Chinese Menu We have just seen the conclusion of a pow-wow between Xi Jianping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia. In theory this should be no big deal since the dynamic duo have met together over 25 times (I heard a pundit say it was 40 times, but I can only verify 25 or so of those), and that’s a lot. That speaks to a number of things, not the least of which is…
Forget Paris In 1995, Billy Crystal wrote, directed, produced and starred in a movie for which he enlisted Debra Winger as his love interest. That movie was called Forget Paris and it gets a modest 6.5 rating on IMDb, but is actually a very funny and somewhat poignant movie about life and love and how hard it is to expect that things don’t move on in life, whether we want them to or not. Who…
The Worm Comes Home to Roost Worms are not terribly likable beings. The ones in the ground seem pretty harmless and some people, mostly organic gardeners, will tell you about all the good things that worms do for biodiversity and eco-balance. The ones that find their way into our bodies in various ways are a lot less pleasant, whether causing a crescent mark on the head of some ten-year-old Opey or being the subject of…
All Quiet on the Western Front, but Not So Sunny The Oscar season is upon us again and as I glanced down the list of nominees for the various big awards, I saw films that I have seen and admired, films I have seen and thought were not worthy and even a film that I have tried to watch twice and cannot get into despite being told its sooooo good. But one movie completely slipped…
ES-Jesus We are leaving Rome today and taking the day to transit to Cairo to start our Egyptian leg of the trip. If anticipation is a big part of any trip, we now have anticipation coming out of our ears. I’ve always wondered how mountain climbers feel when they are hanging out at Camp 4, preparing for the summit. They are acclimating and preparing themselves for the most important and probably most dangerous part of…
The Real Rome Kim booked us for a tour of the working side of Rome. I can only assume that I have done a good job of showing her all of the regular tourist stuff that constitutes the bulk of the Trip Advisor tours she can find on the internet. What she did instead of that was find a woman who proposed a tour of the Testaccio and Ostiense areas of the city, areas that…
The Frustration of Open-mindedness In teaching my ethics course, I spend some time telling students that one of the benefits of the course will hopefully to help them learn the value of keeping an open mind to the views of others, even when they are quite different from their own. I say that the value comes from both gaining the respect of those you interact with and in broadening your own views. The problem I…
The Palestinian Problem Some problems never go away. And some problems just bubble away under the surface, hiding in wait, biding their time. The problems of the Middle East seem to embody both sorts. History and religion are difficult backdrops for justice and nowhere on the face of the earth has more of both than the corner of the world where three continents meet. Africa, Europe and Asia and their diverse cultures come together is…
Dear Roger I have always been a fan of the name Roger and even named my oldest son Roger. The Roger I am addressing this to is a motorcycle friend of mine who is about as different from me as he could be. He is small and slender, but mostly he leans in the exact opposite direction that I do on almost every topic. Roger and I (along with Kevin) text almost every day about…
The Tornado of Life I’ve never really been in a Tornado, a Hurricane, a Tsunami or a Derecho. At least I don’t think I have. I was once riding my motorcycle across a vast open plain in Southern Utah and there was a small dust whirlwind off to my left in a field and I watched it as it came toward the road I was on. It caused me to pull over and watch it,…