Monthly Archives: March 2018

The World on Your Computer (or Phone)

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Roger Walck

All the time, everywhere, I see people totally engrossed in their phones, while stepping into a street with traffic, at parties, at lectures, even at funerals. What could they find so engrossing? Now I know, and I don’t even have … Continue reading →

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What You Want Doesn’t Matter

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Roger Walck

Live long enough, and, more and more, what you want doesn’t matter. What you want is  irrelevant. You are irrelevant.  This is natural, but is a big change, and much of the heartache as we age comes from fighting this … Continue reading →

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Telling Time by Age

Posted on March 25, 2018 by Roger Walck

There is an age difference in the way people express time. I noticed this when a young clerk at my dentist’s office called to remind me that my appointment was at ten forty-five.  She must have grown up with digital … Continue reading →

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Using Chopsticks

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Roger Walck

I see many Westerners struggling with chopsticks, all because of one fundamental misunderstanding: both sticks do not move. The bottom stick stays stationary, and only the top stick moves. If you are first learning, practice holding just the bottom chopstick … Continue reading →

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Scurvy

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Roger Walck

Back in our high school days, one of our classmates, who I will not reveal (medical privacy), had occasional bleeding gums and told us his mother was taking him to the doctor. He came back with the diagnosis: scurvy! What … Continue reading →

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Soul Patch

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Roger Walck

I have said before that an important use of my tablet is to look up words I am unsure of and would normally guess at their meaning. One of these is “soul patch,” used in a recent New Yorker article … Continue reading →

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The Stinkbug Invasion

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Roger Walck

“Home Invasion,” by Kathryn Schulz. The New Yorker, 3/12/2018. If you only know a stinkbug as a dime-sized, flat, slow bug, you have not dealt with a home invasion by thousands of them. But you will. Eventually, you will. They … Continue reading →

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Engelbert Humperdinck

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Roger Walck

I was searching for a song and came across his name. He was born in 1936, the same as many of us, but I had not heard of him in years and wondered if he was still alive. (He had … Continue reading →

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The How-Not-To-Ride-a-Bike Ad

Posted on March 11, 2018 by Roger Walck

It is a Volkswagen ad. It is not meant to be funny, or to teach a lesson, or to show us how stupid girls can be. It opens by three boys, about 10-years-old, on their bikes, skidding to a stop … Continue reading →

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Soap

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Roger Walck

I had a friend at the senior center, 85, who left me with this one piece of very useful advice before he died: use less soap on our bodies. We don’t need nearly as much as the advertisers have conditioned … Continue reading →

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