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You’re a cool guy
Sometimes support and kindness comes when you aren’t expecting it and from the least likely of places. For me, it was yesterday in the ER. It all started last Sunday. The dining room here was serving vichyssoise, a chilled soup made from cooked and puréed leeks, potatoes, onions, and cream. I’d been making hay all…
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A message from Gordon
For most Americans, the Fourth of July is a glorious celebration of national independence from a tyrannical king. It is a day filled with backyard barbecues, potato salad of questionable age, patriotic T-shirts that somehow feature more eagles than the national seal, and enough grilled meat to keep cardiologists gainfully employed for another year. As…
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Then there’s this
Think, thoughtful reader, about something you use everyday, that everybody uses everyday. If you are Taylor Swift, the Pope, or Vladimir Putin, you use it. Got a PhD in Physics or just completed your training on the deep fryer at McDonalds and are finally moving up from the drive-thru window – you use it. The…
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Two Tribes
I have long wondered what makes contemporary Republicans tick. It is sophomoric to dismiss them outright because their leader is a vulgar half-wit, but, I’ll admit, Donald Trump’s Svengali-like hold over them confused me. After all, this is the party that has been banging on about family values ever since Dan Quayle launched a crusade…
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The Plus Sign
Happy Pride! The first Pride march was held 56 years ago tomorrow, on June 28, 1970, the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Riots were a tipping point for the gay liberation movement in the United States, where, after that first march, the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as “Gay Pride…
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Emotional Incontinence
When Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom died in 2022, it was more than a notable death, like that of a celebrity, politician, someone associated with a bestselling book, a certain business or product, or some other position of prominence within society. She was a head of state, yes, but her reign of 70…
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The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist
It’s time for another of my “curiosity” posts. I have a confession to make: I really enjoy these. An esoteric question pops into my head, like why are there so many ways to say going to the toilet, or I come across some obscure fact like corn flakes were originally developed by John Harvey Kellogg…
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Mileage
Awhile back, over a year and a half ago to be precise, I told you about this new hobby of mine – live webcams. I’m still watching them, my favorites being this watering hole in the Namib desert in Namibia (the wildlife is amazing), and this channel that cycles through US cities (and a few…
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Remember Rome
The people around Donald Trump are dangerous. For them, he is a useful idiot. In him, they have found a vehicle to establish their vision of a grand, civilization redefining project. You’ve got your white nationalists engineering a country purged of those they deem racially inferior. You’ve got your Christian nationalists who imagine a future…
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The Hot is Back
This December, I will mark nineteen years in Palm Springs. I think that qualifies me as a local. So we’re at the start of my nineteenth summer here. People often ask me, “How hot does it get in Palm Springs?” The answer is simple: if your car’s steering wheel doesn’t qualify as a weapon, it’s…
Your mileage may vary.