Amy had a student who used to call me Dr. Richard Gere, because at one point I used to look like him: not so much now.

Maybe if I were a practicing Buddhist I wouldn’t age so much.

I agree with many of the Buddhist philosophies, but the idea that the divine leader is born, not chosen, seems ridiculous.

And their take on microbial food safety really sucks.

The Dalai Lama reportedly used a food taster when he visited Brisbane last month.

In Medieval times, men of power had tasters who valiantly sampled their food in case an enemy tried to poison them.  This practice was built on a myth that survives today – if you get food poisoning, it’s from the last thing you ate, and the symptoms will commence rather immediately.

Several  years ago, Amy and I had the privilege of an after-hours chat with some FDA-types who spoke of the precautions they would take when preparing safe salmon for Laura Bush and any other meal fit for a President. They had thermometers. And knew how to use them.

We had salmon for dinner tonight. It was temped and safe.