An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck the city of Barn in Iran on Saturday. Casualty estimates vary from 5,000 to 20,000 dead. Eighty percent of the historic city was destroyed and the truth is that no one knows how many are dead in the rubble. The government of Iran has appealed for international aid and US and European aid teams are expected to arrive beginning today. It is freezing cold in the city and many people only have the clothes that they were wearing when the quake hit. The city ha...

The story goes as follows: In 1945, a gentleman named William Sianis tried to bring his billy goat to the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. Now, while this might seem unusual, given that Mr. Sianis was the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago one can see that this was a brilliant marketing ploy. Due to personal hygiene problems (presumably the goat was the offender) Mr. Sianis was denied admission. Not a man to be taken lightly, he stood outside of Wrigley Field ...

According to a new study reported in The Archives of Internal Medicine the number of severly obese people, people more than 100 pounds overweight, has increased dramatically. Based on a telephone study of 1.5 million adults conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 50 adults is severly obese. Compare that to 1986, when 1 in 200 adults was severly obese and you can see that we have a growing problem. During that same time the rate of moderate obesity roughly doubled, from ...

I don't hate Rush Limbaugh. Oh sure, I disagree with him strongly about most (well, maybe every) topic. But I don't hate him amd I find nothing joyful in his personal problems. And I don't understand why anyone would. When I came home today, I found that Michael Moore was in Ann Arbor, where I live. Mr. Moore was on a speaking tour for his new book "Dude, Where's My Country?" He had this to say about Rush Limbaugh: "I have been trying for the for the last 48 hours, with every single bone in m...

I read an interesting article in Time Magazine today entitled "Inside the War on Hamas." I have linked to it below. Two things are apparent to me: 1- Under the current state of affairs, no real peace process can go forward without the active participation of Hamas. I don't just mean peace between Israel and the Palestinians, I mean peace in the entire region. Please note also that I began by saying "Under the current state of affairs." 2- Hamas has little or no incentive to participate in a...

This week two of my favorite musicians passed away. Johnny Cash, the legendary Man in Black, and Warren Zevon, the Excitable Boy, both joined the celestial choir this week. Their songs were important to me and I will miss them both. In memorial, I would just like to share the impact that they had on my life. I would never have said that I liked country music until I heard Johnny Cash perform "A Boy Named Sue." (Written by children's story writer Shel Silverstein, I should add.) The song is wi...