Brunch at the End of the End of History

...1930s, Reagan in the 1980s and the shape-shifting postmodern right of our time. By now, myself included, we’re likely fatigued by a tsunami of premature hot takes on the U.S. election results this month. At the risk of adding yet another, I want to mention one aspect related to our book and the subject of this blog. Specifically, I’ve long thought that what caused many of us to turn to pastimes such as gardening and cooking has a lot to do with a...

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Hot Colonoscopy Summer

...ever, is the fact that a colonoscopy can prevent some terrible cancers that the home test kits can’t detect. Both times I’ve had a colonoscopy the doctor found and removed polyps. The gunk you have to drink and the time by the toilet during the prep time is a small price to pay for the peace of mind you get once you’ve checked off this important task. If your doctor wants you to get one make that appointment today....

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Our Radioactive Cat

...leged to have lived with this feline in all his ups and downs and when the time came to make the decision on this treatment I didn’t think about it long. We’re fortunate to be able to afford it and I felt an obligation to make whatever time we have left with him as comfortable as possible. Until this absence this week, I didn’t fully realize what a presence he is, the way he bosses the dog, the other cat and even us around. The house is haunted by...

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I Made a Coffee Sandwich

...I used to speculate about what a “coffee sandwich” would consist of every time we went past the place. It took may years but I decided this month to bring some closure to this idle speculation. I based my prompt on the dessert sandwiches I ate on our recent trip to Japan. Typically, those sandwiches consist of a fruit and whipped cream filling served on fluffy Japanese milk bread called Hokkaido (北海道). I guess I could have invented a savory coffe...

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Escaping the AI Vampire Castle

...simultaneously generate and read this textual nonsense leaving us all more time to garden, handcraft chairs and go for long walks. But that’s not, of course, the way things will work out. AI will likely just put already vulnerable people out of work. As for predictions of an AI apocalypse, what I fear more is a grinding idiocy. I’m really getting fatigued with seeing AI generated images that are just a kind of summary of the most uninteresting “il...

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