Among the jokes which clog my mind is the one about the young English woman who, after a shipwreck, had recently been rescued, from an island on which she and fifteen crewmen were marooned for several weeks. She is telling her story to a very strait-laced older woman, who can’t help exclaiming: “Oh, my dear! […]
One of the things I remember from my days as a summer-camp counselor was a skit in one of our campfire entertainments, in which someone runs onto the “stage” shouting “The Viper! The Viper is coming!” Then someone else comes screaming, “The Viper! Oh, No! It’s The Viper!” followed by a third, echoing “The Viper! […]
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About a century ago, a man named Apsley Cherry-Garrard wrote a book called The Worst Journey In The World. (The title was suggested by his friend George Bernard Shaw.) It was a true account of the author’s participation in the second Scott expedition to Antarctica, in which its leader, Robert Falcon Scott, lost his life, […]
Considering how many things we are warned not to “take for granted,” it is good to bear in mind all the others – of which, may I suggest, the most precious is someone’s love. Love is a gift we grant and receive with no expectation of return. We take it for granted. Therein lies the […]
A gastroenterologist is a doctor whose techniques nowadays include inserting an endoscopic light down into people’s intestines. One member of that elite community recently wrote a book about his work, entitled, The Tunnel at The End of The Light. If I may say so, the whole process of eating, digestion, and elimination is one that […]
My favorite Famous Last Words seem special to me not only because of the speaker (a President of the United States) but also because of the circumstances in which they were uttered. Here we might pause, and ask ourselves if we can recall the last words of ANY US President, whether or not still President. […]
We’ve all heard the expression “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” – and, if pressed for an origin, we’d probably say “it’s something out of the Bible.” But, as far as I can determine, those exact words don’t occur in any accepted version of the Bible. What we do find, in […]
Most of us are familiar with the term “The Rat Race,” and we probably have an idea that it derives from scientific experiments in which rats were, and possibly still are, raced against each other, especially in mazes. What was it all about? What was it meant to prove? Whatever the answers, some things are […]
The United Nations Charter of Human Rights guarantees everyone a nationality – whether they want one or not. In “HMS Pinafore” (Gilbert & Sullivan) the Chorus sings the praises of being English: “For he might have been a Rooshan A French or Turk or Prooshan, Or perhaps Eye-tal-eye-an – But, in spite of all temptations […]
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How can anybody own anything? The most popular methods are: by Law, by Custom, or by Force. And often they’re combined. But we all know that, ultimately, none of this makes any real sense, and that, in the broadest perspective, nobody can ever own anything. Take our bodies, for example – and surely that must […]
It’s a pleasant thought – being comfortable. The English make it even more pleasant by calling it “comfy.” On the Monty Python comedy show, in which much of the humor came from standing ideas on their heads – an old lady is threatened by the Spanish Inquisition with the torture of being forced to sit […]
Continuing the Ten Best Gifts Anybody Ever Gave Me: #6. AIRMAIL-EGGS In 1946, my family returned from an America, which, despite the war, had remained a land of abundance, to an England where “Austerity” prevailed for years after the war. One food in very short supply was fresh eggs. Our relatives in Canada knew about […]
A friend suggested that I should give you a list of my “Top Ten” – but he left it to me to choose a category. I think he had in mind something like movies or songs. But I’ve decided to tell you about the Ten Best Gifts I ever received. In each case the gift […]
Some time back, I told you about the Mohs method for dealing with certain skin cancers, which I once had performed, very successfully, on my right hand. But more recently I had to cope with another such malignancy in a much more prominent area. Not to beat about the bush, we are talking about the […]
