Monthly Archives: July 2012

Body Mass Index

There are many websites that calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI or “obesity” index) for you, but the BBC site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18770328, has some unique wrinkles, figuratively speaking. I learned from the site: My BMI is 24, which is is almost … Continue reading

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Bob Burger’s Writing Class—Verb Mutilation

Back in the early 1970s, The company I worked for brought in a local consultant and former newspaperman, Bob Burger, from Wayne, PA, to improve our writing.  His course was the best and most useful I have ever taken.  I … Continue reading

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Nowhereisland

British artist Alex Hartley excavated about 6.6 tons of material from an island exposed by a retreating glacier north of Norway and is towing it around southwestern England.  He calls his island “Nowhereisland.” It was presented to the public on … Continue reading

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Time Perception

We all recognize time seems to run faster as we age.  A recent website by author Claudia Hammond, http://www.claudiahammond.com/page5.htm, allows you to test your own perception, more as an illustration than as a measure of your failure.  The main test … Continue reading

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India in English

We all know Clark Gable’s parting line, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,”  but it should be written, “I don’t give a dam,” because the phrase refers to a damri, a tiny Indian copper coin of negligible value.  … Continue reading

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Vodka

A recent article on the BBC website asks why there are so many brands of vodka.  As a non-drinking chemist, I always wondered the same.  Vodka is simply odorless and tasteless dilute grain alcohol.  In fact, regulations require that vodka … Continue reading

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Living Forever

PBS’s NewsHour recently interviewed futurist author Ray Kurzweil, 64,  who takes 150 pills a day (besides injections) with the goal of living forever. I thought the comedy movie, Death Becomes Her, with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn laid that idea … Continue reading

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The Nose Knows

I first noticed it on Alice Ann, LAHS Class of ’59, a slight vertical groove visible on the tip of her nose, a normal, even appealing, characteristic that differentiates one nose from another.  Wiggling my finger on the end of … Continue reading

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Friendly Relations

The previous posting on Peggy Noonan’s column reminded me–a little belatedly–of a time when I was lifeguarding one evening at our local Jewish Community Center pool.   I was trying to explain one of our rules to a newly-arrived Russian … Continue reading

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Peggy Noonan: The Way We Are

My favorite political columnist is Peggy Noonan who writes for the Wall Street Journal.  Agree or disagree with her politics, but you can always be sure of a witty supply of insights that may not have occurred to you before. … Continue reading

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