February 1 is the anniversary of the death of my father, Hyman William Perlman (1910-80). 

He was indirectly responsible for this blog – and in fact for all the secularism, skepticism, atheism, and humanism that have been the foundation of my intellectual life.  He was the first skeptic I ever met, and the effect was lasting.  Every time Mom would babble on about “God’s will,” he would snap back, “What’s God got to do with it?”

What indeed.  Things may happen for some reason or…

“Never speak ill of yourself; your friends will always say enough on that subject.”

Talleyrand

“It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.”

Mark Twain

On June 28, my second wife and I would have celebrated our 31st anniversary.  I meant to write about it on the 28th, but hey, three years after the divorce, a guy’s allowed to…