I realize it’s the thought the counts, but let’s face it, sometimes it hard to fake a smile when you know that package under the tree contains a reindeer tie or a snow globe of Swiss village.  So I thought I’d offer a Christmas gift the entire family can enjoy—10...

It was mid-December 1969, and four Marine helicopter crews waited in the med-evac shack next to the runway at Marble Mountain Air Facility.  It was about 2:00 AM on a cold, rainy night when the call came from DaNang DASC that a Marine force-recon patrol had been...

The other night while surfing the movie channels I came across that 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz with its, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” and “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto.” But the line from the movie I remember most occurred when Dorothy and...

So you’re out for your morning jog; it’s mid January and the temperature hovers near zero when you notice a large white canine sitting in front of a home set back about 30 yards from the street.  Suddenly the dog takes an interest and begins running towards you.  You...

William Burroughs once wrote,  “The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values.”  Which begs the question, does the American education system create the space where differing philosophies are presented and collide, where a wide variety of...

English isn’t the world’s most-spoken language but it is universally accepted as the planet’s lingua franca, i.e., the language used as the common language between speakers whose native languages are different, as well as the language anyone who wants to get ahead in...

The Celsius temperature scale was created in the mid-18th century and is part of the metric system.  It’s also the planet’s “official” form of temperature measurement and has been adopted by the majority of countries around the world. Who among us doesn’t recall...