Today, with emphasis on fuel economy, many cars are now equipped with four-cylinder engines (but turbocharged.) Our family sedan is so equipped but has almost 300 horsepower – more than the …

Many of you have probably not visited Istanbul. I visited once just passing through. But in that brief time I spent there, I was impressed by the city. Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, …

Today I’m going to write about that tragic day, Sept. 11, 2001. Now normally there would be no reason to write about a topic that has been covered ad infinitum. However, in my case, while I …

For this week, I thought I’d write about the advancement in military weapons (which sometimes also find their way into civilian use). We all remember World War II – and that both …

This column will be about the tremendous advances made in auto safety – just during my lifetime. I’ll start with one day while I walked to grammar school. I came upon an accident in …

A  bout 10 years ago, I happened to find myself driving in Fiji. Now the Fiji islands were settled by the British – so one of the things you will find there is you drive on the …

W hew, it’s a new year. The ink is probably still wet on your New Year’s resolutions. I have never been a big fan of resolutions. I do like to focus on a public commitment to change …

When you first read the title of this column, how many of you thought of the advertising business and Madison Avenue in Manhattan? Madison Avenue has long been the catchphrase for the “ad …

This morning, I was headed out to attend my first meeting of the Mukilteo Book Club, which meets once a month at the Mukilteo Library. Unfortunately, I joined too late to actually get ahold and …

We all would like to think we can save the planet. That’s assuming you believe the earth is getting warmer due to carbon dioxide generation – from all the fossil fuel-burning activities going on …

As someone who writes (this column), I’ve watched many writers become spectacularly successful and others (including myself) not. Let me start with James Patterson, the world’s most successful …

I’ve been reading up on the early history of the universe. It is stuff that really can blow your head back and expand your mind. For example, Mars once had surface water much as Earth does. The …

I recently had the opportunity to visit a gun range and practice shooting a handgun. My particular handgun was a Sig-Sauer – considered among the best of the 9mm weapons. There is an indoor gun …

The other day, as I was browsing through the television guide, it occurred to me that watching just about any network TV show is a sure fire way to destroy your brain. I mean just look at the crap …

I wrote a column a few weeks back – just after my surgery, about some of the problems in “big medicine.” Well, let me summarize the biggest problem with this old expression: “Hurry up and …

It’s quite easy to make predictions about the future. After all, no one can prove you’re wrong if you adopt a very long-term outlook – say a couple of centuries. Nevertheless, here are one …

I’ve written about music before. This week I thought I’d look into folk music. Sometimes folk music was music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers, or music performed by custom over a …

I just completed a one-week stay in the hospital to have some surgery. I’ve been fortunate in not having to stay in a hospital for any reason. But wow have things changed. First and foremost, …

I’ve been fortunate my entire life in not, as yet, coming down with any debilitating diseases which might put me out of commission either temporarily or permanently. However, this column breaks …

I’m fairly certain that just about everyone on this planet has considered this question at some point. Oh, perhaps some native tribe who has lived isolated in some jungle and has never, for …