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Impossible
There’s this quote many people believe was by Muhammad Ali: “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a…
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Kickball Challenge in June!
The annual Kickball challenge between University of Iowa Department of Psychiatry Residents and Faculty is coming up in June. You know what that means. Losers suspend the winners’ trophy in Jello. Somebody did that when we played Matball several years ago. If you need a recipe: Matball was the forerunner of Kickball in the department.…
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How the Feathered Half Lives
We were out on the Terry Trueblood Trail and saw a lot of different kinds of birds doing the things that birds—and humans do. Looking for mates, mating, nesting, hunting, feeding. We’re a little more romantic about it, at least sometimes. Often, I wonder. Who are the real bird brains around here?
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Walking the Clear Creek Trail—Looking for a Hamburger
Recently, we took a walk on the Clear Creek Trail in Coralville. There are always a lot of birds out and they all have different songs. We hear more birds than we see because the trail is crowded with trees. On the other hand, the highlight of the afternoon was stopping for lunch at the…
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Jumping Worms are Making Iowans Jumpy
Well, the jumping worms are making Iowans jumpy lately, even though the critters have been reported around here since at least 2018 by the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship. All of a sudden, they’re alien invaders, slithering like snakes and jumping into your gardens. Iowa State University wants us to take pictures of…
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Bigfoot on Blood Moon May 2022!
For the first time we watched a total lunar eclipse on the night of May 15, 2022. It was a cool night. I used two cameras in an effort to make the most of my first effort in getting pictures of the event. I’m a novice and I’m sure it shows, of course. We had…
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Do Blood Moons Make Aliens Fart?
I have a couple of questions about the total lunar eclipse that’s occurring tonight. First, where’s the best place to observe it? If you consult the best advice on how to watch it, you learn that the first phase (which in Iowa City, Iowa happens at 8:32 PM) is visible in the Southeastern part of…
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Jim Goes Hollywood with Post-Dilation Glasses
I got a nice surprise recently after my one-month follow-up postop clinic visit following my retinal detachment surgery. The scheduling desk clerk gave me a pair of post-dilation sunglasses. That was the first time in years that I’ve been offered them after getting mydriatic drops for eye clinic exams. The last time I got mydriatic…
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My Updated Easy Exercises
Okay, so I’m nobody’s personal trainer, but I have an update on my exercise routine, which I’m doing daily for the most part. I spend about a half hour on the “workout” which starts with a floor yoga warm up. I get on the exercise bike for 5 minutes. Then I do 3 sets of…
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Some Whys and Wherefores of the Mason City Ys
This is just a reminiscence. I know the word “wherefores” in the title is old-fashioned, but I’m an old guy and so what? When I was a young guy living in Mason City, Iowa where I grew up, I could not afford to rent an apartment. Shortly after I became an emancipated minor, I was…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 