My friend and next-door neighbor in Virginia was an accomplished competitive Junior High swimmer. I didn’t aspire to compete because I realized that I didn’t possess the physical characteristics required to become a champion swimmer. Regardless, I enjoyed swimming pools and swam the overhand crawl sufficiently to challenge friends in informal short-distance sprints. My back … Continue reading FORUM: Swimming
Author: paulyarnold
FORUM: Beach Safety Tips
In my third and fourth decades I lived in Chicago where there are many things to love, and many things to endure. Epitomizing this duality is the beautiful but unforgiving Lake Michigan, which during storms can behave as though it were an angry ocean. Freshwater lakes and rivers are crucial in facilitating evolution of vast … Continue reading FORUM: Beach Safety Tips
FORUM: Sonoran Desert
I was in grade school in the 1960’s, living with my family in Sierra Vista, Arizona, about twenty miles from the Mexican border. A chain-link fence “separated” our backyard from the Sonoran Desert. We kept a Japanese Fighting Hen in the backyard to repel venomous snakes. Our hen reflexively attacked any unrecognized living creature with … Continue reading FORUM: Sonoran Desert
FORUM: Discrimination
My Mother’s family was captured by KGB in the first week of WWII. Her dad, my beloved Grandfather, was an estate owner and Officer in the Polish Cavalry. The eldest of three children, Mom was in third grade when two soldiers armed with machine guns entered her classroom and announced her name. Standing at attention … Continue reading FORUM: Discrimination
FORUM: Solos
Thus far my only solo conducting performance, which I don’t personally recall, occurred in Chicago when I was in my fourth year. Mom, my younger sister Suzy and I were sitting on a blanket on the lawn near the stage of the outdoor amphitheater where the Philharmonic Orchestra was performing on a beautiful summer day. … Continue reading FORUM: Solos
FORUM: First Time Treating
Friends in graduate school, Head, Grauton, Rayton and I lived by Lake Michigan on Chicago’s north side. School was done and we were working—some of us part-time. Still single, we enjoyed hanging out together when our schedules allowed. I was teaching part-time at University of Illinois, financially scraping by. I’d interviewed for a position as … Continue reading FORUM: First Time Treating
FORUM: Alternative Therapies
The choices I made in my initial 30 years of life exposed my right shoulder to chronic over-use and sporadic injury trauma resulting from my participation in sports (archery, baseball, tennis, bowling, volleyball, golf, mountain biking); job activities (restocking shelves, pressure-cooking chicken, moving to a new residence); sustenance fishing (pier, jetty, boat); and accidents (rafting, … Continue reading FORUM: Alternative Therapies
FORUM: Fishing Submarine
I was a plebe long-range fisherman leaving from San Diego on an October 10-day trip. We were heading south into Mexican water to fish for pelagic species along “the ridge,” a very long, narrow highpoint which parallels the coast and rapidly disappears into water thousands of feet deep. Perhaps because it is the time of … Continue reading FORUM: Fishing Submarine
FORUM: Pandemic Updates
Linked news articles cover ontogenesis of Pandemic microbes, prevention and mitigation efforts, and substantive repercussions. Some of the linked articles cite topically-relevant scientific publications. Posts are ordered from most (top) to least (bottom) current. (4/12/2021): New polypeptide could provide universal protection against coronaviruses: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210411/New-polypeptide-could-provide-universal-protection-against-coronaviruses.aspx (4/1/2021): Continuing vaccine manufacturing errors are bizarre--are quality assurance engineers "working … Continue reading FORUM: Pandemic Updates
FORUM: US Debt
When I began writing this comment, according to the US debt clock (https://www.usdebtclock.org/): US National Debt = $27.8 trillion dollars; and US Workforce = 150 million workers (125 million full-time). Dividing the US National Debt by the total number of US workers reveals that every working US citizen owes $185,333 to the US government—just to … Continue reading FORUM: US Debt
FORUM: Initial Findings of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy Trial Are Confounded
The initial report on concurrent Phase-3 clinical trials assessing safety and efficacy of Oxford-AstraZeneca (Ox-AZ) COVID-19 vaccine is a superb example of Simpson’s Paradox—arguably the greatest threat to validity of statistical analysis in empirical science. I discuss the confounded Ox-AZ analysis in the context of the prevention of paradoxical findings. The Insidious Problem of Simpson’s … Continue reading FORUM: Initial Findings of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy Trial Are Confounded
FORUM: Tea Time with Yarnold
I was in my second year as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Medical School. I worked in the Department of General Internal Medicine, which addresses an enormous range of ailments, conditions and situations. Simultaneously I held a position as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Academic Psychology at the University of Illinois at … Continue reading FORUM: Tea Time with Yarnold
FORUM: First Professional Call
I was quite young—I can’t reliably be very precise. I moved so often during some of my early years that my memory of space and time are disoriented. Everyone who was with me then has passed away. Thus any estimates made of dates and ages during high-flux periods are likely to be inaccurate. I’d guess … Continue reading FORUM: First Professional Call
FORUM: Nicknames
I was a soon-to-be third-year graduate student in academic psychology, in the school which was initiated by one of my top-ten heroes, Sir Isaac Newton: his studies of the apparent movement of stars in the sky became the field of vision psychophysiology. I had many brilliant, talented, fun friends in the psychology graduate program of … Continue reading FORUM: Nicknames
FORUM: Recognizing Gifts
Two dear friends asked me if I recalled when others first began to recognize “gifts” which I was given. I had never considered this question, but I was pleasantly surprised to immediately recall two such incidences. As I began to write this story, I recalled several more. As a general response to the question asked … Continue reading FORUM: Recognizing Gifts
FORUM: Level-3
“Level-3” (L3) is the most advanced certification level that an amateur rocketeer can achieve from the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA), or from the National Association of Rocketry (NAR). Only rocketeers possessing L3 certification are authorized to fly the largest classes of motors. Rocket motors are broadly categorized by the total energy produced. From least to … Continue reading FORUM: Level-3
FORUM: BAR
My fascination with hobby rocketry began in Arizona (4th grade), and resurfaced in Virginia (7th grade): both times I experimented with low-power rockets. I never wished to stop working with rockets, but my family moved often—usually to places which were not amenable to the flying of model rockets. Fast-forward to 2005, and I just survived … Continue reading FORUM: BAR
FORUM: Step-by-Step
I was a 4th grade student in public school in Sierra Vista, which at that time was a small but growing Arizona town. Our house was located at the outskirts of town—we were feet from the Sonoran Desert. Dad was a mathematical statistician from the University of Chicago. He worked long hours in Fort Huachuca. Mom … Continue reading FORUM: Step-by-Step
FORUM: Chicago Mini-Tsunami
A large body of research from around the globe reports that same-day barometric pressure and temperature are related to bone and muscle pain ratings made by humans. This is as (perhaps even more) apropos for bony fresh- and salt-water fish, and it may be particularly true for freshwater species living in shallow, constricted lakes and … Continue reading FORUM: Chicago Mini-Tsunami
FORUM: A New Year’s Tradition
Two top fliers in the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) high-power rocket (HPR) club of which I am a member, and the only rocketeers having their own radio call codes, were Mike (505) and his friend Zupe (555). Mike is a master amateur field engineer; an expert in field and launch systems preparation and operation, and … Continue reading FORUM: A New Year’s Tradition