T.S. Eliot wrote in two of his works that "Humankind cannot bear very much reality."

I'm with T.S. on that one. Consensus reality can be unrewarding. Why spend a lot of time there?

On my previous blog posting, emma peel commented, "I am amazed… Read full post »

 "Most women should start regular breast cancer screening at age 50, not 40, according to new guidelines released Monday by an influential group that provides guidance to doctors, insurance companies and policy makers." (November 16^th New York Times)

The new guidelines must be valid,… Read full post »

This was fun to write. Is it fun to read?

(© Copyright 2009 by Hawley Roddick. All rights reserved.)

A

An acrimonious alligator ate Alice's… Read full post »

During Michael Jackson’s trial for pedophilia in 2003, I lived in Santa Barbara, and Neverland Ranch was in Santa Barbara County, so the trial was treated as a local event. We Santa Barbarians were privileged to varying versions of the Inside Story. Example: “My best… Read full post »

Once upon a time, Americans didn't fool around with illness. Never mind health plans. Just pop into the druggist. Got a headache? Take an aspirin. Got a cough? Take an aspirin with heroin. Huh, what's that you say? You'd like something in between, instead of going straight from aspirin… Read full post »

“According to audience research firm Nielsen, the number of minutes spent on Twitter by its users moved up 3,712% to 300 million in April compared with the same month in 2008.” http://247wallst.com/?s=twitter

The word Nielsen gives me the warm fuzzies, because Ginny Nielsen, d/… Read full post »

First, let’s get this straight—I’m not a newbie to PowerPoint. I have presentation creds. I wrote, designed, and presented a workshop in Santa Barbara on ethical wills for which attorneys who attended received continuing education credits. And I gave a presentation for the Santa Bar… Read full post »

At least one of my ancestors probably fought in the Revolution, because my family arrived in Boston in 1630. Long-dead relatives also served on both sides of the Civil War. But I am a pacifist. Killing people over ideas, territory, and natural resources is not an enlightened… Read full post »

Note: This is a lightly edited version of yesterday's post. I wanted to change the headline and so had to repost the content, too. I didn't delete  the earlier version because people had posted interesting comments.

Recently I saw a vivid commercial for a movie that centers on… Read full post »

Recently I saw a vivid commercial for a movie that centers on a major earthquake striking Seattle. The Space Needle keels straight over without breaking. I have eaten in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle and, watching the commercial, imagined being there when diners plummet back… Read full post »

Being good may be one way to gain eternal life, but printing your blog and saving hard copies is easier and is a surer bet. Seriously.

Today’s historians worry about what tomorrow’s historians will have to work with when they try to figure out how we experienced our daily lives.… Read full post »

I lived in Santa Barbara from 1999 until 2006. I left on impulse (that’s another story) and stay in touch with friends there, some of whom are among the best friends I have. Today almost all have been evacuated from their gracious homes or are in the warning zone and ready… Read full post »

Equal opportunity for all, indeed! Now look what that man has gone and done.  President Obama brazenly admits he wants his Supreme Court nominee to have empathy.  Empathy. 

In other words, Obama will exclude from consideration all those who are handicapped — are differently abl… Read full post »

Come to think of it, unprotected recreational sex as well as reproductive sex are to blame for these, among other, current problems:

• Smog
• Traffic jams
• Air pollution
• Rising oceans
• Melting ice caps
• Vanishing species 
• Overcrowded jails
• Disappearing forests
• Shrinking oil supplies
… Read full post »

I can't imagine what my life would have been like without Helen Gurley Brown. I don't even want to imagine my life without her. She deserves a hell of a lot more credit as a feminist pioneer than she gets.

Perhaps the first full-length biography of Helen, reviewed… Read full post »

How did I get into this position and why was I imagining my son's car enveloped in white light?

The last thing I remembered was writing at my computer. Then suddenly I was at the desk next to the computer. My head was on my crossed arms. My eyes were… Read full post »

The National Business Review predicts it will be “the biggest [computer] virus attack the world has ever seen.” (Chris Keall, Thursday January 22 2009).

Our personal or business computers may be among the estimated ten million computers already infected with the Conficker C worm, which is… Read full post »

You've probably noticed that the word vagina now shows up regularly on television, especially in medical and crime dramas. And a while ago, perhaps you watched spellbound, as I did, when Oprah told us how to find our own G spot in our own vajayjay. (Footnote to history: When a diplomat… Read full post »

Yesterday driving to Carmel for a business lunch (which lasted four hours, but that's another story), I saw a Coexist bumber sticker slightly different from the one shown, but the idea was the same.

Google tells me it isn't new, but it's new to me and seems apt… Read full post »

Even the people who later confessed they had cried or thrown-up in anticipation of our first potluck dinner together showed up. The invitations had come from two women – one on each side. Chris worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the San Juan Mountains, where she lived with her… Read full post »

With a heady mix of envy and inspiration, I noted that on the Time list of "25 Best Blogs 2009" are two blogs not all that dissimilar from some here at OS: Dooce http://tinyurl.com/dzf2l7 and Confessions of a Pioneer Woman http://tinyurl.com/cxqf7g.

So now I wonder if I'm alone at… Read full post »

Today I had this OS message from an Alert Reader (as Dave Barry would say): "Did someone named Roger Vaughn just copy your piece and put it down as his own?"

I visited the Vaughn blog (http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=114208) and whadya know? He writes that he is a priest, and he claims… Read full post »

Dear Taxpayers:

Although you aren't aware of what wonderful care you took of me, I want to thank you for covering the bill (over $50,000) when I was in hospital unnecessarily but conveniently.

To understand why I'm grateful, here's the back story. I got up in the middle of… Read full post »

On October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time I was in a store in Sebastopol, CA, staring at a blender on a shelf; I was considering buying it so my son at UC Santa Cruz could make fruit and vegetable drinks. Suddenly the blender seemed to come closer to me,… Read full post »

Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to shut my eyes in ordinary reality and open them in a spectacular new reality. But the expected always happens: if I close my eyes in the living room, when I open my eyes, I'm in the living room. Really, how dull… Read full post »