I am really not a Luddite. I tried using Facebook, but somehow it wouldn’t let me separate SolveEczema.org from my personal page, so forget that. After making some monumental blunders — such as replying “yes” when it asked if I wanted to import my contacts from Yahoo, only to discover it had automatically spammed everyone …
I keep a file of “funny and amazing insurance excuses,” but I had to share this exclusion for an urgent care physician’s charge from our local medical center’s After Hours Urgent Care Clinic: “YOUR BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD SERVICE BENEFIT PLAN COVERAGE DOES NOT PROVIDE BENEFITS FOR ADDITIONAL CHARGES BY ANY PROFESSIONAL PROVIDER FOR …
The story of violin virtuoso Joshua Bell playing incognito in a Washington DC subway — where virtually no one stops to listen — is circulating again by email. The story is true. I couldn’t help writing about it on this blog’s first “Off Topic” post. But as with most experiments, whether informal ad hoc or …
Off Topic Post: Joshua Bell Strikes Again – Virtually Read More »
I feel I must apologize once again for my inability to really answer any correspondence for the site or spend any serious time on new posts or revisions. I appreciate the wonderful letters and feedback I have received lately, it has really buoyed me through this trying time. There is nothing like knowing another child …
With no working washing machine for a month now, Halloween costume plans had to change in our household. Fortunately for us, Canon sponsors one of the best web sites on the Internet, from which we were able to print plans to build a really cool red panda mask out of paper card stock. No washing …
Off Topic: One of the best web sites on the Internet Read More »
I finally got my medical insurance appeal in the mail last Saturday. The package weighed 11 pounds! I hurt my hand trying to finish it – I have never had a technological strain injury before. Ouch! My copy of the appeal also weighed 11 pounds. The stack I had to make just prior to this …
My apologies to everyone to whom I owe correspondence, and there are many at the moment. I am battling a particularly vicious bout of health insurance paperwork. They used to say “the cure is worse than the disease”; the sage person who coined the phrase must have had the same insurance as I do. I …
Off Topic: An apology to those waiting for replies… Read More »
A few weeks ago, I started a series on how to get rid of ants from your home for good. Part 1 explains why I am writing about this here, now. [link] First, the disclaimer: I am no expert on insect behavior. I am first to admit that I have never read a scientific book …
Off Topic: How to Get Rid of Ants For Good, Part 2 of 3 Read More »
In the next few days (or weeks, depending on when I can finish writing it), I will post another entry to this blog, with a solution to yet another universal problem: how to get rid of ants from your home for good without using poison. My criteria for getting rid of ants means not having …
Off Topic: How to Get Rid of Ants for Good, Part 1 of 3 Read More »
I just read a great article in Discover Magazine‘s October 2007 issue, p.66. The article is called Science Under Siege, by Jennifer Washburn. I have not found the article on the Internet, probably because the issue – billed as The State of Science in America – is still in newstands. This is the first time …