The bells rang on the hour, as they always do, here in “our” French village. And then a few minutes later the bells at the 300-year-old church rang out again, and this was a gusher of clanging and banging that could mean only one thing at 4 p.m. on a Saturday: A wedding! And the […]

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Its a “thing”. The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of those teams … and perhaps the ultimate example of that sort of club … in “working” the disabled list. Basically, they have a pool of 10-15 relief pitchers and now, in the second year of the 10-day disabled list, the club moves those 10-15 guys […]

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This is a topic addressed by the Ringer website, and millions of American families can relate to it. Which family board game is the most harmful to domestic tranquility? The Ringer comes up with a dozen or so suggestions, from The Game of Life to Risk to Parcheesi. I have played several of the games […]

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What’s better than a Snickers bar, in all its chocolate-caramel-peanutty goodness? Two of them! Or should it be three? And what is better yet? The ultimate Snickers bar! That would be the one seen above — one full pound of Snickers that the Mars company prefers to call the Slice ‘n Share bar. It recommends […]

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I made it through several decades unaware of the veddy refined British tradition of “high tea”. Or, as it sometimes is also known, “afternoon tea“. (The difference is explained here). The idea behind it is a mid-afternoon snack. To bridge the span between lunch and a late dinner. Quite sensible. Starting with tea, of course. […]

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Pulling into Modesto around 8 p.m., looking for a place to have a beer and maybe a salad. We found a brew pub named “Commonwealth”, which apparently is quite popular in this Central Valley outpost, because nearly every stool was taken at its long/seat-yourself tables. We spotted facing open spots near the bar, and asked […]

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Many members of my generation have been space enthusiasts since childhood. We spent lots of hours in our teens watching manned flights sent up by the U.S. Space Agency, usually know by the acronym NASA. The original goal, as outlined by President Kennedy in 1960, was getting a manned spacecraft to the moon … and […]

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No, not about a domestic dispute over a husband taking an afternoon to play a round at the country club. The title, above, are words from a famous Firestone tires jingle from 1963. One that was so compelling to a kid in fourth grade that more than a half-century later he can remember the whole […]

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When did I last watch ice hockey? Might have been the gold-medal game of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Canada versus the U.S., with the Canucks in the living room of a big Abu Dhabi apartment nervous as hell and the Yanks amused to see it. Hockey is Canada; Canada is hockey. Forget all that stuff […]

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We live in a silly world. We shrug as the list of countries with nuclear weapons grows but we have printed warnings that coffee may be hot, plastic bags should not be placed over your head and, now, we have instructions for getting toothpaste out of a tube. I noticed the other day, on a […]

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