The lead article in the Times this morning is about loosening restrictions in New York for the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes. That is a long time coming. About twenty states allow its limited sale. Some states, such as New Jersey, have very restrictive laws. You can only be prescribed pot if you show that you have exhausted all conv …
One of my favorite movies as a child is on TV every year around this time, Babes in Toyland, or as it is also titled The March of the Wooden Soldiers. It was just on again the other day. In this Laurel and Hardy film from the 1930's the hapless Stan figures out that they can use the 6 foot tall wooden soldiers to fight the evil Silas Barnabas and …
I have always enjoyed games that challenge the mind. Like chess. And then comes along Candy Crush and it ruins everything and I have become addicted to it. It is hard to comprehend the allure of this game. It is always the same. Put three together. That's it. Over and over again. And it is very anxiety producing, especially when the chocol …
Coming this week is my holiday drink with Fred. We do it every year in December. We have to meet at 5 pm, I am told, even though it is a bit on the early side. I am not sure if Joanne expects him to be home at a certain time, or if he just needs to get to bed early. Either way it is fine with me and I show up at the appointed hour. We tal …
The title of the article is "What Lies Beneath." The subheading reads "after years of razors, wax and lasers reducing pubic hair to the bare minimum - or nothing at all - there's a return to a more natural state." I read on. Interestingly, the story goes, Marilyn Monroe had a "bountiful crop" which she bleached platinum to match her hair color. …
It was just my birthday. I got a new telescope. It is a Maksutov-Cassegrain 90 mm reflecting scope, and the coolest part is that it has GPS. When it came in two boxes and I laid all the pieces out on the floor, I knew I would be challenged. Putting things together is not my strong point and the way the instructions were written it presumed tha …
I am not a fan of reality or contest TV shows, but this year I am hooked on The Voice. And it is all because of a 17 year old girl from New Jersey. Here is why. My niece has been going to camp in Maine for years. One of her best friends there is Caroline, from New Jersey. Over those years my brother and sister in law have gotten friendly with …
It is clever. And it works, if by guilt alone. My mail has at least one solicitation for a contribution each day, some days I get many. From hospitals, research groups, schools, care facilities, veterans groups, Jewish organizations, museums....you name it, they are looking for money. I give to whom I chose, but now they are making it diffi …
There are three movies out now that have some common themes. They are Gravity, Captain Phillips, and All is Lost starring Robert Redford. They each in their own very different settings deal with danger, life and death, and courage. All is Lost is all Redford. Literally. Though the dangers of a man alone at sea were predictable, it was stil …
As a younger man, ailments were nothing more than ailments, something to see a doctor about and treated without much fanfare. Closing in on 60 however seems to have created a more gloomy perspective. Now aches and pains appear to surely be the result of something fatal. The hacking and choking cough and chest tightness I suffered in August led …
Give me a good biography, a Skinny Cow chocolate ice cream bar, a couch and a lamp and I am very happy. Fiction is a struggle, and much of it, unfinished, is on my bookshelf. Recently I have plowed through biographies of Hamilton, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Einstein, and now about to finish Steve Jobs. Strolling past the biography section, I see …
House Speaker John Boehner announced today that given its dismal record, the New York Giants would be defunded by the federal government when Congress convenes tomorrow. When a reporter pointed out that the federal government does not fund the New York Giants, the Speaker then declared that Obamacare is the reason for its 0-6 record, and that it …
Einstein used the phrase, "spooky things at a distance", to describe the randomness of quantum mechanics, specifically when one particle instantaneously reacts to the effect of an observation of another particle very far away from it. He rejected that notion as it ran counter to his theory of special relativity. As he said, "God does not play di …
I came across a very surprising fact in the book I am reading. It was about a poll taken in 1937 and 1938 of freshman students at Princeton University. One question they were asked was, who is the greatest living American? Their first choice was FDR, followed by Charles Evans Hughs and Herbert Hoover in second that third position. They were a …
Being allergic to pine nuts, and therefore having to stay away from pesto as well, Eve is always suspicious of any green sauce on her plate. Last night at a lovely restaurant on Martha's Vineyard many of the entrees said they came with pesto. So we told our server of her allergy. No pesto please. Her dish came with some green sauce and she p …
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