The Familia Lodato, the one started by Sylvia and me so many decades ago, spent four days together in the San Diego area a couple of weeks ago. It was a glorious time, extremely well planned, with terrific venues, lots of laughter, warm discussions and a whole lot more. Most important it was a family thing. We have a grandma and grandpa, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, grandsons and … [Read more...]
Venturing Out During the Pandemic
October 2020 Some may have concerns about our getting infected with the virus on our upcoming 4-day trip to San Diego county. The probability of us returning virus free is 99.97848. Here’s the calculation using statistics from SanDiegoCounty.gov. Over 226 days (thru 9/27/2020) there have been 1,453 cases of people 80 years old and above getting infected. The rate per 100,00 of these … [Read more...]
Mathematics and Me
I think I’m a Platonist when it comes to mathematics. Some scholars feel very strongly that mathematical truths are “out there,” waiting to be discovered. Platonism takes its name from the ancient Greek thinker Plato, who imagined that mathematical truths inhabit a world of their own—not a physical world, but rather a non-physical realm of unchanging perfection; a realm that exists outside of … [Read more...]
Meet the Real Systemic Racists Against Blacks
Think about it. Suppose you really hate blacks and want to see them suffer from murder, other violent crime and fear. In other words, you don’t want blacks to be at peace. And you want someone else to be blamed for the injustice and carnage. A logical answer is that you would defund the organizations responsible for their protection and blame the police for systemic racism – even though the … [Read more...]
The Noble Martini
For some reason I hadn't had a martini for perhaps a decade or so. The other night our cocktail hour host offered me one, (I actually had two). I was so carried away, I wrote to him the following. "Thanks for bringing the martini back into my life. I will never abandon it again. I had lost my way. My dignity has been rediscovered. The proliferation of martini bars and the offering there … [Read more...]
Finding Wisdom in Fiction
I’ve read a lot of fiction since moving to University Village. Every once in a while, I run into a bit of wisdom that stirs my mind. Usually when I discover such a passage, I blurt out to Sylvia, “Listen to this!” And I read it aloud. She, after all, as a voracious reader, led me to fiction. The examples I give here are from one author, Louise Penny, and her Inspector Gamache series of … [Read more...]
The Compassionate Consultant
Some years ago, when I got back from a golf weekend with my buddies, Sylvia asked, "What did you talk about?" I responded: "Guys don't talk. They either comment on shots or sports, or they insult one another." (This is not a trait that men ought to be proud of, but it is true, at least in my experience.) When I mentioned this to a gal at the office, she said, "One reasons why it is so … [Read more...]
Frequently Asked Questions
"What ya gonna do?" Tony Soprano "How's that working for you?" Dr. Phil "Still working on that?" (Referring to your dinner plate) A waiter who wants to turn your table. "Do you come here often?" Asked in many a tavern across the fruited plain. "Do I come here often?" Asked by senior citizens in many taverns. … [Read more...]
21st Century Democrats
I’ve never been a democrat, I didn’t vote for Trump, and I long ago withdrew from the Republican Party. Republicans in the government, like their democrat counterparts, have become swamp dwellers that only serve their own interests. Both took an oath to perform public service and to do the right thing but instead put their emphasis on such things as getting re-elected, taking care of the … [Read more...]
The Big Bang Theory
By Michael W. Lodato I’m aided here by some insights from a book titled Father Joe. It kind of supports the skepticism I’ve always had about the Big Bang Theory, which if you start picking at it is as loopy as any other creation myth. First there is the claim that the super-dense lump of matter that exploded was the size of a baseball, (referred to as a “singularity”), not a golf ball or a … [Read more...]