Opinion

Recently, we reminisced about Dippity Do, Hai Karate, Mr. Bubble and other products from our youth. That opened the floodgates. Many of you shared memories of products we rarely see today. Let’s take another trip down the aisles of A & P, Piggly Wiggly, and Shop-Rite stores we visited every Friday night. As you know, pennies are being phased out of circulation. Let’s face it, most of us haven’t bent down to pick up a penny in years, so few tears are being shed. That said, I do have fond memories of “penny candy.” It seems like most of it stuck to my teeth. Many dentists built their fortunes on scraping off Bit O’Honey, Sugar Babies, Pixy Stix, and banana-flavored Kits. A penny could also land you a piece of Dubble Bubble or Bazooka bubble gum, with a color comic inside! Think about it. Bubble gum AND a Bazooka Joe comic, both for a penny. Someone made a pretty penny on that, for a long, long time.

I wish I’d had this talk with someone when I was a senior in high school setting out to set the world on fire. It was a pivotal moment that I’d waited for, but I didn’t have a clue what the real world and winging it on my own meant. Graduating seniors should focus on self-refl ection, goal setting, lifelong learning, and building healthy habits to navigate the transition into adulthood successfully. Reflect and know yourself Take time to reflect on your experiences and understand your values, interests and strengths. Knowing yourself helps in making informed decisions about your career, relationships, and personal growth. Avoid “drifting” by making conscious choices rather that following others’ expectations or default paths.

Raccoons are fascinating and exasperating — too intelligent for their own good —canny as a cat burglar. One got in our house.

A friend of mine recently lost his iPhone. I’ll call him Jack, since that’s his name. (He doesn’t read my column, so we’re safe here.)

Stimulating the vagus nerve may be the answer for chronic pain, heart disease, depression, and more. In a clinical trial, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) involves using a small, pulse-generated device about the size of a jelly bean which is implanted under the skin on the left side of the neck. The pulse generator wraps around your vagus nerve, which is the body’s longest cranial nerve (actually two nerves), that run from the brain stem down through the neck on both sides of the body. The vagus nerve relays information between vital organs, including the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, spleen, stomach, small intestine, colon, and the brain. For one minute each day, the small implanted device releases an electric pulse that travels through the vagus nerve to the brain. According to Dr. Kevin J. Tracey, neurosurgeon, president and CEO of Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the device activates what we call the inflammatory reflex, which signals the vagus nerve to slow down inflammation. He says although vagus nerve stimulation can’t undo existing damage, it can reduce inflammation so significantly that pain and future damage can be decreased in as little as one week up to two and a half years or more after the implant.

A friend and I were riding the beautiful backroads of our special and unique part of the world when we flushed a roadside crew of goldfinches. The little flitterers of sparkling gold fled us, startled but fearless, knowing our big selves would not and could not harm them.

Ever wonder why your brain seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to choosing the easy way out? Let’s look at how the path of least resistance manifests in our daily lives. It’s everywhere, folks — from the moment we wake up to the time we hit the hay.