Another unbelievably true story.   No one was injured, but many potatoes were lost when a tractor-trailer hauling a load of curly fries caught fire on a Maine highway last Wednesday.   The firefighters used about 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames, but the tractor-trailer and its spud snack cargo "were a total loss," firefighters wrote.   Although, it did attract a lot of hungry people who were looking for a bottle of ketchup.  

When I was a boy I was made aware of the "Red Scare" (fear of the spread of Communism). It was an abounding tsunami of hate and recrimination abroad in the land. For instance, people were called before congressional committees, found in contempt and jailed for refusing to name names of alleged communists or "fellow travelers."

From Aruba. The ordeal of standing in line at the Palapa Hut in the late afternoon heat to reserve a palapa was a time-honored tradition. Now that tradition is replaced by an app. All reservations are by app.

I’ve been under the weather for a few days, not unlike many others around me.  I’ve had three meetings cancelled in the last week alone because someone else was under the weather. I suppose it was my turn.  

A friend of ours recently received a daunting diagnosis. The way his two adult daughters are reacting to the diagnosis are profoundly different. One is optimistic believing that, with the right treatment, he will be okay. The other feels that she is being more realistic in terms of the effect of this diagnosis. I do not know which daughter is right but my conversations with them got me to thinking about the difference between being an optimist or a pessimist.  

For some the pitch about joining Gotham involves business opportunities.  Members seek to sell their services or wares.  That may be a primary reason to network.  But for this member who complains not at all about business opportunities here, I submit Gotham offers much more.

It would appear a judge is fed up with incarcerating offenders who appear before him in court. A Michigan Judge Jeffrey Clothier is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters, ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring arrives.   He hopes this unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. He sometimes sees 48 cases on his docket in one day. Clothier said he anticipates 75 to 100 people will be ordered to wash cars in March and April.  

Legend has it that cockfighting abounded in Key West and was a Hemingway favorite. Then it was outlawed in 1986 and the roosters were set free. Unfortunately, in 1998, Hurricane George spread the fowl all over our tiny, pristine Paradise and they have been multiplying ever since. You know why a rooster crows, don't you? Mitigation has failed miserably and a city employed chicken catcher quit in the 2000s after swift backlash from chicken enthusiasts.