Alexander Hamilton

“The Federalist Papers” are only the most widely known examples of Hamilton’s works.

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“Hamilton’s mind always worked with preternatural speed. His collected papers are so stupefying in length that it is hard to believe that one man created them in fewer than five decades. Words were his chief weapons, and his account books are crammed with purchases for thousands of quills, parchments, penknives, slate pencils, reams of foolscap, and wax. HIs papers show that, Mozart-like, he could transpose complex thoughts onto paper with few revisions. At other times, he tinkered with the prose but generally did not alter the logical progression of his thought. He wrote with the speed of a beautifully organized mind that digested ideas thoroughly, slotted them into appropriate pigeonholes, then regurgitated them at will.”


-- Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”

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The Perils of Toothpaste

A scientific answer to why toothpaste makes everything taste bad.

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You can thank sodium laureth sulfate, also known as sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) for ruining your drink, depending on which toothpaste you use. Both of these chemicals are surfactants "“ wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid "“ that are added to toothpastes to create foam and make the paste easier to spread around your mouth (they're also important ingredients in detergents, fabric softeners, paints, laxatives, surfboard waxes and insecticides).

While surfactants make brushing our teeth a lot easier, they do more than make foam. Both SLES and SLS mess with our taste buds in two ways. One, they suppress the receptors on our taste buds that perceive sweetness, inhibiting our ability to pick up the sweet notes of food and drink. And, as if that wasn't enough, they break up the phospholipids on our tongue. These fatty molecules inhibit our receptors for bitterness and keep bitter tastes from overwhelming us, but when they're broken down by the surfactants in toothpaste, bitter tastes get enhanced.

So, anything you eat or drink after you brush is going to have less sweetness and more bitterness than it normally would. Is there any end to this torture? Yes. You don't need foam for good toothpaste, and there are plenty out there that are SLES/SLS-free. You won't get that rabid dog look that makes oral hygiene so much fun, but your breakfast won't be ruined.

-- Matt Soniak at MentalFloss.com

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And I brush three times a day. I don't want to see a dentist; so, I'm willing to take a hit on the taste buds. My food isn't that good anyway, and the taste buds seem to bounce back, pretty much. Though, I won't kid you: I'm curious about those SLES/SLS-free toothpastes.

Jimmy Fallon

More media buzz about Jimmy Fallon taking over "The Tonight Show" from Jay Leno.

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Fallon says he's kind of ADD: "Not, like, diagnosed. Just my personality. Like, I read one chapter of a book and put it down. Thank God for Kindle." At 38 he still has a chiseled face, no bags, no fatigue, and he holds his shoulders high, like he's in a state of constant inhale, cocked and loaded and ready to deliver you a gift. He is joyful, easy, breezy, and if there is a buzz about him now, it is in the context of the Leno-Letterman game of chicken—both of their contracts are up in 2014. Anyone paying attention can see that the famously improbable Fallon is getting groomed for the Tonight Show throne. Even Late Night executive producer Lorne Michaels concedes as much: "I'm not allowed to say it—yet. But I think there's an inevitability to it. He's the closest to Carson that I've seen of this generation."

-- ONTD

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I stopped watching the late-night talk shows within a few years of Carson retiring. Not so much because of Carson in particular. I was giving up on network television - too limited, too dull. But I feel some regret. I can fancy the humor and enjoy some celebrity talk, but I have other things that I prefer to do. If time were infinite, or at least a lot longer than the years we have, I would probably record a couple of the shows regularly for my viewing pleasure. As things are, I pass on them. Though, I do enjoy the little snippets that are sometimes posted on my Friends Page.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Sammy wasn’t bad at all last night. I don’t think the temperatures dipped into the thirties, but it was definitely a fair encore performance of winter. It didn’t get in the way of my walk, though, and I got a good start on “Elvis: What Happened?”

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Ms. Walker is coming. I can feel my spine shrink. It was bad enough when she would come on Tuesday and stay until Thursday. I can only pray that she does not still intend to stay until Thursday.

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Since my spirits are running at low ebb, I will take this opportunity to report on a happy turn of fortune regarding my health. I am having very good pisses. A rather good and strong stream with good quantity. Not that little dribbly stuff. Seriously. It’s like I’m in my twenties again. I don’t even have that many bathroom runs in the middle of the night. Maybe one or two times. This has been true for at least a few weeks now.

What has happened with my body? Remember, we have also recently remarked about not suffering acid reflux, despite my freedom with cokes. One does not expect such conditions to improve as one declines through middle age and approaches true old age. What is going on? I’m not complaining. It’s just wonderfully and happily strange. Otherwise, I still feel my age, to be sure, very much so, but it is a nice surprise to have these basic functions working for me again. I only worry that this will prove to be only a brief interlude.