Columnists

Holding your smartphone may be hazardous to your body. According to Dr. David Rempel, Director of the UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program: Using a handheld computing device places your body in a hunched position, which can lead to pain in your back and neck.

The program simply said “Devyn Noriel Senior Piano Recital” and the rest was an enchanting program that was thoughtfully planned with feeling and care.

July 4, 2012 is the day the universe changed. That, I’m sure, is how future historians will see the date when physicists at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, the most important scientific discovery of the 21st century. Period.

My first snorkeling experience was in a cove in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. Awed by the absolute beauty of the brilliantly colored fish and coral and enthralled by a huge turtle swimming ahead of me, I lost all common sense and swam farther and farther out to sea following the turtle and searching for new and more colorful marine life.

“Bill W. and Dr. Bob,” is written by Samuel Shem, a doctor and medical novelist, and his wife Janet Surrey, a psychologist. They skillfully lead us through the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and cover the events that lead to the understanding of the affliction in a poignant and sometimes humorous journey.

South Valley residents are invited to an enjoyable event that happens only once a year. On Aug. 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., a dozen members of the Bay Area Garden Railway Society will open their yards in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Hollister and Salinas for public viewing of their beautiful gardens and elaborate model railroad layouts.

They’re selling like hotcakes in New Jersey, and someday soon they’ll be doing the same in California. These are automobile pet-safety devices; ways to keep your pet (and you) safe while you drive down the road. New Jersey and several other states already have distracted driving laws that prohibit a loose animal in the car. That’s right. No more Fluffy on your lap as you go to the post office or grocery store. Hawaii, Connecticut and Arizona also prohibit this. Rhode Island and a few other states are close behind in their push to eliminate the dangers of distracted driving with a pet. As one official put it, “Not all driving distractions ring or beep. Some of them bark.”

Recently a resurgence has occurred in the art of quilt making. And far be it from me to let anything re-surge without me.