You may be aware that the state motto of New Hampshire is “Live Free or Die.” I once heard a comedian comment on this: “There’s a state that has had way too much coffee.” But you have to admire the sentiment; it’s right up there with “Give me liberty or give me death” and “It’sContinueContinue reading “Live Free or Die? Prohibition in New Hampshire”
Category Archives: Musings on the Passing Scene
Magic and the Brain
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I am a magician. Not a Gandalf-style wizard, although that would be cool. I mean the “now you see it, now you don’t” sleight-of-hand kind of magician. I’m reasonably good, not quite professional grade, but skilled enough to be entertaining. I can vanish and reproduce coins andContinueContinue reading “Magic and the Brain”
Reflections on Medical Ethics and Health Policy, or “Man, My Head Really Hurts!”
I was overdue for my dermatology appointment, so I set one up and went on in. By way of background, before I went bald and most of my hair turned white, I was a real redhead. You know the type. Green eyes, really pale skin, the kind that turns lobster red after a minute orContinueContinue reading “Reflections on Medical Ethics and Health Policy, or “Man, My Head Really Hurts!””
A Gorilla Walks into a Bar: A Meditation on Humor
A Gorilla Walks into a Bar Back around 1982, Kay and I had gotten together as a couple and were living in a studio in Westbeth, the furthest extreme of the West Village. I was still in grad school and needed a side gig to bring in some money. I had worked as a cookContinueContinue reading “A Gorilla Walks into a Bar: A Meditation on Humor”
Things That Annoy Me
I’ll admit it, I am an irritable man. Always have been; little things annoy me. I can be quite patient in certain contexts, with children, people with disabilities, that kind of thing. But at other times, I feel like I am going to jump out of my skin. Maybe I inherited it from my parents,ContinueContinue reading “Things That Annoy Me”
But For Vaccines, You Probably Wouldn’t Be Reading This Post
If you’ve followed my blog, you know that I didn’t get into this to change the world. There I was in Japan, with my little Samsung tablet and a cheap Bluetooth keyboard. On my own on the other side of the world, in the most foreign place I’ve ever been. I wanted to send someContinueContinue reading “But For Vaccines, You Probably Wouldn’t Be Reading This Post”
A Meditation on Beer
I trundled off to graduate school in New York City back in 1978. Things were very different in Manhattan in those days. My first “apartment” was a basement in a townhouse on Carmine Street in the West Village. I’m not talking about a basement apartment; I mean an actual basement. The only piece of furnitureContinueContinue reading “A Meditation on Beer”
Fluoride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttlIuyMFwRw Sometimes, just by chance, events line up. My last post was about the ivermectin controversy and the way science can be distorted, either unintentionally or with malice. Then, right after I posted the piece, Robert Kennedy Jr. rolled out his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. That led me to other views RFK Jr. hasContinueContinue reading “Fluoride”
Ivermectin, COVID, and the Politics of Medicine: A Case Study in How Science Works (and Sometimes Doesn’t)
I’ve avoided writing about politics—who needs the tsurris? But when science and policy collide, I can’t look away. Case in point: a group of New Hampshire legislators is pushing a bill to allow people to buy ivermectin without a prescription, presumably to treat COVID. So let’s take a closer look. What is ivermectin? Why didContinueContinue reading “Ivermectin, COVID, and the Politics of Medicine: A Case Study in How Science Works (and Sometimes Doesn’t)”
Fun with AI, Literary Style
I’m sure that I’m not the only one who finds AI, in its multiple forms, fascinating. I started with ChatGPT and then tried several others: Claude, Gemini, and Copilot. I eventually subscribed to Perplexity AI. I’m on a listserv for board-certified forensic psychologists and Perplexity seemed to be the best for researching topics related toContinueContinue reading “Fun with AI, Literary Style”
Samurai Shrink (formally Wandering Shrink) 