News and Views

I had my phone stolen out of my pocket on a crowded subway in Paris today. In one moment I lost my: – Phone – GPS – Kindle library – Flashlight – Camera – Video camera – Translator – Encyclopedia – Trip advisor – Calendar – Contact list – Email and more that I can’t […]

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Yesterday we went to the house where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life, in a little town called Clos Luce. I stood in the bedroom where he died. There were many models of his inventions, some of them full size and working, that we could touch and move. Here is […]

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We made it to Tours. Gisele stayed here so many times over the years that she formed a friendship with an elderly couple who used to rent rooms to students. They are too old now to deal with students, but they welcomed Gisele, and by extension the rest of us, as old friends. The lady […]

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We took a day trip up into the French Alps today to the lovely little town of Chamonix (sha mo nee). From there we took an aerial tram in two stages to the top of a nearby peak, at almost 13,000 feet elevation. It was very cold, with deep snow on the ground. Unfortunately it […]

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Annecy is a nice little city (~52,000) on the edge of the French Alps,  about 20 miles from Geneva,  Switzerland.  The area has been settled since around 100-200 AD, but the earliest architecture dates from the 1100’s. Dating from the 1100’s above is the “Island Palace”, in the middle of a canal. Today happened to […]

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Today is our third day in Paris, and tomorrow we take the high speed train to Annecy, near Geneva. Yesterday was a whirlwind series of visits to the Eiffel Tower, Arch De Triumph, and Notre Dame Cathedral. Today we went to the Louvre. Except for the Louvre today, admission lines were too long, so everything […]

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Gisele and I (and 4 other Chinese women) are going to France, leaving this Thursday and coming back on Friday, June 7. (In case any burglars are reading this, Derek and Apollo will be staying at the house, so keep away!) We land in Paris where we spend about 3 days, then go to Annecy, […]

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In 2004 Amanda Berry’s mother asked Sylvia Browne for news about Amanda. Sylvia said “She’s not alive honey.” Her mother died a year later from heart failure, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the shock and disappointment hastened that end. Similarly, in 2004 Browne told the parents of missing child Shawn Hornbeck that their child […]

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Derek graduated with a BS in Mathematics in December, but even before he graduated he had set his sights on becoming an actuary. This past Monday he began working as an intern at an actuarial consulting firm in Scottsdale (Optumas). It’s a 6-month internship with a probable full-time job offer at some time during that […]

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