All you men of a certain age might enjoy this Dave Barry piece
My initial reaction to seeing it was, Dave Barry? He’s still writing? Indeed he is, at a relatively youthful 77. I had a book of his on the topic of babies back when my son was little, and it used to make me LOL whenever I read it in that pre-internet time.
And now, dear readers – especially of the male variety but females might enjoy it too – I bring you this recent effort by Barry. It’s entitled “Tariffs: A Technical Analysis.” And no, it’s not about tariffs.
While we’re at it, this one from Barry is very funny too.
Enjoy.
Your first ink goes to his main blog. Here’s the one for the tariff discussion:
https://davebarry.substack.com/p/tariffs
Both of these are funny, because it’s Dave Barry. My husband reports that these days he only has to have PSA blood work and not that exam, but perhaps it lurks in the future. So I still have to have an invasive internal exam and he gets off free. Men! Which leads to Barry’s very perceptive second article about marriage and outsourcing mental functions to the spouse. Funny and so true.
Well I no longer have said organ.
I haven’t said anything here but last September I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. To cut a long, and rather tortuous saga down for the last 8 months…. 6 weeks ago my bladder and prostate were removed. I’m in recovery mode that will take probably another 2 months. And learning to live with an ostomy. Good news is that the disease was totally contained within the bladder lining with no lymph node involvement.
Back to the organ in question: despite it no longer existing I’ve found I am now scheduled for a PSA every 6 months. Apparently any value above zero is a cause for concern.
How lovely to be reminded of Dave Barry, just when I needed something funny. I read a lot of the tariffs article out loud to Mr Whatsit, who laughed out loud at the part about the subject a group of old men are likely to be talking animatedly about.
I don’t know if I ever read anything by Dave Barry that wasn’t funny, but I used to particularly love his columns about bad songs. Half the time all he had to do was quote the lyrics (“Someone left the cake out in the RAIN . . . “) and I’d be howling.
But he could make other topics hilarious too. A favorite quote: “In the old pre-technology days, it would have been almost impossible to replicate Facebook or Twitter. The closest you could get would be to mail dozens of postcards a day to everybody you know, each with a brief message about yourself like: “Finally got that haircut I’ve been putting off.” Or: “Just had a caramel frappuccino. Yum!” The people receiving these postcards would have naturally assumed you were a moron with a narcissism disorder.”
I’m delighted to learn he’s still writing. Now excuse me, I have to go read his whole Substack.
Sorry to hear that physicsguy
I cant say i. Have had that (but i had my episode last year as well as that bout of food poisoning
Yes there should be an easier way of determining that condition (doesnt a blood test do it)
Im reminded when the herald was my fishwrap of record and i looked forward to the sunday magazine
physicsguy, hard times, I’m sorry. May your recovery go swiftly.
physicsguy:
So sorry to hear you’ve had a rough time lately. I hope you continue to heal uneventfully and completely.
Physicsguy: sorry about your ordeal. Glad the prognosis is good and that you’re still here and contributing. As the Poles say: Sto lat!
Getting old, man. It’s rough.
Man, sorry about that Physics Guy.
physicsguy, I’m sorry to hear about your ordeal but glad to hear the cancer did not spread. Best wishes on your recovery.
So sorry about the diagnosis and what you’ve had to go through for the past 8 months physicsguy. I’m glad that it was contained and pray that it will remain so.
@physicsguy, that sounds rough. Hope things work out and your recovery goes well.
physicsguy:
A bad news, good news report. Prayers for continuing negative PSA results and otherwise good health for you.
physicsguy, 9 yrs I had Prostate Cancer, and had Brachytherapy, radiation seed implanted into the Prostate. My Urologist told me that if I have a reoccurrence of cancer, anywhere, it shows up in PSA. Good luck in your recovery.
I just found out something else. Don’t get an MRI if you have the seed implants.
I have a funny (not at the time)story about an interaction I had with Homeland Security over the radiation I was emitting.
Physicsguy, best wishes on continued recovery and good health.
I have come to understand that the organs in question play a very minimal role in the analysis of general relativity, cosmology, or QM; and at best may be helpful in studies of liquid mechanics or ballistics. On the other hand, you may now have some insights about dark matter that other physicists do not have a capability of considering. [/jocularity]
Now, it would be terrible, if not terrifying, if we spelled tarriffs with two rr’s; but maybe we can get around that with a spelling of tearriffs. How do we say tariffs in Chinese or in Etruscan?
[ /end Barry Pranking]
From Barry’s post “Marriage and Dementia”
First, AesopSpouse and I don’t divide tasks exactly the same way as the Barrys, but it’s very close.
Second, I would probably be able to recite “The Cat in the Hat” from memory if someone got me started.
As a side note to that, I have heard an old saying that every child you have reduces your brain capacity by one-fourth. I have five kids. Do the math.
Seriously though, having children does actual rewire some aspects of your brain.
https://neurosciencenews.com/motherhood-pregnancy-brain-23935/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pregnancy-causes-lasting-changes-in-a-womans-brain/
“The researchers found that the new mothers experienced gray matter reductions that lasted for at least two years after birth. ”
Maybe that old saying isn’t too far off base after all!
Let me join in the chorus of well-wishers, physicsguy. Glad it went well and hope you recover fully.
Old age isn’t for sissies, as Dave Barry explained in his dissertation on tariffs. He is a very funny guy, and I’m glad he’s still writing. Thanks for the link, Neo.