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I did it!
I completed radiation treatment (radiotherapy) for lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) last Monday. This is treatment room A (above) in the radiation oncology department (called Bighorn) at the Lucy Curci Cancer Center in Rancho Mirage, California. I underwent a two-week course of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy, or SBRT, delivered daily with one day off to rest between doses. …
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I am not weird
For years, I thought I was weird. You see, I go to bed between 9 and 10 o’clock in the evening, wake up in the middle of the night (actually the early morning – between 1 and 2 am), I am wide awake till roughly 4 am, and then I go back to bed and…
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The Reichstag is on fire!
February 27, 1933. Monday. It is exactly four weeks since the leader of Germany’s majority political party in the Reichstag (parliament), a man by the name of Adolf Hitler, was sworn in as Chancellor (prime minister) of Germany. It is important to remember Hitler was elected. In the beginning. And it’s not like his campaign…
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Late-night Wars
In the 90s, there was a late-night show on ABC called Politically Incorrect hosted by comic polemicist and smug contrarian Bill Maher. I wasn’t a regular viewer, but I did attend a live taping once because the drummer from a Canadian rock band I like was a guest. And one of the other guests that…
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Swearing
WARNING: This post contains strong language. Reader discretion is advised. Yesterday, I underwent an outpatient medical procedure meant to diagnose some issues I am having with my bladder. As it involved the doctor looking inside my bladder with a tiny camera attached to a scope, and as there is really only one way to accomplish that…
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Wikipediasnob
I love a good dose of etymology – word origins, and how their meaning has changed over time, not to be confused with entomology, the study of bugs. But you have to be careful. There are lots of stories out there. Many are not true. Before we all had instant access to the Internet on…
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“First they came for…”
Martin Niemöller, the German theologian and Lutheran pastor, is a complicated figure. You may not know his name, but you are, no doubt, familiar with his famous quote which begins “First they came for…”. The quote is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem. And through the years, it has been adapted and modified to…
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It just sounded better
On October 26, 1945, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9646, redesigning the presidential seal. Among other changes, he proposed that the eagle should face away from the arrows, signifying armed conflict, in its left talon, to demonstrate a desire to avoid war. The first President to have a seal was Woodrow Wilson. Prior to…
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The Penguin Lessons
Last March, I wrote a movie review here. I mentioned how I tend to steer clear of recommending movies (or tv shows, or albums, or books) because I realize that tastes vary and what I think is good you might regard as rubbish, and vice versa. I could tell you my favorite tv show right…
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Speech Therapy
Back during the winter of 2006-07, I was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai in West Hollywood. Following brain surgery which yielded a diagnosis of PML, I spent about a week in the ICU and then another week “recovering” in the posh “celebrity wing” I’d finagled my way into (just how is a story for another time). The…
Your mileage may vary.