In contemplating a title for this article, I could very well have lifted a line from a beloved old Grateful Dead song, Truckin’.  “What a long, strange trip it’s been” surely describes my life.  For the most part, it’s been a good life.   For everything that I have put into it and everything that I […]

For many of us, our views on science and scientists have been colored by literature and films.  For baby-boomers, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and various of what are now known as classic science fiction films gave us the strong impression that while scientific objectives were generally beneficial, the end result often produced evil.  Dr. Frankenstein was […]

Playing dress up is one of life’s little guilty pleasures.  Almost every little girl has surreptiously ransacked her mother’s belongings in order to appropriate them, usually on rainy days when we were bored, or when our mothers’ backs were turned.  Who can forget the slightly forbidden thrill of easing open our moms’ closets to select […]

We measure our lives in years, with calendar changes, birthdays, holidays, and other events functioning as milestones along our route from birth to death.  From day to day, life seems as if it may last forever.  Most of us, while in good health, give little thought to the fact that our lives will surely end.  […]

Have you ever heard the expression, “Let cool heads prevail?”  Well, yours can be the cool — and safe — head in an emergency, if you plan for that unforeseen situation.  Here’s how to do that: For power outages, such as those caused by thunderstorms and snowstorms: 1.       Maintain a supply of fresh batteries as […]

Adopted by individual voters and political groups alike, the term “shovel ready” graphically illustrates our national chomping at the bit to get off the unemployment line and start earning decent wages again.  Widely used during our most recent primary elections, the phrase actually was coined during our previous Great Depression, under FDR’s administration.  After the collapse […]

The Constitution of the United States of America was composed after much consideration and strife with our mother country, England.   It was written to elucidate and safeguard the truths our founding fathers deemed self-evident; these were the rights granted to every man, woman, and child by the grace of God. In creating the Constitution, James […]

Whether or not you’ve named your Volkswagen “Herbie” in honor of the famous vehicle in the Disney film, we’re sure you that you love your Love Bug.  Well, now you can have more to love!  Offering a wide range of custom and OEM automotive accessories, CARiD.com provides all of the imaginable VW accessories to customize […]

In the 1993 biographical drama Rudy, a young man from a small steel mill town overcomes his physical limitations, intellectual shortcomings, and the doubts of friends and family members to achieve his dream of gaining acceptance and playing football for Notre Dame University.  The true story, based on the life of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, chronicles […]

Several years ago, I decided to test the theories of authors Thomas Wolfe and Thornton Wilder.  I wondered whether Wolfe, who’d postulated that no one can ever go home again, was a cynic or a realist.  I also wondered if my return home would be as painful for me as it was for Emily, the […]