Author Archive: Paul Epps

Aside

I wonder what the world would be like if we all took responsibility for what we were contributing or not contributing to it.

EppsNet Restaurant Reviews: Pea Soup Andersen’s

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I’ve driven past Pea Soup Andersen’s many times in my journeys from SoCal to NorCal and back . . . finally decided to give the split pea soup its day in court. The waitress seemed to be always teetering on the edge of exasperation, at my table and at others as well. She said things like “Let’s do this” instead of “Are you ready to order?” I don’t know if surly waitresses are part of the Andersen ambiance or whether that was just the luck of the draw. The soup was delicious though, served with bacon bits, croutons, diced ham, scallions and grated cheddar cheese, all on the side so you can customize the soup any way you like it. Rating: . . . no deductions for the waitress as I feel she was within the normal bounds of surly coffee shop waitress comportment. Read more →

Ayatollah So

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In Iran you can vote for anyone for President so long as that person has been approved by the Ayatollah Khameini. We Americans call that system a dictatorship. Voters in America recently discovered that they live under an Iranian type of system and didn’t know it. In the primaries, voters participate in some sort of ritualistic placebo voting while party leaders select the candidates. . . . Thanks to social media, and Trump, America will get its first taste of real democracy. If it doesn’t work out, we can always go back to the Iranian model and hope for our self-awareness to diminish over time. — Scott Adams Read more →

Chillin’ With the Chancellor

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I was walking west on Durant crossing Telegraph a block south of the UC Berkeley campus (see map below) when I saw a couple of good-looking yellow labs, probably less than a year old, crossing in the other direction. I was so focused on the dogs that I didn’t notice until I had passed them that they were being walked by none other than the chancellor of the university, Nicholas B. Dirks, and his wife. Gee, I wish I had gotten a photo with him but rather than run back across the street after him like a nut, I walked north to Bancroft and turned right to parallel the way he was walking on Durant. At the next street, Bowditch, I turned right again toward Durant to see if I could intercept him, which I did. I’m staying at the Berkeley Lab Guest House, a university facility . . .… Read more →

Dad vs. Stupidity

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I overheard one of my colleagues saying to another, “My dad is really opposed to any kind of stupidity.” I passed that along to my own son: “If you want to describe me in that way — ‘My dad is opposed to stupidity in all forms’ — it’s okay with me. I mean, you don’t have to if you’re not feeling it but I can think of worse ways to be remembered.” Read more →

It’s Not Your Head

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I’m telling my doctor about these shooting pains that I get near the back of my head, behind my left ear. Sometimes they don’t happen for months and sometimes they happen several times a day. She says it’s likely to be caused by stress and tension. “You don’t think it’s a brain tumor?” I ask. “No, because a brain tumor would hurt all the time and the pain would get worse over time.” “OK . . . that’s good to know because I didn’t want to deal with a brain tumor right now.” “I’m not worried about it. And if I’m not worried about it, you shouldn’t be worried about it.” “That’s what my wife said this morning. She said she wasn’t worried about it. I said, ‘Of course you’re not worried about it. It’s not your head.’ She said she wouldn’t worry about it even if was her head.”… Read more →

Correction

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Correction: April 10, 2016 An article on March 20 about wave piloting in the Marshall Islands misstated the number of possible paths that could be navigated without instruments among the 34 islands and atolls of the Marshall Islands. It is 561, not a trillion trillion. — The New York Times Read more →

EppsNet Restaurant Reviews: Don Pisto’s

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Our son and his girlfriend took us to a Mexican restaurant in North Beach for Sunday brunch. Later, at the airport, when I couldn’t remember the name of the place, I googled “san francisco mexican brunch” and it came back as the first result. Don Pisto’s is (according to Google) synonymous with Mexican brunch in SF. I can recommend the huevos rancheros, breakfast burrito and the pork tamale and eggs. I also had a margarita. Maybe because I ordered it at the bar and it was poured right in front of me, but there was mucho tequila in the margarita. I don’t always drink margaritas, but when I do, I often order a second one. That option was not even on the table on this occasion. Rating: Read more →

What Did Jesus Write on the Ground?

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hey say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. — John 8:4-8 What was Jesus writing on the ground? THINGS TO DO BEFORE BEING CRUCIFIED . . . Read more →

Let’s See Some ID, Jack Nicklaus

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Six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus posted a Facebook video that shows several Augusta National guards not immediately recognizing him and asking for a security badge. Tomorrow we’ll have a video of Michael Jordan being asked for ID at a Bulls game . . . Watch from behind the scenes what happened when I arrived to Magnolia Lane and the Masters this afternoon! ? Posted by Jack Nicklaus on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 Read more →

‘Natural’ Product Claims Can Be Murky

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Whole Foods Markets Inc. last fall started selling a new brand of laundry detergent called Nature’s Power, whose green bottle claims the product is made “with plant-derived soaps.” Its top active ingredient, a commonly used cleaning agent called sodium laureth sulfate, is found in plenty of its mainstream peers, including Arm & Hammer, which like Nature’s Power is made by Church & Dwight Co. Sodium laureth sulfate can be produced from coconut oil, palm oil or petroleum. “It is the same chemical compound, regardless of what it’s derived from,” says Clarence Miller, a professor emeritus of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice University in Houston. A Church & Dwight spokesman said the sodium laureth sulfate in Nature’s Power “is plant-based and not the same” as the sodium laureth sulfate found in Arm & Hammer. Whole Foods declined to comment. — WSJ Let’s also note that in addition to being made… Read more →

See You in Hell

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[See You in Hell is a feature by our guest blogger, Satan — PE] Greetings from the afterlife! I love it when people say “Get thee behind me, Satan.” I am behind you. I’m thinking of giving you a shove. See you in Hell . . . Read more →

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