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Stones

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     There's something rather amazing of what once was and is no longer, that is except for those many pieces now beautifully preserved in museums, whether obtained legally or by some other means.  The spoils of war philosophy: what was yours is now ours.  And so everything from jewelry to statuary (not to mention animals and people) were often moved around the world to decorate homes and palaces, or in the case of people and animals, to be put to work.  And if a few countries were fortunate enough and wealthy enough, some material items would end up in museums for many to see (albeit still in a foreign country).  The complicated issue of whether ill-gotten (i.e. stolen) items taken decades or centuries ago, and now resting in universities, or the black market (or museums) becomes a rabbit hole that extends into bones (think massive dinosaur "finds" or the gravesites of ancestral peoples) and pottery, maybe even DNA samples.  But no worries becaus...
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A Bit Too Much

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     So it was Easter past and a tradition not of churches for us but of visiting friends we've known for over 30 years.  We've known their "kids" since they were indeed kids (as in 7/9/11) and some are now married with their own kids.  Anyway, part of the dad's Polish tradition is to drink some  Żubrówka Buffalo grass vodka  ("in tribute to the bison --'zubr' in Polish-- that were fond of the sweet-tasting grass," wrote the site Wine ), each shot followed by a bite of either pickled or straight herring on rye bread.  Of course, a few people there had a small shot and followed the tradition out of courtesy, and a few (me) carried it onward to another, and another, and another.  Now this really wasn't me, but then there I was, sliding my shot glass over as if waiting for that famous "flashlight in the eyes" moment when "I've had enough" switches over to "why not?"  (My wife and the other spouses --whom I thank...
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Farewell, www...

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      For some reason I've never delved into Shakespeare and his era of thees and thous.  But I do remember when farewell once meant (and was said as) fare-thee-well, just as goodbye once meant God-be-with-ye.  But all things contract, and change, and often vanish...even the internet, or at least the original version of it.  This issue came up in a piece in the New York Review on the web's early creation, all of which was pioneered by the visionary computer programmer, Tim Berners-Lee and written in his recent book, This Is for Everyone .  His breakthrough idea (bouncing off the computer "super-highway" idea of then vice-president Al Gore) was to tie everything together with links, spiderwebbed chains of more and more information...a web of world-wide proportions.  He envisioned a free and public inter-"net" whose idealistic origins, in his view, are rapidly disappearing.  Wrote a review in the  New York Review , Bergers-Lee felt t...
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Run the Numbers

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     It seems like simple advice, that of checking something out before diving in.  This can be anything from a home improvement to investing in something: how long will it take to break even, will you break even, is it even worth the trouble?  One example of this may be with those of you nearing the age of taking your Social Security benefits.  And when you dive into the topic of when to take them, pretty much 95% of sites will advise you to wait, all in order to maximize your payments.  So let's run the numbers (and here I use totally hypothetical numbers for ease of showing the figures).  Suppose at 62 you would receive $1000 monthly, but by waiting until the full age maximum of 67 or 68, you would increase that amount by 50%, or $1500 per month (again, these are hypothetical, and you can wait until 70 to get "even more").  Now, that $1000 per month at age 62 equals $12,000 per year, and multiply that figure by the 5 years you would wait ...
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The Doc Will See You Now...or Later

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     We may be at a medical crossroads as political camps once again split...do we or don't we trust the medical world these days?  More specifically, the pharmaceutical companies?  It would appear that we have grown so used to taking a pill and poof, we've lost weight or our persistent rash has vanished.  And one has to admit that pharmaceutical ads are everywhere, from streaming between movies, to print & digital, so much so that most of us can't wait for these actor-portrayed ads (why can't they use actual patients?) to end so we can get back to our show (anyone else tired of Harold and his bow-tie?).  Okay, we know the possible side effects are many, so many that those side effects end up being most of the ad, sort of ignoring that most of those side effects were discovered through animal testing.  But hey, aren't my plump lips and mannequin-forehead worth it?  And if I actually do have a side effect, I can always see my doctor "right...
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