Columns

In 1966 the movie “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” was filmed along the local Mendocino-Sonoma coast. In the plot, a lone enemy submarine crashes offshore, igniting a runaway rumor chain that almost leads to a machine gun battle, hostage taking and a U.S. Air Force strike. We can only imagine that if the players in the film all had Facebook and Twitter accounts how much faster the rumors of attack would have flown and how World War III might not have been avoidable.

A Richard by any other name

The United States of America is a land of immigrants. In addition to those who we commonly perceive as an immigrant — someone who was born in another country — anyone whose ancestors came from Asia, Europe, South America, the Middle East, Africa (if you go back far enough, that includes all of us), or elsewhere, is the descendant of an immigrant.

Famous and quirky chess players include: Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), a famous Cuban grandmaster who continuously smoked cigars while playing; Alexander Alakine (1892-1946), who brought and petted his cat named “Chess”; and Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) who had all of his dental fillings removed to escape radio transmissions.

Twenty years ago, December 1999, I asked my fellow physicians in Healdsburg what they thought were the major medical advances of the twentieth century. Their responses were extensively covered in the Healdsburg Tribune.