Dr. Seuss’s arch enemy, Dr. Samiam, did not think much of the children’s book author. Dr. Samiam was extremely jealous of the fame Dr. Seuss enjoyed. In fact, Dr. Samiam thought he was the far better rhymer and he set out to prove it by writing a rhyming medical text on the thorax. He began to write …

Imagine what it must have been like when Aristotle sat at Plato’s feet to learn from him. Plato would say, “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song.” So, Aristotle set out to explore the location from where this voice came and dissected hearts. …

In the classic 1964 movie comedy, Dr. Strangelove, General Ripper claims that water fluoridation was destroying “our precious bodily fluids”—a reference to government water fluoridation begun in the 1940’s to thwart tooth decay. Water fluoridation did indeed lead some individuals to postulate that adding fluoride to water was a communist conspiracy designed to weaken US willpower and make the country susceptible to a takeover….

Jack learns that he is named for Jack Skellington, the principal character in the classic movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Like Jack, he too is bored with life and decides to pull a prank on Christmas eve – he dresses up like a skeleton and visits his neighbors. He hides below windows and slowly raises himself up as an apparition while flashing a light on his face. …

Sean fancied himself a remarkable skier. Every December, after buying his Dogs of the DOW with which he has a track record of significantly outperforming his working stiff “friends” (faculty in the basic sciences), he would fly to Steamboat, CO to ski on their famous Champagne powder. There was also plenty of “toasting” during his visits, beginning with breakfast, a custom he practiced and perfected over years. …

In days of yore a widow’s walk was an elevated vantage point for seamen’s wives to survey the harbor for their husband’s arrival. Sadly (depending on your point of view), many nerve returned. In the 20th century, a different widow maker was described, the coronary arteries, and because the anterior interventricular artery has the highest frequency of being blocked, it gained the moniker of the Widow Maker. …

Elrod was the “cat’s meow” in high school. All around jock, great dancer, fun to be with, and always supplying beer for parties. He continued excelling at the latter part of “work hard / play hard” during college. Indeed, the homecoming queen fell in love with him when he said to her on their first date when he escorted her to her sorority’s formal dance: “I’ve got felines for you”. …

What is a burrito or taco without the special sauce? “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.” Okay, so Shakespeare knew nothing about tacos, but could he dance? We will never know, but the same name we use to make a burrito special we use to shake things up with rhythm. Salsa is the special dance developed in Cuba to the Latin beat. And herein is the dilemma; they say that “it” is in the blood, …

Everyone said that Jerry was born ornery. In kindergarten when the children were told it was rest time, Jerry wanted to play. During recess, it was his nap time. The pattern continued on into high school: Springtime was for football and ice hockey, fall was for baseball. Everything that was considered usual and customary, our contrarian Jerry found opposite and atypical. He would sing rock and roll during Church choir practice, and sing church music with his band at a rage. …

Baby boomers remember Love Story, the story of the blue-blood Oliver Barret IV and the blue-collar Jennifer Cavilleri, two college students at Harvard and Radcliffe, respectively, who marry before graduating. They have personal struggles but they persist through all of the problems because Jennifer utters the ultimate syrupy saying: “love means never having to say you are sorry.” …