Author: James Amos

  • Solar Eclipse in April!

    Solar Eclipse in April!

    We just found out there’s going to be a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. We hope to get some solar eclipse glasses before then if they don’t run out of stock everywhere. They’re selling fast. We’ve seen a couple of lunar eclipses and those were fun. The most recent one was during cold…

  • The FDA Announcement on Kratom

    The FDA Announcement on Kratom

    Just in case you missed it, the FDA posted an announcement about Kratom in February this year. According to the FDA: “Kratom is a tropical tree (Mitragyna speciosa) that is native to Southeast Asia. Products prepared from kratom leaves are available in the U.S. through sales on the Internet and at brick-and-mortar stores. Kratom is…

  • The SD Card Caper

    The SD Card Caper

    I have an SD card (more commonly called just a “memory card”) for my camera and the other day I couldn’t download the videos to my computer using the SD card reader in the tower. The card reader is just a slot-shaped port in the tower, above the USB ports. SD stands for Secure Digital.…

  • Svengoolie and The Comedy of Terrors

    Svengoolie and The Comedy of Terrors

    Last Saturday on Svengoolie, I watched for the second time the 1963 movie “Comedy of Terrors,” a slapstick horror spinoff of Shakespeare’s farce, “Comedy of Errors”—which I’ve never seen. I didn’t see the whole movie the first time around, and I can’t remember exactly where I saw it. Most likely it was on Svengoolie. The…

  • Good Luck Dr. Chris Buresh

    Good Luck Dr. Chris Buresh

    Sena was looking up the meaning of a four-leaf clover the other day. You might call it a shamrock although that’s usually reserved for the 3-leaf variety. It’s fitting for St. Patrick’s Day to say the four-leaf clover is special because it’s rare to see one. The four leaves represent faith, luck, love, and hope.…

  • Please Return to Sender

    Please Return to Sender

    We get a lot of mail meant for somebody else. What’s up with the United States Postal Service (USPS)? It has been happening for years. What we do is identify that the mail is not for us and put it back in the mailbox for the postal delivery person to pick up. We write “Person…

  • Remember The Calling

    Remember The Calling

    I recommend Dr. George Dawson’s recent posts on seeing the practice of medicine as a calling and his passing a big milestone with 2 million reads on his blog. I wrote a post entitled “Remembering Our Calling: MLK Day 2015.” It was republished in a local newspaper, the Iowa City Press-Citizen on January 19, 2015.…

  • The Svengoolie Phenomenon

    The Svengoolie Phenomenon

    I wrote about Svengoolie a couple of years ago and just for old times’ sake, I watched the 1960 horror film 13 Ghosts on the Svengoolie broadcast by MeTV a few days ago. It had been a while since I watched Svengoolie and I thought I would have the usual experience of being able to…

  • Mouse in Your Engine Not the Same as Tiger in Your Tank

    Mouse in Your Engine Not the Same as Tiger in Your Tank

    The other day, Sena was out at the auto dealership getting our lease car serviced and had an interesting conversation with the service guy and another customer. The other customer was discussing his vehicles issues with the service guy and mentioned that rodents were probably snacking on his engine wires and hoses. The bill for…

  • Ready for Another Step Counting Recommendation?

    Ready for Another Step Counting Recommendation?

    Remember my post about the step counter and my workout update pointing out the possibly bogus 10,000 step recommendation? Well, get ready for another recommendation which lowers the bar somewhat, based on your sedentary index. There’s a new study which says, essentially: “Conclusions: Any amount of daily steps above the referent 2200 steps/day was associated…