Don’t Look Up!
From 1967 to 1969 I was part of the Hydrobiology Research Team in the Water Resource Division of the U.S Geological Survey (see John Wesley Powell ), Department of the Interior. Our charge was the first scientific study of the ecology of the Everglades. Not like the writings of naturalists such as Margorie Stoneman Douglas […]
Twelve Good Salesmen
My family is Jewish. When we were kids, Dad owned his own taxicab. After moving to Miami, he drove a cab until becoming a car salesman at the Lincoln Mercury dealer. He was so good at it the Prudential manager got word of it and recruited him into the life insurance business which changed […]
Hollywood Endings
I am a Film Freak, a Cinephile. A rewarding moment for me was when AFI, the American Film Institute, came out with their first list of the 100 greatest films (frankly their only list worth anything). By then I had already seen 98 of them! I hate Hollywood Endings. You know, where they take […]
Ethics Two
The next mentor I consulted must remain nameless because he is the second example here of “Ethics costing me money!” He was such a significant actuary that a Federal District Judge once appointed him a special master to protect the pension for the employees of a national airline that went bankrupt. My personal […]
It Isn’t Ethics Until It Costs You Money
Many years ago Bill Moyers had a documentary series on Public Television called “Ethics.” I remember one thing very clearly, perhaps because I had more than one opportunity to live it. He was interviewing the president of the Peterson Institute of Ethics in California who said: “Around here we don’t call it ethics until […]
John’s Papal Blessing
My father-in-law, John O’Hara, was a devout Catholic. He was born in 1918. His mother Mabel and his father had just gotten off the boat from Ireland when Mabel was widowed by the Flu Pandemic with a newborn. John eventually had the good fortune to have a well-off person in New Port Richey become his […]
Becky’s First Car
I left for Boston University in the Fall of 1973 for my doctorate in Anthropology. Janis and I missed each other, to say NOTHING of not being able to afford the phone calls. Yeah, you paid for a long-distance phone call those days! When I returned to Tallahassee for the winter break she decided to […]
The Embryo
Quite a story behind its “birth”! I will get to it. In the meantime, I didn’t want you all to have to wait to see it. If the PDF viewer below does not work for you, you can open the PDF directly by clicking on the following link: The Embryo
My Farewell to Lewis Mumford
He was in fact to pass away just for years later at 95 years old. I knew him when he was in his 70’s and still going strong. I have shared much about him already on the website, but in trying to reorganize a lifetime of writing I came across this letter and wished to […]
Leon Spitzer Eulogy
Thank you all for coming to show our Dad your respects. Many years ago when he could not attend his own father’s funeral his Aunt Bess, his father’s sister, told him “Funerals are for the living”. I hope to share some stories that say a lot about the kind of person he was. When we […]