My little Chinese crested powder-puff dog is lost. The silly fluff-ball found a way out of the backyard last night and zipped away into the dark. I’ve called the animal shelters and animal control to report him as missing, looked on Craig’s list to see if anyone had found him, and posted it on Facebook… Read more Oh Where Could My Little Dog Be?
The real value of minimum wage – in terms of buying power for a minimum wage employee working 40 hours a week – peaked in 1968 and has eroded steadily. If costs of living had remain level with dollar inflation, todays minimum wage employee would need to make $10.55/hr. Nonetheless, even raising the hourly wage… Read more Minimum Wage Needs to Be Almost $22/hr to be Equal to 1968 Wages
Look, there is no ‘debate’ about whether or not there is global warming and if it is the result of human activity. A whopping 97% of climate scientists agree that there is global warming and humans are the reason. There are a few outliers who are also scientists who argue against it — they usually… Read more Global Warming is Real and Manmade
I am constantly irked by the mantra that “poor people don’t pay takes” since “almost half of all Americans don’t pay income tax”, a misleading bunch of bologna that is almost always followed up by lamentations of how unfair this is to the wealthier Americans. This needs some reality, stat. First, notice how careful talking… Read more The Reality of Taxation in Low Income Families
Albanian culture has something it calls “besa”, which is concept that “obligates Albanians to provide shelter and safe passage for anyone seeking protection, particularly if there has been a promise to do so. Failure to act results in a loss of honor and standing. “It involves uncompromising protection of a guest, even at the point… Read more Besa is Best! How Albania Saved Thousands from the Holocaust
I admit to a certain fascination with female pirate captains who were just awesome levels of badass. So much so, I might write a book about it. If I do, I call dibs on Ladies Who Launch as the title. Seriously, I might write the book just because I have fallen deeply in love with… Read more Ladies Who Launch
One of the things I discuss in my book on Edward VI is whether or not there was likelihood that Arthur, Fitzroy, and Edward all received a mutated CRFT gene (inherited an atypical cystic fibrosis) from both parents. After a quick romp in the genealogy I am slightly surprised that royal babies weren’t born three… Read more Was everyone an offshoot of the Plantagenets??
As I have posted about recently, I am on the semi-recovery end from the mono I contracted in February. My family’s long-ago-scheduled trip to Disney World occurred the week before I got my diagnosis. When they heard about it, all those who had suffered with mono as adolescents or adults had one thing to say… Read more Making Mono Look Easy
My eldest daughter, Blossom, loves me to tell her stories of things I did when I was a little girl her age. When she turned ten years old yesterday, she asked me to tell her stories of what SHE was like as a little girl, since she was now a mature pre-woman in the double… Read more Back in the Day
I haven’t really “thought” about mono (AKA “glandular fever” in the United Kingdom) since I was a teen and some classmates got the “kissing disease” from playing spin the bottle when we were all in ninth grade. Mostly, I just sulked I wasn’t invited to the part where I could have caught proof of my… Read more Things I never knew about mononucleosis