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<\/a>\u2022 The label on the can says “Cream of Mushroom” soup.\u00a0 Now we all know that one cannot get cream from a mushroom, no matter how finely one tries to chop it.\u00a0 I suggest we soup-eaters and casserole-makers have been complicit in perpetuating an improper preposition here.\u00a0 At best, the label should say “Cream and<\/em> Mushroom” soup.\u00a0 And that’s being generous with the notion of what “cream” means.<\/p>\n\u2022 This is the 75th anniversary of the use of penicillin to treat infections.\u00a0 Antibiotics such as penicillin are losing their effectiveness as bacteria evolve and become resistant to them.\u00a0 Perhaps an even greater worry is when bacteria, parasites and other organisms develop resistance to bleach and chlorine, the chemicals that keep our surfaces and water supplies free of pathogens without causing much harm to people.\u00a0 Our war on bacteria began only 200 years ago, but bacteria have fighting the survival battle for four billion years.\u00a0 I think they have a head start on us.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sometimes I wonder whether there are so many good causes to become involved in and\/or contribute to that they suffer together from the dilution of our attention.\u00a0 Would it be better if the world were to focus on malaria one year, HIV the next, hunger and famine the year after that?\u00a0 Or is our current practice better, practically-speaking, of mounting low-level but sustainable efforts on all these countless fronts and reluctantly accept that it takes years to achieve results in any one of them?\u00a0 Injustices test one’s patience.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I am researching new toilets to replace our old noisy ones.\u00a0 To be sure, this is an unglamorous task.\u00a0 It got me thinking that someone (like me) could make a living as a toilet-whisperer to the stars and other highly-moneyed folks, people who don’t mind flushing several hundred dollars down the drain for the perfect toilet recommendation.\u00a0 But inevitably, I would attract competitors and this kind of advice would become — yes — a commodity.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rick Lanier is founder of the 15-year-old U.S. Motto Action Committee<\/a>. The purpose of this “committee” is to lobby county commissioners to put the words “In God We Trust” on the entrances to courthouses.\u00a0 A Facebook post by Ken Lynn quotes Lanier as telling the Christian Action League, \u201cWe feel compelled to move forward aggressively in the hope of maintaining a remnant of our godly American heritage. Because of the apostasy of our nation and the evil forces of political correctness our religious freedoms are quickly dissipating.\u201d\u00a0 Lanier’s not-even-thinly-veiled religious action committee just convinced our neighbor Hendersonville, North Carolina, to place these words prominently above the entrances of its two courthouses.\u00a0 So it seems that courthouses now join foxholes as places with a special power to convert atheists.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 The box says “Seedless Raisins.”\u00a0 Imagine your surprise if you bit into one that wasn’t.<\/p>\n \u2022 There is something annoying about watching the evening news and hearing the anchor express his gratitude<\/a> to the reporter at the conclusion of her story.\u00a0 It seems self-serving. Isn’t the reporter just doing her job?\u00a0 It’s not like she went out and bought the anchor a birthday gift.<\/p>\n \u2022 It’s interesting that one is likely to find Salade Ni\u00e7oise in every big city in America, but I do not recall seeing a Caesar Salad on any menu in any restaurant in France.\u00a0 If there is a joke here, it’s probably on us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2022 As I was trimming dead leaves out of a houseplant, I absently snipped into my fingertip with the scissors.\u00a0 It was a small but deep cut.\u00a0 It has almost healed now but the rest of my finger was unhappy … Continue reading