I will never make it to the Olympics, even though athletically I’ve come farther than I’d ever hoped. (If you’d seen how I struggled in Little League, you’d know what I mean.) But I do share one trait with elite athletes — disappointment. It’s very discouraging to set your sights on a goal, particularly one
Are you about ready for a positive story? The background — I got an iPod several years ago to listen to when I run. I do have a modest music library, but mostly I listen to podcasts. One of my favorites is NPR’s “Radiolab”, which produces shows “about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the
I have never been married (which is a whole another story), but I’m fascinated by some of the impacts being so close to another person for so long can have. The latest is an article entitled “Being Married for Decades Means That Your Bodies Become Biologically Alike” on the May 26th, 2016 edition of the
We all realize English is a dynamic language, constantly adding words and changing meanings. The most common definition of gay has completely changed in my lifetime, and google has been added as both a noun and a verb. (Yes, it was a word before, but as googol, the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.) But
We’ve been discussing medical care a lot in this country in recent years. But while catching up on reading over Memorial Day, I found a basic flaw in our healthcare system that everyone needs to know about. Let’s start with a question — how well do you know your doctor? What got my attention was
I hope everyone had a happy Memorial Day. Yesterday I mentioned how each generation seems to be associated with a war. History repeats, but not in the same way. The War on Terror and its related actions have been unique in that we have a peacetime home front despite vicious fighting in multiple locations. The
It seems every generation has a war. My father’s was World War II, as part of the “Greatest Generation”. Mine was Vietnam, not nearly as satisfying. Today it’s the war on terror. We have never been militaristic. We’ve always preferred to be isolationist with a small peacetime armed force. We prefer our wars short and
Recently we passed a major milestone of Western civilization — the birthday of the table knife was May 13, 1637. According to The Writers’ Almanac of that date (this year, of course), its father is considered to be Cardinal Richelieu of France. (http://writersalmanac.org/page/16/) The Cardinal ordered his kitchen staff to file off the sharp
Every once in awhile, I read something that gives me pause. The latest was on the New York magazine’s “Science of Us” page on its website. An article entitled “Tears Are a Luxury Item” discusses recent research on an unlikely topic — why we cry. http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/03/tears-are-a-luxury-item.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Science%20of%20Us%20-%20May%2013%2C%202016&utm_term=Subscription%20List%20-%20Science%20of%20Us%20%281%20Year%29 This question goes back to Charles Darwin. He tried
This week wrapped up my eleventh year as a substitute teacher. I’ve slowed down the last three; in fact I officially retired in 2013 and have just worked a day or two a week during that period. But it’s still a lot of fun (most of the time) and I have another year on my