I recently had a chance to observe my first federal criminal trial, and while it was fascinating, I also found it somewhat troubling. The case involved some financial issues, and as I sat there listening to the questions being asked by the lawyers and the answers being given by the witness, I thought a lot … Continue reading Is a Jury of Your “Peers” the Best Way to Pick a Jury? →

Who's going to do the dishes? It's a question faced by many households several times a week. According to The Atlantic,  a report from the Council of Contemporary Families (CCF), a nonprofit that studies family dynamics, suggests that the answer to that question can have a significant impact on the health and longevity of a relationship. … Continue reading The Key to a Successful Relationship? Do the Dishes. →

We've been back from our time in Europe for almost two weeks now, and we are finally settling back into many of our old routines: we're using AT&T as our cell carrier, instead of EE we're using the regular iPhone messaging app instead of Whatsapp we're back to working out at Planet Fitness we had … Continue reading Two Weeks In, and It’s Back to the Same Old, the Good Old Same Old →

I never quite got the appeal, or purpose, of the Apple Watch. To me, the iPhone is the single greatest device of all time, and the Watch just seemed like a smaller, less capable, and less convenient version of the iPhone. However, there is one aspect of the Watch that does interest me, and that … Continue reading OK, Apple Watch, You’ve Got Two Weeks To Convince Me Not to Return You →

I just came across a new smartphone app called Attaboy! which has the following description: Attaboy! is always there for you with a fresh compliment to lift your spirits! Rate the compliments you like (and the ones you don’t) so that Attaboy! displays only the messages that make you feel great! All compliments in Attaboy! … Continue reading These “Attaboys” Are Supposed to Lift My Spirits? →

It's been more than six months since I've shared some of the more interesting comments I've received that I have opted to not approve, and thus are not visible on the blog. As you will notice, most, if not all, of these comments are either generated by some type of robot, or by someone not … Continue reading Totally Irrelevant “Reader” Comments and Questions →

Here's the pitch: "A darkly comic thriller about a precocious adolescent's wish to come to grips with his own birth." What do you think? Would you want to read such a novel and then see the movie? While it may sound like an original idea, it really isn't. Anybody with the first name of James … Continue reading I Wonder if Hollywood Would Buy the Rights to My Book →

I can't recall ever having read an entire Shakespeare play, but I'm guessing that at some point in high school I must have, because one phrase has always stuck in my mind. I remember the teacher asking something along the lines of how Shakespeare demonstrated the "morbid curiosity of a crowd". I must admit I … Continue reading The Morbid Curiosity of a Crowd, from Shakespeare to Villanova →

April Fools’ Day – it’s one of my favorite days of the year, and I try to celebrate it by pulling off a prank that may trick a few people, and this year was no different. Just like last year, I used the Nextdoor platform as the basis for my prank, posting the following headline … Continue reading April Fools’ Day, 2018 →