Beginning in the 1980s but gathering steam in the mid-to-late 1990s, American doctors turned millions of their chronic pain-suffering patients into opiate dependents. There was nothing ill-intended or illegal about it; pain relief had become…
Posts published in “Essays”
Time travel has become a familiar enough subject to us by way of innumerable fictional treatments that we're all pretty conversant with the (contrived) ins and outs of it, the various scientific gymnastics and logical…
Academia is one of the last places on earth where one can expect innovation on the subject of marijuana. Still, this Spring, Sonoma State University (SSU) in Rohnert Park is going out on a limb…
All traces of snow are at last gone from the picturesque nineteenth-century cemetery in Ithaca, New York. Down below in the nearby the Cascadilla Gorge the creek gathers momentum from late-arriving spring’s rain. Just beyond…
By the way, for any new readers out there, I’ll disclose the Shields and Pinches families have been friends for about 30 years now. John’s dad, Sully, recently deceased, lived next to me out in the country. John’s brother and sister-in-law, Jimmy and Rhonda, live across the street from my daughter and son-in-law. And his sister, June Sizemore, is another long-time friend and much-loved member of the family.
I have often wondered how I would have fared in the Milgram Experiment. Participants were told to push a button which supposedly would deliver an electrical shock to another "volunteer" when that volunteer gave an…
“For the tractor, despite its early promise to free mankind from grinding toil, has also brought us to the brink of ruin through carelessness and over use. This has happened throughout its history, but the…
If we’re lucky in our lives we get those few very precious days when Everything. Is. Perfect. You couldn’t ask for more. It could be a combination of location and travel companions and weather and…
(WARNING: These recommendations assume that both political parties represent an ongoing menace to the health and welfare of the people of the United States.) GOVERNOR: Gloria LaRiva, P&F, if you're an old rad nostalgic for…