D. RANDALL FARO

Newsflash from the Smithsonian Magazine: While they can seem pointless and purely irritating to us humans, mosquitoes do play a...

For the birds is an idiom meaning worthless, not to be taken seriously, no good. The earliest usage of the phrase is by the U.S. military...

We all know (don’t we?) that life is not supposed to make sense. But there’s senseless and there’s senseless. Here are a few examples of...

Guillemot. My guess is that those who might read this post have never heard of one . . . or certainly have never observed one in the...

Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams’ 1996 release, “18 Til I Die” includes the words: I wanna be young the rest of my life / Never say...

Lions roar. Pigs oink. Crows caw. Elephants trumpet. People use words. Leaning new words is fun. Using them sagaciously is even more fun....

Everybody wants money. Whether the medium of exchange is seashells or gold nuggets or bank notes, everybody wants some of it. Why? . . ....

Looking to buy a home on water . . . lake or ocean? Be prepared to pay considerably more than for a non-waterfront dwelling. An agent in...

There are several things I don’t understand. Well, actually, the things I don’t understand would fill a good-size book. There are...

Viktor Frankl wrote: A human being is a deciding being. Frankl spent four years in several Nazi concentration camps where his father,...

My wife and I recently completed a 2,400-mile drive to Saskatchewan and back. A lot of the driving was on divided highways; a lot of...

The old adage “seeing is believing” originated with 17th century English clergyman Thomas Fuller. He spoke these words in a religious...

Nuts. Raspberries. Jeepers. Drat. Phooey. Doggone it. Gee willikers. Or as a cousin of mine once said in frustration: Dingy-dangy-darnit!...

My guess is that virtually nobody reading this will remember who Fred Parris was . . . or probably never heard of him in the first place....

Alistair was rather miserable. He was miserable because everybody else was smarter or richer or better looking than he. At least it...

Douglas Aster. It can grow to 3 feet tall with 1-inch-broad rosy-purple blossoms. Tufted Fleabane. A 6-inch high beauty with feathery...

Historically, as a step toward becoming a doctor, medical students were required to take the Hippocratic Oath. And one of the promises...

Bill François writes in his beautiful little book, Eloquence of the Sardine: “Woe betide one who betrays the sea. The ocean belongs to...

What would Major League Baseball be without commentators cluing us clueless in on what pitches are being lobbed at home plate. It takes a...

Ever met a glass sponge? Didn’t think so. The most well-known is called Venus Flower Basket. Biologists fondly refer to the species as...