As far as can be determined, there’s no need to panic just yet over reports about a recent lawsuit alleging there is an excessive amount of arsenic in cheap wine. Totally unscientific research (the most flexible kind) reveals the following: • Per Wikipedia, arsenic is... Continue
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It's easy to dismiss much of modern culture as crass, insensitive, dull or even stupid. Set aside the fact that a TV commercial featuring Mathew McConaughey for the new Lincoln MKC is a 60-second full-fledged Hollywood production costing millions to create; it's still basically a... Continue
Dear Bonnie, I received a form in the mail called a 1095-A Health Insurance Marketplace Statement. I guess this is for my taxes but what am I supposed to do with it? Stu, Sonoma Dear Stu, You will need this form... Continue
This secretive trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which has been quietly under negotiation by corporate lawyers and trade representatives for years, is finally surfacing to public attention as Congress is set to vote for ‘Fast Track’ authority, which would limit Congress’s role to a... Continue
The Sonoma Developmental Center is a special place for many of us in Sonoma Valley. For over 100 years, it has cared for the most vulnerable members of our community. The SDC is still home to 419 residents, for some, the only home they have... Continue
My son, James, had raised money for a women’s education program in the Nubian village of Gharb Aswan, Egypt. To hopefully encourage a life-long desire for giving, I have taken him to Gharb Aswan to see with his own eyes, where the money he raised... Continue
Within the next six months, several Sonoma Valley nonprofits, including the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, Mentoring Alliance, Boys and Girls Clubs, and Museum of Art, will have new executive directors. In a 2014 survey of nonprofit executive directors conducted by The Bridgespan Group, 46 percent... Continue
One of the common experiences of contemporary politics is feeling like what you are being told is so stupid and nonsensical that the person saying it knows it is stupid and nonsensical too. Denial of climate change, evolution and established historical fact certainly provide such... Continue
I've always wondered if it's a matter of translation; namely did the the tablets brought down Mt. Sinai by Moses prohibit killing or murder? From what I can tell, most people think "Thou shalt not kill" fully covers the topic, generating reams of argument about... Continue
Before movies there were dreams, the experience of being simultaneously involved while impassively observing events and emotions displayed on mind's internal "screen." In many ancient cultures dreams played a pivotal role in individual and social life. For Australian Aboriginal peoples, Dreamtime is considered the greater... Continue