Today is the holiday we now call Veterans Day, but it was originally called Armistice Day. It commemorated the armistice Nov. 11, 1918, that ended World War I.

Up until about a month ago, U.S. Navy Capt. Frederick C. Davis was in Afghanistan leading a team of 12 public health and safety experts. They visited 28 forward combat bases to help protect the troops from diseases and noncombat injuries.

Our modern pharmaceutical industry is highly effective. It produces highly effective television commercials.

We may be having a phone-scammer epidemic. Last week, a con man phoned me and pretended to be my grandson. Then Wednesday, I read a letter to the editor in The Tribune from James Ellman of Cambria. He’d been called by a con woman impersonating his granddaughter.

I was standing at a supermarket checkout last week when a tallish, self-assured man walked up and asked the cashier, “Where are the cigarettes?”

Now that I’m 81, I realize why I like Paso Robles Pioneer Day so much. Pioneer Day honors old people. (The 81st annual Pioneer Day is tomorrow.)

Two ghosts haunt the Paso Robles Library/City Hall building. They are the spirits of Ignacy Jan Paderewski and a 9-foot-tall California grizzly bear.

What do Wal-Mart Inc., global warming and gay marriage have in common? They’re all controversial topics especially when Wal-Mart wants to build a store in your town.

Don’t mess with Templeton. That popped into my head recently as county officials tried to draw new district boundaries for our five county supervisors.

If you live in Paso Robles, like I do, and have a swimming pool, like I don’t, you should avoid filling your pool this December, January or February. It could raise your sewer bills. That’s right; your “sewer” bills, not water bills.