Package labeling has become the art of deception, the intentional use of language to confuse and deceive the consumer. This is particularly obvious as food companies seek to exploit the organic food movement, currently the fastest-growing segment of the food industry, but the cosmetic and... Continue
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I remember sitting in our family living room as my father turned and folded pages, snapping and creasing the newsprint as he made his way through every section. Meanwhile, my mother would work across and down, completing the crossword puzzle with a pen. Growing up with... Continue
I always enjoy writing “hairballs” (learned from my cats) but this one is difficult. I believe in communication but what to do when you love someone who can’t speak? I visited my brother last week in southern California. He can’t walk or talk. He’s been lying... Continue
I was sitting on the couch with granddaughter Isabelle listening to her talk about numbers the other day – how ten is a bigger number than one, that one-hundred is even bigger, and that a million is even bigger than that. Suddenly she blurted out “infinity!”... Continue
The presidential race is ramping up quickly, both sides having moved assertively into attack mode. Politics in America has degraded to the point that the billions spent on advertising are all about trash talk. It’s hard not to feel like one must choose the lesser... Continue
The results of the 2012 “Nonprofit Social Networking Benchmark Report” are in and it’s no surprise that the use of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare, by nonprofit organizations is up significantly over 2011. This study of 3,522 nonprofit professionals throughout the U.S.... Continue
Among the channels proliferating via Dish Network I’ve recently taken to watching reruns of old network TV westerns. I watched many of these episodes when I was 10 or twelve years old, black and white westerns about good guys and bad guys and the women... Continue
Dear Bonnie: I hate to admit this but I haven’t filed taxes in more than 20 years. What’s even weirder is that I haven’t heard anything from the IRS about it. I have moved around quite a bit, so maybe they haven’t been able to... Continue
This past month marks what looks like the confirmation of the Higgs Particle, or what has been called “The God Particle.” Like most things quantum, the Higgs Particle is simultaneously the Higgs Field, and its confirmation is a big deal. The Standard Model in modern... Continue
The tragedy in Aurora, Colorado this past week reminds me of the killings by Charles Whitman in Texas during 1966. Whitman was the son of a middle class family, a former marine who climbed to the top of a tower at the University of Texas... Continue