Uncategorized

Category

New beginnings

NEW BEGINNINGS

New beginnings. New year. The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, who is portrayed in mythology as person with two faces, one looking backward and one looking forward. By the time this year (any year) is over, most people are ready for a fresh start, a new beginning, a cleansing, a chance to move on and that is what this post is about. Starting anew My wife Deena and I are both educators, with more than...

Never too late

NEVER TOO LATE

It is no secret that one of my favorite poets is Lord Alfred Tennyson, and one of my favorite poems is his own Ulysses. The poem is a hypothetical monologue by Ulysses, written by Tennyson in iambic pentameter. It flows beautifully as Ulysses, now in his later years, surveys his life, wondering whether he and he shipmates who are still alive are capable of one more heroric deed. Or, are extreme exploits, awesome adventures and just ordinary good deeds and...

Just another day in America

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN AMERICA

Do I sound upset? I’m sure I am. Maine has always been a special place to me. I almost moved there five years ago. The great outdoors, the beaches and the surf are just part of the appeal. The lobster boats and the lighthouses make the trip well worthwhile. And the splendor of the leaves of autumn is unrivaled in Maine. There are also books on Maine which I sought out when I was younger such as “The Maine Woods”...

The look of love

THE LOOK OF LOVE

There is a seismic shift happening at the moment in the area of human relationships.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) to a greater extent and robotics to a lesser extent are starting to encroach in person-to-person relationships and warning bells are starting to go off. One recent such bell was published on The Hill, an e-journal focused on political events in Washington, D.C. and called “AI girlfriends are ruining an entire generation of men.” The company Replika has two million subscribers in various...

Some thoughts on my new theme

The Psalms are my “go to” book in the Bible when I develop my blog.  Psalm 102 was my devotional last week, and as I read it, I thought many possibilities to develop. I wondered if it was not “too bleak” in content. After all, aren’t Christians supposed to be joyful?  But then, my blog is not intended primarily for Christians but for those among us who are still searching, or not searching at all.  People who have never encountered God’s love through...

Summertime Blues

SUMMERTIME BLUES

Summertime blues for many Millennials represents that point in August when they know the fun is soon to be over and summer with its endless partying is about to come to a close; college resumes, resorts shutter their doors, and vacationers have run out of holiday days—and money. For many, summertime can be described in terms of baseball, beaches, babes, beer and barbeque.  Those who “party hearty” might add bud and blow to the list.  So, how’s that working out for you?...

Continuing Education

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Last Wednesday (May 10, 2023) Dr. Armine Smith of the Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine presented a webinar on “Minimizing Bladder Cancer’s Impact: Organ Preservation in Male/Female Cystectomy” via Zoom. I attended the session and it was very worthwhile, especially the Q&A. Dr. Smith presented what any doctor might say frankly about the topic, neither “dummying the material down” nor making it impossible for a layperson to understand. Dr. Smith’s presentation began with an overview of the...

THE HISTORY OF CANCER

Cancer through the ages: (A brief and not-so-brief history) With thanks to The Wiley Online Library I thought I’d spend a little time discussing the early history of cancer. When I was in the military, we were taught to always know your enemy. To that end, here are some fact and factoids that you may find interesting. ~ 70 million B.C. Cancer was fairly common in the hadrosaur (dinosaur) population. Mostly fibromas, hemangiomas and osteoblastomas have been discovered. Also, osteosarcoma,...

BLADDER CANCER BLUES

Last September, my wife and I sat in the office of a neurologist are she was writing out a prescription for Levodopa. She had confirmed that I had early Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and that I would need the medicine hence forth. Deena had been reading about Parkinson’s Disease, including first person accounts of women whose husbands had it and she also recalled my brother who has advanced PD. I mentioned that there are worse things to have besides PD and...

Синий Lamborghini

Синий Lamborghini

The forest that early morning was bright (though cold) as sunbeams filtered though the trees. A young man was working on a machine that had broken down. He was a tank driver named Dmitriy. His tank was not working as it should and if that were not bad enough, he and his comrades were lost. He would work for a bit, then think of his girlfriend Katrina and the синий-lamborghini he would buy from his wages as a conscript. A...