Notes From A Bear's Journey

     So cough, cough.  Not a smoker?  Or feel that you just have allergies?  A bad cold?  Throw in some nights sweats and a fever and you might want to think about having yourself checked out for TB, as in tuberculosis.  Wait, what??  Turns out that tuberculosis has not only climbed to its highest levels in three years in the US, but remains the number one infectious disease killer in the world, reported Dr. Michelle Barron , UC Health’s senior medical director of infection prevention and control: When people think of deadly diseases, they think of COVID-19, malaria, HIV and diarrheal diseases.  Many are surprised to find that TB kills the highest number of people in the world.   As in 10 million each year...still!  And TB can show up in other places besides your lungs (would you believe, your ankles?).  Left undiagnosed, this highly contagious disease could kill you (walk into a room where someone with TB has...

     What was that quote by Andy Rooney: It's a paradox that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone.   Oh to be young, or perhaps the real wish is oh, to not  be old.  Along with the physical (and possibly mental) decline, you  seem to lose that innocence and sense of adventure as you age.  You seem to ask far fewer questions, even something as simple as how does that work, or why should I take those pills?  Or, you no longer have people tell you that have a booger hanging out, or spinach in your teeth (yuck and embarrassing), as if that's just something old people normally have.  Older people don't seem to want to go far out of their comfort zone, nor as often since it'll probably be dark when they need to drive home; and more importantly, it'll be out past their bedtime!  These are all stereotypes, of course, but as a older person, I can attest to many of them ...

     Generally, and as I've mentioned before, my wife and I are not big sports fans; that is, weekends are not spent watching college ball or pro matches, not even the big playoffs.  More often, it's the You Tube highlights of a series or final (although we did watch the very exciting World --at least to the US-- Series last year between Toronto and LA).  And basketball?  Well with a zillion teams and a zillion games, it's a wonder that nearly every game can draw so many to each game; and let's face it, sports are indeed a big draw.  But the Knicks...it was the final quarter of the fifth game and with a possibility that the Knicks could maybe win a long-awaited championship, we decided to turn it on and indeed watched the Knicks go on to win the championship for the first time in 53 years...bravo.  Interesting, and happy for them, but not riot-in-the-streets happy.  But their victory shadowed an even larger happening, that unity of people fro...

     Remember that classic scene in the movie Never Cry Wolf , the timid inexperienced biologist being flown into a remote corner of Alaska by a seasoned and somewhat crazy bush pilot.  The land is SO remote that the idea of calling for help, much less receiving it, seems almost futile.  And then the single-prop plane they're on begins to stall, its alarms and bells telling both riders what they already know, that they're in trouble.  It's at this point that the pilot turns to the scientist and asks him, "you know what's wrong," to which the panicky biologist nervously shakes his head no.  "Boredom," says the pilot.  Boredom.  But what exactly IS boredom?  Wrote  Wikipedia : ... boredom is not well defined [and] is distinct from depression and apathy.  Yet in my opinion, boredom isn't that at all, because boredom can indeed be both apathy and   depression, and probably exhaustion.  And this "ennui" spreading...