Date: June2012

Enjoy Ron Culberson's insights on a variety of topics

The AIDS Memorial Quilt in DC

In 1986, I received my master’s degree in social work and started a job as a home care social worker at Hospice of Northern Virginia in Arlington, VA.  The AIDS epidemic was picking up speed and the healthcare world was overwhelmed by this strange virus that seemed to target gay men across the country. At […]

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Brave’s Princess Merida’s Hair is Done Very Well

There is a great article in USA Today about the success Pixar’s animators had in creating the hair for Brave’s Princess Merida.  You can read the entire article here:  Animation Sensation. In order to make Merida’s hair look real, it took animators and engineers three years to create the technology and then design the animation […]

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Motorcycle Presence

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Today was a perfect day for a motorcycle ride.  Blue skies.  Moderately high temperatures.  And wonderful smells. Riding is about being present both with the road and the nature around you.  No one said it better than Robert Pirsig in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: “In a car you’re always in a compartment, […]

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A Shot in the Arm for Publicity

According to the associated press, Ryamond Dolin was hitchiking across the country for a book he was writing called Kindness in America when he was randomly shot by a pickup driver — so he said. Turns out, Dolin confessed to shooting himself as a way to promote his book. But the story gets even better.  Dolin […]

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Jaws’ Jokes Made it Scarier

There is a great article in the July/August 2012 issue of Mental Floss magazine about the movie Jaws. Steven Spielberg said, “Jaws should never have been made — it was an impossible effort.” But, he and the crew persevered by using a mechanical shark, the likes of which the movie industry had never seen.  The result was one […]

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Wrongful Conviction IS a Prison Sentence

The Associated Press recently reported that archives compiled by two law schools shows that more than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated in the past 23 years.  Usually this is done with the help of a dedicated family member or advocacy group. That’s almost 87 people per year if […]

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There Are Service Opportunities All Around Us

In my new book, currently on sale at Amazon in case you’re wondering, I wrote a chapter on volunteering. I’m a big believer in community service and as a member of a Rotary club, I am involved in some pretty cool projects. But here’s an even cooler service project. A man in Kentucky bought up […]

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Rotary and Values

As a Rotarian, we believe in a principle called The Four-Way Test.  It’s a great life compass and there are very few situations where it’s not the right way to behave.  It goes like this: Of the things we think, say, and do… …Is it the truth? …Is it fair to all concerned. …Will it […]

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Mind Sweeper

I recently read where a janitor at Columbia University spent 12 years taking classes and finally achieved his bachelor’s degree.  Even though he has the degree, he has no plans to leave the $22/hour job as a janitor, however. I’m not sure what’s the greater accomplishment.  The perseverance it takes to earn a degree at […]

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Tide Responds Well With Fun to The Onion

Last week, the satirical news source The Onion posted an article parodying viral online videos and randomly chose Tide as the focus of a mythical video that was out of control.  You can read the article here:  Detergent Video Article In an unexpected stroke of genius, the folks at Tide responded with their own satirical […]

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