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How to Support University of Iowa with the One Day for Iowa Fund Drive Today!
Okay, so here’s my pitch on how potential donors can support programs at The University of Iowa. Today the One Day for Iowa fund drive kicks off, and it ends at 11:59 PM today on March 26, 2025. I got a soft spot in my heart for The University of Iowa College of Medicine and…
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Attack of the Toothworms
I had my regular visit to the dentist at The University of Iowa Health Care (UIHC) today, and it was a good thing I did. For the past couple of weeks or so I’ve had cold and hot sensitivity in a couple of teeth. No surprise, the dentist found 3 teeth that needed a little…
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It Turns Out I Did Not Invent the Term “Zamboni Effect”
Today’s post connects weirdly with the one I wrote yesterday entitled “The Zamboni Effect,” in which I mistakenly believed I had invented the term “Zamboni Effect” based on my observation of what an ice resurfacing machine did to an ice rink in a local mall. It clarified the ice and also metaphorically, by extension, clarified…
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Super Bowl Commercial “Mean Joe Frank” 2025 Looked Familiar!
We watched the Super Bowl last night and one of the many commercials (always a big thing) looked vaguely familiar only after Sena pointed it out. It was the Fareway Frank commercial about Fareway stores. It was a reprise of the famous 1979 Coca-Cola commercial with Mean Joe Green, defensive tackle for the Pittsburg Steelers…
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All Jokes Aside, What Do I think About the Book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents?”
I just finished reading Isabel Wilkerson’s book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” It was a painful read because it talks about racism in America, which is a part of my lived experience. Wilkerson’s compares it to the Nazi persecution of the Jews and the caste organization in India. The chapter on the pillars of…
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The Fortuitous Connection Between the Meyer Lemon and James Thurber
Sena bought some Meyer Lemons today, which we had not heard of until she saw them on TV on the QVC network. She bought them for a fish dinner. I was curious about the Meyer Lemon. We’ve never eaten them before. People say they’re sweeter than regular lemons. It’s a hybrid between a lemon and…
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Black History Month 2025 ASALH Theme
This is Black History Month and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) theme this year is African Americans & Labor. When I look back on my youth, I think of my time learning on the job to be a survey crew technician and drafter for a consulting engineer company in…
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Keep Hope Alive
Just a reminder, Isabel Wilkerson will be giving her presentation, ” “Caste: How the hierarchy we have inherited restricts our humanity” from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, in Prem Sahai Auditorium (room 1110) in the Medical Education and Research Facility. I’m about halfway through her book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” It’s a…
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Just Got Isabel Wilkerson’s Book: “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents”
I just got a copy of Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” I read her other book, “The Warmth of Other Suns” years ago. It won a Pulitzer Prize. I read the first section, “Toxins In The Permafrost And Heat Rising All Around.” It brought back memories of the 2016 Presidential Election,…
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Is Edinburgh Manor in Iowa Haunted?
I have no idea whether an old former county home in Jones County is one of the most haunted places in the Midwest or Iowa or the USA. And I wouldn’t be saying that if Sena and I had not watched a TV show called “Mysteries of the Abandoned” (broadcast on the Science Channel) which…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 