Tom Purcell stories, Page 2
Tom Purcell: The president’s dogs that bite people
President Biden is being dogged by a unique White House problem. About a week ago, Biden’s German shepherd, Commander, bit a Secret Service officer — Commander’s 11th Secret-Service-officer biting since he moved to the White House in December 2021. Commander must have been following the paw prints of Major, Biden’s...
Tom Purcell: Love and honesty will get us through
It was a family event for the ages. Last weekend, my family traveled to Gettysburg to attend my nephew’s wedding. I drove my mother down Friday so she could participate in the rehearsal. We had a wonderful drive talking about a variety of things, mostly stories about my father, whom...
Tom Purcell: Dressing up for Senate success
I suppose it was just a matter of time before casual dress hit the U.S. Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has told the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms to no longer enforce the hallowed chamber’s informal dress code, which had required senators and their staffers to wear business attire. Schumer’s directive appears...
Tom Purcell: NFL bets on greed
“Only bet what you can afford to lose.” That’s the message from the National Football League as its betting-company partners aggressively promote legal betting on pro football games. For years the NFL was adamantly against betting in sports. In 2012, reports the New York Post, the league’s commissioner Roger Goodell...
Tom Purcell: Jimmy Buffett was a super-spreader of happiness
There’s a reason the name “Jimmy Buffett” elicits immediate joy in the hearts of millions: Happiness contagion. A study conducted by Harvard University and the University of California followed 5,000 people for 20 years to determine if happiness was contagious. The study’s finding: It most certainly is. If you smile...
Tom Purcell: A smaller home is a happy home
Houses are getting smaller again — which is going to make many Americans happier. Americans faced with high mortgage rates and a shortage of affordable homes for sale are opting for new, smaller homes that do not have dining rooms, living rooms, spare bedrooms and even bathtubs, reports the Wall...
Tom Purcell: Dogs and cats also facing tough times
There’s a lot of sad news to go around, but this Vox story really breaks my heart: Animal shelters are overflowing with abandoned dogs and cats again. A few years ago, during covid isolation, there was a surge of people rescuing pets from shelters to fill their homes with lovable...
Tom Purcell: Paying attention pays off
Declining attention spans have reached epidemic levels. That’s what Adam Brown, co-director of the Center for Attention, Learning and Memory at St. Bonaventure University in New York, tells Time. That’s certainly the case with me. As I struggled to write the first three paragraphs of this column, I searched autotrader.com...
Tom Purcell: The feds fail to see the light
Goodbye, incandescent light bulb. You had a heck of a run before the government decided you wasted energy and effectively outlawed you out of existence. The incandescent bulb remains one of the greatest inventions in human history. By sending an electrical current through a thin filament that resides inside a...
Tom Purcell: To aliens, human wisdom is unbelievable
Last week, a whistleblower testified before Congress, alleging that federal officials have concealed evidence of unidentified flying objects from the public for decades. I’m not sure why advanced beings would want to talk to us, but, if they came today, I imagine their visit might go something like this: “Take...
Tom Purcell: A/C has made life cooler
As a heat wave hits America from coast to coast, it’s hot outside — but cool inside, thanks to the triumph of air conditioning. For most of human history, there was little people could do to avoid heat. During the day, it drove people outside of their homes to enjoy...
Tom Purcell: The lost freedom of childhood
I dream of recreating some of the epic bike hikes I enjoyed as a kid back in the 1970s. My used Murray five-speed Spyder bike with the high handlebars only cost 25 bucks, but it was one of the coolest bikes of the age. Man, I loved that bike. During...
Tom Purcell: The American Dream is a life without debt
I dream of the day I will be 100% debt free! I took on debt fairly early in life, when I borrowed money to help cover the cost of my Penn State degree. That turned out to be a terrific investment — I got a good communications job at a...
Tom Purcell: A collaborative way to celebrate July Fourth
The Fourth of July has always held a special power over me. I love the hot dogs and burgers and my mother’s delicious potato salad. Mostly, though, I’ve always cherished the great gatherings of family and friends that culminate with spectacular fireworks displays that light the dark summer sky. I...
Tom Purcell: Good luck paying Uncle Sam’s debt
The national debt broke the $32 trillion barrier this week. It’s a number so huge it’s incomprehensible to the average citizen. We knew $32 trillion was coming. It just got here a lot faster than the money experts thought, thanks to the roughly $5 trillion that the feds spent to...
Tom Purcell: Lucky to be my father’s son
Modern dads are portrayed as fools in television sitcoms and commercials. Lucky for me, they are the polar opposite of the loving, strong and decisive father who raised me. Over the years, as I clogged a toilet with an apple core, shattered a picture window with a baseball and hit...
Tom Purcell: A personal salute to Flag Day
It’s long past time for me to put a flagpole in the center of my front yard — one that holds a large American flag that dances proudly in the summer breeze. We bought such a flagpole for my father on his 70th birthday, shortly after he and my mother...
Tom Purcell: Americans rediscover the summer picnic
It’s a positive trend that I hope continues: the resurgence of summer picnics. According to Mental Floss, the covid pandemic caused a picnic boom beginning in 2020 that is showing no signs of letting up. In 2020, with restaurants shuttered and experts telling us the bug didn’t spread so easily...
Tom Purcell: Honoring our war dead on Memorial Day
Every year, polls show that a large number of Americans don’t know why we celebrate Memorial Day. According to People, a 2020 Onepoll survey found that fewer than half of the 2,000 people surveyed knew that the purpose of Memorial Day was not to honor those who served in the...
Tom Purcell: Curing our loneliness epidemic
There is a loneliness epidemic in the United States, but there are some simple ways we can address it. A few weeks ago, the U.S. surgeon general released a report titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.” The report found that even before the covid lockdowns chased us into months...
Tom Purcell: A good day to celebrate an extraordinary mother
She was only 18 when rheumatic fever damaged her heart. The doctors said she’d be lucky to live into her 40s — that she was no longer strong enough to bear children. Lucky for my five sisters and me, she ignored them! When we were babies in her womb, she...
Tom Purcell: Forget your grass — and save the bees
It’s an excuse I’ve been dreaming of: a reason to not mow my lawn until June. A “No Mow May” movement is afoot to nurture our bee population for a very good reason: bees are incredibly important to our own survival. According to Bee City USA, an initiative of the...
Tom Purcell: A taxing ‘Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day’
“Junior, this year to prepare for ‘Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day’ I want to teach you about all the taxes that you’ll have to pay as a working adult.” “What are taxes, Dad?” “Taxes are what the government will take out of your paycheck, and will tack...
Tom Purcell: What we need this Earth Day is more green thumbs
Earth Day is coming April 22, and I can’t think of a better opportunity for Americans to get their hands dirty. When Earth Day became an annual event in 1970, its purpose was to demonstrate support for protecting the environment. Today, more than 1 billion people in almost 200 countries...
Tom Purcell: Will’s wit soothes a taxing time
Tax returns are due next week, and many Americans are surely stressed out as they scramble to get their financial records in order. I can’t think of a better time to revisit the wit and wisdom of Will Rogers. Rogers was a famous American humorist, actor and social commentator who...
