A headline in the December 25, 2017 “The Daily Dose” from Ozy.com brought me up short — “How Many Crimes Would Santa Be Guilty Of If He Were Real?” (This piece reminded me of the Pixar animated feature The Incredibles, where superheroes had to go undercover due to the collateral damage their good deeds were
Everyone wants a nice long life — I’m planning on 80 myself — but the way technology is advancing, perhaps I’m setting my sights too low. Is living to be 100 a realistic goal? A recent study published in International Psychogeriatrics has explored what it takes to make it to the century mark. Researchers visited
In addition to recapping the passing year, a favorite media pastime is looking ahead to what the new year might bring. Although some changes we already know, like we’re getting a new head of the Federal Reserve in February, much is pure speculation, especially when it comes to technology. Here are some technological items I’ve
One hot topic in the culture wars has been the proper holiday greeting — “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”? Not that I want to get involved in this contemporary debate, but as a history nerd I couldn’t help notice the following item on the December 23rd Ozy Presidential Daily News Brief email — It’s enough
It’s snowing today, which made me think of one of my poems. I’ve posted it before, but it’s particularly appropriate today. By the way, “Perspective” is in my book Some Poems About Life, available on this website. Perspective The son stood in the doorway, Behold a beautiful sight! As far as he could see,
This sounds more like a Halloween story, but I couldn’t resist. A recent email from National Geographic about the “Best in 2017” contained this little gem — “Would Your Dog Eat You If You Died?” by Erika Engelhaupt (publication date June 23, 2017). At the risk of killing the suspense (pardon the pun), the answer
My mom was one of those parents who was always asking us to try new foods. And the items I won’t eat today can be counted on my fingers. But many of us are “very selective” eaters, especially when we are children. Why? “Picky Eating: Is it Nature or Nurture?” by Renee Morad addresses this
We’ve had a visitor from outside our solar system (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/small-asteroid-or-comet-visits-from-beyond-the-solar-system). Okay, so it was just an asteroid. A lot of people with overactive imaginations are probably disappointed, but such is life in the real world. Speaking of aliens, there is evidence that alien microbes have attached themselves to the International Space Station (ISS). In a
If you’re a science-fiction fan, you may have realized most science-fiction novels are either utopian (a state in which everything is perfect ) or dystopian (a state in which everything is dysfunctional). These make good settings for stories, but how realistic are they? Actually in the real world, things seem to be more “topian” than
One of my favorite quotes is “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it” by Winston Churchill. So much of history either is never documented — what self-respecting slave owner would ever admit he’d learned anything from a slave? — or is biased by modern interpretation. Recently I found another example