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Posts published in “Essays”

Pigs ‘R’ Us

Pigs could become a source of replacement organs for human beings in the not-too-distant future (assuming there is one). In September surgeons at New York University’s Langone Transplant Institute attached a pig’s kidney to a…

Doc Standley and the Eel River Fishermen

The career of Jeremiah (Doc) Standley, the noted Mendocino County lawman in days of yore, took many a twist and turn in the year 1892. Some of those winding paths started without Doc present and…

Escape from Village Oaks

When arriving home from a hike in the woods I dreaded the flashing light on the answering machine, the death light. Back in Indiana Pop was taken to the emergency room a few times when…

The Prosser Ranch Murder of 1921

Fred Prosser arrived in the Spy Rock region of Mendocino County rather late in life. Past sixty when he purchased the former Hayden ranch around 1920, he took to the cattle business like an old…

US Nursing Homes in Crisis: A Perfect Storm

This is the first in a two-part series in which we will examine the national picture for US nursing homes and then next week turn our attention to the specific challenges faced by some of…

If There’s An Autopsy, Add This Report

TOPIC: Heart Attacks Q: Which one is not like the other two? A: The third one. For me at least. I know for some people the first heart attack is the worst because that’s the…

A Fan’s Notes

Writing last week’s column in support of Andrew Wiggins, my mind was poisoned by hatred for Johnson & Johnson & Joe Lacob. I was restored to perspective by an MD I trust, who emailed: “It…

Lawrence Livermore & Piano Jimmy

It was a real kick-in-the-memory to read about Larry Livermore coming back to say hi and reminisce about Spy Rock and his Lookout band and creating unappreciated turbulence in Laytonville. Before Larry and a few…

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