-
Christmas Cactus Flower in the Spring!
Our Zygocactus flower or Christmas Cactus didn’t bloom this past winter. But a plucky little flower has been poking out its head in the past few days. It’s a symbol of hope in the desert of our times.
-
Whitetail Deer Think Your Lawn is a Salad Bar
We have a small herd of whitetail deer who regularly visit our lawn because they think it’s a salad bar. They’re all over the neighborhood because the city apparently doesn’t have a consistent deer population management plan. I don’t know anything about the animals, other than what I care to look up on the internet.…
-
“Stink, Stank, Stunk!”
I’m just puzzled lately over what seems like a contradiction between two ideas I’ve seen in the news and in TV commercials. It’s all about body odor. There is this study that was recently published about stinky armpit odor possibly making the practice of mindfulness meditation more effective. This contrasts with the usual meaning of…
-
Hello, I’m Dr. James Caramel Brown
I read Dr. Moffic’s article, “The United States Psychiatric Association: Social Psychiatric Prediction #4”. I think the rationale for renaming the American Psychiatric Association makes sense. However, it also got me thinking about the names of other associations connected to the APA (here meaning American Psychiatric Association). One of them is the Black Psychiatrists of…
-
Feisty and So On
There’s this dialogue in Men in Black II between Serleena and Zed: Serleena: Zed, look at you, 25 years and you’re still just such a looker. Zed: Cut out the meat dairy. And you, still a pile of squirmy crap in a different wrapper. Serleena: So feisty. I’m becoming more aware of the use of…
-
Random Connections
Today, I read Dr. George Dawson’s blog post, “How I ended up in a high-risk pancreatic cancer risk screening clinic.” As usual I was impressed with his erudition, scientific literacy, and rigorous objectivity, even as it pertained to a deadly disease which runs in his family genetic history. I couldn’t help admiring his courage. And,…
-
Exactly When Were the Good Old Days?
I just saw a short web article about Baby Boomers and their opinion of what’s going on these days and comparing it to the “good old days.” There were the usual complaints about bad music, lack of teamwork, no effort to maintain social bonds, and the like. I’m not sure I can identify any such…
-
Fathers Can Be a Pain in the Ass
I’m going to talk a little bit about fathers. Mothers are important too, but I’m a guy and I can talk about mothers another day. Because it’s a touchy subject, I’m going to begin with a Men in Black (MIB) joke, like I always do when I’m being defensive. There’s this MIB 3 scene in…
-
More On Taming the Juggling Balls
I’ve been juggling for about 5 months now and reflecting on my progress. I think I’m doing OK for a geezer. Sena would call me a hot dog although I would still call it ugly juggling by any standard. What’s striking, at least to me, is the little bit of science I can find on…
-
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
While we were out for a walk yesterday, we ran into someone walking her chocolate Labrador retriever. His name is Hunter and he had a tree branch longer than him in his jaws. He looked like he was having a great time gnawing on it and swinging it around. I didn’t envy his owner when…
