Fallible Flashbacks

Almost true stories of my life

Percival

When my older two children were six and eight years old we lived across the street from child abusers. Well, I really never knew for sure if they were child abusers, but from all indications they were. The woman lived with her boyfriend in an old, rundown rental house in our old neighborhood of Southeast Portland called Montavilla. The walls of their home only held nude pictures of people in various poses. This seemed very strange since they...

My Last 10,000 Days

The longer I live the more interest I have in life expectancy calculators. I played with them during my forties and fifties as a source of online amusement but, in my mid-sixties, this is serious business. Sure. These calculators produce only approximations, but they are based on statistical analyses. The actuarial analysts who create them are highly trained people who predict outcomes based on past history and math. They work for the...