Over the years, I’ve fervently professed my love to my wife of 18 years, believing her to be the most beautiful soul in my life and our bond unbreakable. While this holds true, recent experiences have prompted me to reconsider the notion that love alone sustains a marriage.
This reflection stemmed from a couple we encountered in Upstate New York years ago. Obi (not his real name) and his wife seemed …
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In a recent conversation, my good friend Joe posed what I believed was a thought-provoking question: “Why do you keep writing?” This interrogation, replete with profound connotations, subtly conveyed his conviction that expending substantial temporal resources on the lamentation of the world’s ostensibly insurmountable predicaments stands as a notably futile pursuit. From his perspective, it becomes manifestly apparent that individuals like me, inclusive of those within the public intellectual sphere, …
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In a serendipitous encounter, I crossed paths with an old schoolmate of mine whimsically dubbed Fluffy Carol during our shared medical residency. Famous for her arresting charm and infectious smile, she was, in many ways, the life of the party if we ever had one.
Despite her endearing qualities, one mischievous fellow in our group had bestowed upon her a less-than-ideal nickname that stuck, though it was seldom uttered in her …
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Recently, I received a call from an old friend. We had drifted apart over the years, but his purpose in calling wasn’t rooted in a desire to rekindle the embers of yesteryears. No. Rather, it was an explicit inquiry into whether I could assist him in obtaining the elusive elixir of contemporary weight loss. In revealing tones, he shared that the specter of obesity loomed heavily in his family lineage, …
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Though often described as friendly and a great team player, I sometimes find myself harboring strong opinions. When pushed, my personality occasionally veers towards the rebellious. I disdain formal meetings, struggle with office politics, and lack the art of flattery. These qualities collectively render me less than an ideal candidate for any conventional employment, or so I surmise.
Antecedent to the culmination of my residency and fellowship, a pivotal decision crystallized …
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Though I studied medicine and was never really a science buff, I remain in awe to this day of algebra, calculus, theoretical physics, and quantum mechanics. I am fascinated by the great Greek mathematicians of yore, from Archimedes to Theaetetus, Euclid, and yes, Pythagoras of Samos, who is also a philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. Oh, my Pythagoras! The Pythagorean theorem, a beacon of inspiration, ignited my passion …
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Not too long ago, I found myself immersed in a profoundly thought-provoking encounter that ignited a cascade of reflections on the intricate interplay between truth, faith, and the essence of what we hold dear as our ultimate truth.
It was a casual evening spent with a group of friends, a mix of familiar faces, and some new acquaintances. Our host, a genuinely compassionate man, had inadvertently sparked an impassioned conversation on …
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Allow me to share with you two remarkable stories that unfolded before my very eyes in the course of this past week. The lessons learned resonate deeply within my soul, and it is my hope that they will awaken your true essence.
It was June 3rd, a busy Saturday prior to Memorial Day. The atmosphere at home brimmed with excitement as we celebrated my wife’s birthday. After a nice family dinner, …
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You may not have heard about the young girl from my neck of the woods who just graduated from high school and is heading to college in Arizona to study ichthyology. It’s been causing quite a stir because her father, a family medicine doc who runs a busy practice in town, is less than thrilled about her daughter’s chosen career path. The tension between father and daughter is palpable, and …
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The Moscow mule, a mix of ginger beer, an ounce of vodka, and a squeeze of lemon, has become one of the favorites among cocktail aficionados across the United States. It delivers on all that it promises, namely, an easy-to-make tasty drink, except it has nothing to do with the Russian capital whose name it bears. The birthplace was New York’s Chatham Hotel in Lower Manhattan, and the year was …
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On the night of April 28, 2023, in a sleepy community 50 miles north of Houston, Texas, bullet-riddled bodies of five human beings, including an eight-year-old boy, lay lifeless, cut down in the most gruesome way. Their only sin was asking for a night of peace, but their request was met with the deafening sound of gunfire from a neighbor brandishing an AR-15. This senseless tragedy is yet another grim …
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I need to tell you about John (not his real name). He is a Cameroonian immigrant who came to the U.S. on a student visa. He waited tables in a popular pub in downtown Houston to earn a little change and support himself through school. Hardworking, courteous, and gregarious, John wears the most infectious and charming smile you have ever seen.
It didn’t take long for him to get noticed by …
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It is no longer news that Silicon Valley Bank has collapsed like a pack of cards. Quite unsettling is also the uncanny way the whole enterprise unraveled like a Ponzi scheme. Faced with uncertainty and a crisis of confidence, investors went on a withdrawal binge. But how does the crash of a bank for tech startups in Santa Clara, California, that caters to extremely high net worth individuals concern an …
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Wouldn’t you care to know that patient of yours who is likely to come down with a life-threatening case of ACE-Inhibitor induced angioedema? My guess is that you would, especially knowing that in health care delivery, prevention is king.
Better still, what if I tell you that with an AI-powered image analysis, you no longer have to spend agonizing hours waiting for a NightHawk CT scan report? It gets even more …
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This essay is inspired in part by my recent encounter with a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). For starters, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — or NASA for short — is an agency of the U.S. government responsible for America’s space program and aeronautics research. JPL, NASA’s research and development center located in Pasadena, California, produces spacecraft called rovers used in extra-planetary explorations.
It turns out that this …
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On May 2, 2011, a few minutes past 1 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time, a U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six left the Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan and headed for the compound of a high-value target in Abbottabad, Pakistan, located just a few miles away from that nation’s military academy.
It was an operation that lasted 38 minutes, following which U.S. forces returned to Afghanistan with the slain …
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Once upon a time, in a magical land of Whoville, lived the Whos. They were a group of little humans who loved Christmas with passion. But not too far from their beloved town and in a place called Mount Crumpet, inhabited the Grinch, a grouchy creature that hated Christmas. During that time of the year, the Grinch would watch people of Whoville adorn their houses and buildings in bright colors …
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“We are all in this crisis together, but we are not all experiencing this crisis in the same way.”
That was how Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot described the jarring data from Chicago’s public health agency that showed black residents accounted for 72 percent of COVID-19 deaths in a city whose black population make up only 30 percent.
From Chicago to New Orleans, Detroit to Milwaukee, cities with large African-American populations are fast …
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What if I told you just a few years ago that Amazon — a budding e-commerce startup — would come to disrupt the multi-billion dollar retail industry.
I seriously doubt that anyone could have given it a serious thought. At least not in the magnitude that will force a slew of big-box retailers to shut their doors for good.
I am sure the same response would have been elicited about Uber and …
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There are certain paradoxes of life that are beyond the realm of rational explanation. To me, one of such is that a country that figured out how to defy gravity and conquered the cosmos has time and time again proven to be incapable of taking care of the most basic human need, namely: a commonsense health care delivery system.
U.S. spending on health care in 2016 was estimated at about 17.2 …
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