The Internet

Rose Madeline Mula writes: Getting old. I absolutely hate it. There is nothing positive about the so-called golden years. Even all the senior discounts can't begin to compensate for all the disadvantages — the aches and pains, the wrinkles, the unflattering shoes my bunions force me to wear, the fact that all the names in my little black book have 'M.D.' after them, the fact that I still have a little black book because I can't figure out how the calendar on my smart phone works. more »

Joan L. Cannon writes: She e-mails me several times a week. Most of them are edited, selected pieces of public information couched so as to elicit immediate fury or panic on the part of the reader. She is honestly afraid of every Muslim who sets foot in this country, or who is already here. She uses her out-of-context evidence with the convictions of a missionary. more »

"I assume, with your record of zero and sixteen you're bowing out. No more online dating?" asked my (late) mother after, during my imaginary conversation with her, I mentioned that I might check out another dating site. "It is kind of a fun game and my ego is strong enough to take the rejections. "I'm going to check out the Gentiles. Maybe they'll be more open to an adorable grey-haired woman in her mid-seventies." "Try sixty-five and you may have a shot," she said. more »

25 Years of Hubble Space Telescope; finding and using health statistics has become requisite for a number of careers; biographies of women who have made contributions to fields as diverse as chemistry, primatology, biophysics, and astronomy; distinctive literary titles with expert book lovers from around the country; retracted papers in a wide variety of fields, some due to fraud, others just to mistakes in experiments or the publishing process; "Start Your Family Research" section; 1940s knitting patterns and other interesting sites. more »