I don’t normally pass along humor, but this one was just too hard to resist. It’s just too funny…. Carl B. BarneySeptember 14, 2022
Personal
Dr. Google: My Favorite Doctor
I heartily recommend to you my favorite doctor, Dr. Google. One example: I recently had a full-body MRI as part of my longevity program. I was wondering what the MRI would or would not show and what I could learn from it. I had planned to ask the radiologist… but decided to go to my…
Boom
About seven years ago, I received a call from Blake Scholl—at whom I laughed and said, “You’re crazy.” He’s now getting the last laugh. At that time, he told me he was developing a supersonic airliner. I asked him where and he said that he was working on it in his basement/garage. I laughed at…
Doctors: A Tribute
If it were not for doctors and medical science, I would have been dead for 30 years. (I suffered acute appendicitis, which was quickly resolved at a local hospital.) In fact, most people over the age of fifty would be dead were it not for life-saving drugs, medical procedures, and the care of doctors and…
Strategies for Longevity that Don’t Require a Doctor
My doctor, Peter Attia, writes: “If you’re interested in longevity… you want to prioritize muscle mass.” And he recommends three forms of exercise: Zone 1 is strength training, which can be done through weights or isometrics. I do both. Zone 2 is low-grade cardio, where you’re not so breathless that you can’t hold a conversation,…
Our Country, Clarity, and Common Sense
Wilfred M. McClay, winner of the Bradley Prize, remarked on May 17, 2022: Would a serious country so completely lose perspective on its own past that it would entertain the idea that the nation was founded on slavery, rather than on the ideals that have made it a beacon to the rest of the world?…
Cyrano
He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. —Raphael Sabatini from Scaramouche. That quotation is about another heroic character, but it could just as well apply to Edmond Rostand’s hero, Cyrano de Bergerac. Cyrano is a delightful movie. It stars Peter Dinklage—who I believe gives a brilliant performance—as…
Anxiety is Good for You! How Can That Be?
There is an intriguing and, I think, truly important essay by Tracy Dennis-Tiwary who has devoted the past 20 years to understanding difficult emotions like anxiety. She is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and has a new book, Future Tense: Why Anxiety Is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad). It is so…
Why I Admire Ayn Rand and Her Philosophy: Objectivism
Dear Friends, Many of you know that I am a student of Objectivism, and some of you know why. But others may wonder why I’m so attracted to the philosophy and give it so much time and investment. A wonderful summary is contained in “Introducing Objectivism,” which is a column that Ayn Rand wrote on…
Keeping Our Fires Burning Bright
“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark… Do not let the hero in your soul perish…” – Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged In my last blog, I posed a question: What do you do to keep your fire burning? It ignited a lot of interest. Thank you for your posted answers and…
