The London I Never Knew

by | May 28, 2011 | 0 comments

I lived in London with my family for three years, and I’ve traveled here frequently over the last forty years.  In fact, I’ve spent more time in London than any other cities in the world, with the obvious exceptions of Dallas and NY. I thought I knew a good bit about the place until S. and I came here with Hudson and Georgia for their twelve year old trip. You may care to know that these twelve year old trips are rooted in a desire to share the lives of our grandchildren more deeply through shared travel, and for the most part, it works.  There is no explicable calculus by which the destinations are determined, but in the end we all have to be happy about the...

No Matter What it Costs

by | Apr 18, 2011 | 0 comments

The symbol you see here is a Caduceus which is an icon adopted by most commercial interests in the health care industry.  The Asclepius, which is pretty much the same except for it’s derivation and the fact that it only has one snake, is representative of most health care professionals…doctors, nurses, etc.  Interestingly there is no symbol that represents the most important constituency of the health care industry…the consumers…me and you.  The derivation of each symbol, and how it came to represent the various factions (which I will not bore you with) makes about as much sense as how we consume and pay for health care in the United States...

Another Stinky Subject

by | Apr 15, 2011 | 0 comments

On January 16, 2008 I posted Part 1 of What’s That Smell not knowing there would be a Part  2.  Part 1 was about our encounters with members of the Pepe LaPew family who were keeping house under our manse at the farm.  Subsequently I’ve written about June Bugs, stinkbait eating dogs, goat head stickers, and dragonflies copulating in mid-air.  As you can see, I have a very low standard when it comes to selecting topics for my attention, but I am always alert to the eccentricities of the natural world.  I do this, of course, on your behalf. Recently my attention was drawn to a member of the Pentatomidae family (for those of you not in the know,that’s in the...

Quadhafi, Crazy by Any Name

by | Mar 30, 2011 | 0 comments

Finally, we’re in a war (well, it’s not much of a war) that we can claim rooting interest in from the sideline while reserving full rights of criticism.  And it’s just our luck that the war, such as it is, is being led by none other than….the French.  Aaargh!  The frogs, the bullies of Bastille, the weak kneed, lilly livered, un-American, goose liver eating, citizens of the Seine river valley that we rescued twice from the Hun. Last time around we did it on our own.  Flying from bases in UK (no, that’s not the University of Kentucky) we flew to Tripoli and let loose more than a few 500 pounders, kicking up quite a bit of dust and killing a few Libyans...

Too Good To Be True

by | Mar 17, 2011 | 0 comments

Dubai is a lot easier to see than it is to explain.  Most know it is one of the seven states of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but even that is hard to understand.  I won’t test your patience by naming them all, but I’ll mention Abu Dhabi which most of you might have heard.  Each state has its own ruler who together with his colleagues form the Ruling Council who in turn elects/appoints ministers to oversee foreign affairs and defense.  All else is left to the head honcho in each state.  These states are notable because they happen to sit on a sea of oil and gas (which they haven’t even bothered with yet), and have created wealth that even Bill Gates and...