…
#9 – Learning to Work With Intelligent Tools
Living With AI For most of history, tools extended physical abilities. A hammer amplifies strength. A telescope extends vision. Artificial intelligence introduces something different: tools…
#8 – The Quiet Places AI Is Already Showing Up
Living With AI Much of the public conversation about artificial intelligence focuses on dramatic possibilities — self-driving cars, humanoid robots, or futuristic assistants. But the…
View All Living With AI Post
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
Mark Twain