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Check your treats to avoid any tricks this Halloween

I’ll always remember the Halloween I went as a 7 Up can, based on a commercial that was popular at the time. My father fashioned a costume for me by rolling a giant piece of cardboard into a cylinder shape. With his mechanical drawing background, he meticulously sketched out and painted the bright green background and red and white logo. I’m not sure if it had eyes cut out for me to see or if a parental unit led me around as we trick-or-treated. My super cute go-go boots also probably were not ideal for walking, but I made it work. Then there were many Halloweens my sister and I ...

Washing our heads of plastic

Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a ban on those small plastic bottles for hotel guests that contain shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, moisturizer and other personal care items. They’re convenient, particularly for airline passengers who, since 2006, haven’t been allowed to carry on containers of liquids any larger than 3.4 ounces and so often leave their own products at home. And they’re fun to collect. But they’re also a waste. They’re too difficult to clean to make them easily recyclable, so they end up in landfills in enormous quantities ...

Why Zuckerberg wants to recruit outside liberal bubble

Mark Zuckerberg wants you to know that Facebook strives for diversity in its workforce — and not just on the basis of race or gender. The CEO says he works hard to recruit people who attended a state school, are rooted to their local communities and come from traditional backgrounds. “We certainly do,” Zuckerberg said of his 40,000 mostly U.S.-based employees in an interview with the New York Post. “There’s a woman who runs our commerce product and is deeply religious,” he said. “The person who runs policies of the company is quite a prominent Republican. So we have ...

Identity politics are still a dead end in 2020

In her post-mortem on Hillary Clinton’s failed candidacy, Donna Brazile noted that her students at Georgetown University truly disliked identity politics. “They thought that Hillary spent too much time trying to appeal to people based on their race, or their gender, or their sexual orientation,” the Democratic strategist wrote in “Hacks,” “and not enough time appealing to people based on what really worried them — issues like income inequality and climate change.” On the opposite end of the political compass, right-wing agitator Steve Bannon said this about identity ...

Quince becomes new fall favorite

I love traditional autumn flavors. I’m all about the apple butter and pumpkin spice. Now a new fall favorite has entered my life: Quince. It’s all thanks to an old ornamental growing near my house since before my family moved here. Many folks are more familiar with quince trees, which can also thrive in this part of North America. But quince bushes, while they share similarities to quince trees, are usually grown for decoration. This bush has never let me down. It is lovely in the spring — covered in bright pinkish red blooms; its early color always fills me with spring ...

It’s not safe to go in the water

The moment I drove over the causeway — my favorite Florida beaches on the islands of Sanibel and Captiva beckoning — the stench in the air foreshadowed bad news. Before me, the normally glittering blue Gulf waters were an infuriating thick shade of brown. At the Sanibel Lighthouse beach, the heaps of toxic-smelling red algae were so large and smelled so overwhelmingly bad, that all I could manage was a quick sprint over a walkway for a look — and I had to flee. I almost vomited. My eyes were instantly on fire. I felt I couldn’t breathe. And I knew. Once again, Florida’s ...