Politicians & voters made elections more fair for all. — With the release of the 2020 Census, some states have started the Redistricting process: drawing the lines for the state Congressional districts. The question is, are they drawing them fairly? “Texas House passed extreme gerrymandered GOP state House map at 3:30 am last night,” tweeted Ari Berman, a senior reporter…

And why I’ll NEVER have one in my home. — Last Week Amazon Unveiled its newest bit of hardware, a “personal robot” on wheels armed with a screen, cameras, and their Echo (aka Alexa) “smart” speaker built in. …

In Short: Torture. — When I was diagnosed with migraine headaches, the doctor told me the typical sufferer was creative, intelligent …and female. “Two out of three ain’t bad,” I replied. Not that it was a difficult diagnosis: my parents also had migraines, and my siblings. But it did open up treatment options. At…

In Short: Memorable. — I was an ALS medic in rural northern California, and there’s one call I think of often — even though it was 38 years ago. …

In Short: A touching honor. — I heard the ambulance paged out for a severe accident. Out of my response area, but hearing details I alerted my wife, a deputy coroner, that her services may be needed. One of the problems of working EMS in a rural area: sometimes you know the patient. The man killed…

In Short: Normal People. — I’ve had the good fortune to meet many famous people, including Star Wars creator George Lucas (long before he was famous), magician and skeptic James “The Amazing” Randi, original Star Trek’s “Scotty” Jimmy Doohan (and “Chekov” Walter Koenig — and “Trouble with Tribbles” writer David Gerrold), Science Fiction Grand Master…

In Short: Accountable. — I was a reserve sheriff’s deputy in rural northern California. At least at the time, a reserve at the level I was didn’t automatically have the right to carry a gun off-duty, but the sheriff was a practical sort: the more responsible citizens that could help, he figured, the better…

In Short: Fulfilling. — Even though I’m not a doctor or a nurse, as a volunteer medic in my rural community I do sometimes give people shots (jabs for you Brits). Our county has one full-time public health nurse, and as you can imagine with the pandemic, she’s awfully busy. One nurse is usually…

In Short: Awesome. — My wife and I are volunteer medics in our rural community, and were awakened by my pager on a Sunday morning at 1:04 a.m. The report: a 50-year-old man, unconscious, about 5 miles away from our house. As the garage door rolled up, an update came from dispatch: “CPR in…