When I was a child, in the 1950s, cavities and fillings were a fact of life.  Our dentist was a family friend, who used the standard amalgam material as a filler.  He of course was unaware of the mercury hazard inherent in them.  It was the 1980s when I had all the visible amalgam fillings …

Back in 2005 I contracted a nasty sinus infection.  The only previous infection was 1983 while traveling in India, and a single course of antibiotics took care of it, and the food poisoning too.  This time I waited and hoped it would go away, as I disliked the idea of rinsing the sinuses (yuck!), and …

Around 1991 I was underemployed and decided to sell of some of my extensive collection of LPs from the 1960s on.  Since I always handled them carefully, kept them in plastic sleeves, and only played them with a quality cartridge and stylus — they brought high prices.  Most of what didn’t sell at the record …