With all the virtue-challenged public figures these days, perhaps it’s time to go back to basics. Founding fathers basics. One of the most fascinating founding fathers was Ben Franklin. He had a remarkable life as a successful businessman, humorist, scientist, and public servant. Did he have a secret? He may have. I’ve been reading about
This was written with the help of an elementary student whom I’ve since lost track of. My Very Best Friend by Bob Welbaum with Grayson Knight I have a friend who’s the very best. He’s there whenever I need him. He’s always cheerful and kind to me And never needs a reason.
I’ve been athletic all my life, but sometimes with very little success, so I’ve seen both sides, particularly in youth sports. I was in Little League, where the competition for a team hat (never mind a uniform) was so fierce I rarely got one. People in my hometown were such rabid fans other local communities
Catches up on the news, I found something very disturbing January 2, 2018 on the Food and Wine website. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are predicting the source of chocolate, the cacao plant, is likely to go extinct, perhaps as early as 2050. The culprit is global warming. Most of the
This is an era when I hesitate to see the news. Certainly there is enough negativity to last a lifetime. So it’s nice to have a refuge to escape the disasters, threats, and misery in the everyday headlines. Occasionally I look longingly for an escape, if only for a few moments. One distraction is sports,
Recently I visited Walt Disney World for a week. My primary purpose was to participate in the events of Marathon Weekend. Of course I had a pass to go to the theme parks, but my highest priority was conserving my energy for the races. As such, my theme park visits were very spontaneous; I would
New years are always a time for renewal, so I thought it appropriate to pass along some scientific news — “In 2017, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences, along with several dozen international collaborators, added 85 new plant and animal species to Earth’s tree of life, including 16 flowering plants, three scorpions, 10 sharks,
One of the hottest political issues of the 1970s was the move to add an Equal Rights Amendment for women to the U.S. Constitution. It looked like a sure thing until a conservative backlash stalled its ratification three states short; 35 states ratified, but 38 were needed. The initiative failed. Yet today nobody talks about
Here is a good way to start an argument (not that we need any more reasons) — which is smarter, dogs or cats? I don’t own any pets; I take responsibility to animals pretty seriously, so I don’t have any strong opinions. But there is a new study claiming that dogs have the edge in
If you’ve ever wondered what Bill Gates reads, he has been publishing annual reading lists (for example, https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Best-Books-2017 ). Earlier this year, I saw his summer reading list (https://qz.com/988136/bill-gates-book-list-2017-recommended-books-for-summer-reading/) and picked out Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari. This is definitely an intellectual book that puts a unique spin on human