No Commoners Here My all-time favorite cartoon appeared in The New Yorker a few decades ago. A woman in a long formal gown and elbow-length gloves is at a posh party, brandishing one of those long-stemmed cigarette holders common among aristocrats in the day, her face sour with hauteur. Next to her is a tuxedoed […]
Forest fire out West caused by global warming Which is a worse way to die, by water or fire? The way things are going, future generations may have to choose between living where the ocean swells beyond the shoreline and swallows them, or far inland where forest fires fry them. Oh, but those are […]
“As well as” can be expected Weighty issue How often do you see a sentence with a series of items separated by commas, and “as well as” preceding the last item? Happens all the time. Here’s an example from the Detroit Free Press: “Obviously, it’s tougher to get a job, overcome health issues and pay […]
Dr. Mehmet Oz How much does Dr. Oz know? A lot of so-called experts achieve their reputations only partly because of their skills and knowledge. They garner attention by way of their charisma, their powers of communication. Take Dr. Oz, for example. Mehmet Oz, M.D., became known as a top-of-the-line cardiologist. But he didn’t stop […]
President Barack Obama Cutting defense The Obama administration wants to cut the defense budget, eliciting howls of protest from Republicans. Of course – while they continue to decry the deficit and the national debt. The deficit has shown substantial decline since 2012, including a 37 percent drop from April 2013 to this year. The Republican […]
Weighty issue “As well as” can be expected How often do you see a sentence with a series of items separated by commas, and “as well as” preceding the last item? Happens all the time. Here’s an example from the Detroit Free Press: “Obviously, it’s tougher to get a job, overcome health issues and pay […]
And the word “and” IS God. The compound sentence … Hardly a day goes by, it seems, without a certain grammatical error appearing in the local newspaper. What is it? Hint: It’s associated with the compound sentence. Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Okay, here’s an example: “Because of numbness in his fingers, I had […]
Wheat up!? Eat wheat. That’s the mantra of the medical establishment and conventional nutritionists. Leading alternative physicians and top nutritionists take a different tack: Eat what? As in: Say what? Wheat, these experts insist, is one of, or the, prime reason for an expanding girth. But … but … but, you sputter, all the health experts […]
Cholesterol blood test Critical cholesterol study: no reporting Did you know about the large study in 2011 that showed women with high cholesterol had fewer heart attacks than those with lower cholesterol? I didn’t either, and I read my daily newspaper assiduously and am frequently tuned into the cable news channels. I finally found out through […]
Tranquillity? Tranquil — naturally About two years ago, I began seeing a holistically oriented doctor. His practice was based on prevention and alleviation of ailments through natural methods. Low stress levels were important to good health, he believed. In the waiting room of his office on my first visit, with nothing to do as I sat […]