These days I am pretty much an indoor animal. Not so in my younger days. During high school I developed a perverse passion for freshwater fishing. I would become The Compleat Angler. The insane part was that I lived on Long Island, which was a salt-water fishing paradise.
From my centrally located home in Nassau County I could travel 10 or 15 miles north or south to either Long Island Sound or the Great South Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Fluke, flounder and weakfish swam in abundance to the north while bluefish, sea bass and more fluke and flounder waited for hooks to be baited in the south.

Mom and Dad are moving in with you as soon as they reach 65. Get that spare bedroom ready, move brothers and sisters in together. We’re turning back the clock to pre-World War II: The family unit is back and the retired are, once again, about to be the burden of those still working.
Come to think of it, little Johnny and Suzy had better get an after-school job to help the family make ends meet. And you can forget about school loans for the high-school graduates, that first car, holidays or remodeling your kitchen — no one will be able to afford them soon, either.

No one likes being criticized. But constructive criticism is slightly different. It’s intended to help, to guide and to improve. By and large such critique is beneficial and, by definition, should not be about disparagement but analysis.
In the case of North East property owners’ recent criticism of the townwide reassessment project, that line is razor thin. Let’s hope that precipice is respected, by all sides involved in this complicated issue, and the importance of the subject at hand does not get muddled with personal attacks and accusations.

Coffee is good for us again. When I was a kid it was part of a complete (adult) breakfast, along with Danish. Then the “experts” decided coffee was bad for us, possibly carcinogenic. Now it is good for us, stimulating something or another, but especially the economy.
The sun used to be a good thing. “Get out in the sun!” my mom used to say. Now they practically tell us to wear burkas. Better yet, don’t go outside. We could link our homes with places we need to go by tunnel, like the gopher in “Caddyshack,” while singing, “I’m all right.”

In the supermarket the other day, I was looking at the ingredients of sugar-frosted-honey-bombs-with-freeze-dried-strawberries (leading ingredient corn, followed by corn sweetener) and there it was, the new media world all wrapped up in one sentence: “If you enjoyed our product, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!”
It was not a question, it was a command.

Nationally, military operations have expanded as we enter our third concurrent war. Locally, the veteran count has diminished, according to census data showing the county’s total veteran population has decreased by 20 percent since 2000. The one constant seems to be the public policy goal of finding ways that we can show our appreciation for the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform.

Dear EarthTalk: Is air quality in the United States improving or getting worse? Is it cleaner in some parts of the country than in others?
K. Gould
Sherman Oaks, Calif.

At a political event in Connecticut, participants were confronted by a demonstrator bearing a sign admonishing us all to “Read the Constitution!” One could hardly disagree. So I asked her whether she, herself, had actually read the document. She replied, “No, I haven’t, but people should.” Right on.
Another demonstrator carried a sign calling for “Tort Reform Now!” No doubt we could use some reform, but what, I asked, is a “tort”? He didn’t know, but like he said, “Whatever it is, it needs reform.” Right again.