2024-04-26 10:42
On April 19, 2024, Taylor Swift released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. In the words of Ann Powers, it was written in blood, a raw display of emotion driven, of course… Read More
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ComposeMD is a general knowledge website that'll make you seem really well read, even though you may be laughing half the time. While each concise (and often humorous) piece can be read in isolation, if you stick it out, you'll start to see a message of unity—not because someone tells you to, but because the facts lead you there.
2024-04-22 15:10
UFC.
That’s Ultimate Fighting Championship, as in the Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts outfit where crazy people beat the sh*t out of each other in a cage.
Case in point.
It turns o… Read More
2024-04-16 21:18
In the grand scheme of things, the blogger thing is relatively new.
Here are 10 hints you’re on the cutting edge.
10
You drink heavily.
9
You write about how you used to drink heavil… Read More
2024-04-12 13:08
Art is in the ear of the beholder, but there’s one song you have to appreciate. It’s called YYZ, and whether you like it or not, you cannot deny its genius.
The Band
Think Canad… Read More
2024-04-08 17:18
If hell were to freeze over, it might resemble the corner where Minnesota, North Dakota, and Canada meet. Yet 60 miles north of this frozen inferno lies a city that has defied the odds, not… Read More
2024-04-05 03:56
They say Banff will make you believe in God.
Where the Canadian prairies are no longer prairies, the heavens have indeed been kind. There, jagged peaks declare their majesty, adorned in fres… Read More
2024-03-31 15:00
If Taylor Swift, born in 1989, can have eras, then my 1977-born cells sure can.
Yes, they may not be quite as exciting, but I’m not one to harp on the details.
Here’s the wild ri… Read More
2024-03-26 18:20
Gender identity is fluid, as it should be.
There are times, however, when the fluid turns to solid, and the melting point is too high for debate.
March 2024
“Yeah, I’ll do a bra… Read More
2024-03-25 13:56
We’re told that March Madness—the annual college basketball tournament—is about the stories. You know, the perseverance, the elation, the heartbreak, and all that stuff. Bu… Read More
2024-03-19 22:01
Part of blogging is becoming creative at wasting time, convincing yourself that a given exercise was somehow productive, and later realizing that you are in fact gifted at accomplishing noth… Read More
2024-03-18 14:42
It’s March, American
It’s that time of year
When you prove yet again
That your madness is sincere
First you exported those burgers
If that’s what you call McDonald’s… Read More
2024-03-15 11:25
Even my daughter was excited.
That’s how I knew I had a win on my hands. Well, minus the paying for tickets part. But now was not the time for minor details.
***
In Rochester, New York… Read More
2024-03-11 17:08
I was American once.
Back in the 1980s.
The memories.
They don’t lie.
Well, they can lie.
But they don’t.
I said the Pledge of Allegiance daily.
Did I feel it?
I have no idea.
Bu… Read More
2024-03-10 15:10
After a recent post on the scrawniness of the Washington, DC, music scene, the backlash was severe. And by that, I mean the once-DC-based brother of this lady who went to college with my wif… Read More
2024-03-05 23:44
By election year, I’m talking about the American presidential election.
And it’s the worst.
Right wingers talk even louder than usual, proud to show everyone just how dumb they a… Read More
2024-02-29 20:04
The music of Washington, DC.
What can I say?
Listen, the capital of the US has a ton going for it. Like the federal government. Iconic monuments. A ludicrous number of museums. Foreign embas… Read More
2024-02-26 18:52
Washington, DC.
1
Are you a bastion of democracy?
Do you deny your citizens representation in US Congress?
2
Are you known for Freedom Plaza?
Are you surrounded by two former slave states?… Read More
2024-02-23 04:53
Marijuana, like alcohol, has been normalized. But let’s not pretend we’re talking about parsley. Here are a few clues that you should back off the weed.
10
You have an unhealthy… Read More
2024-02-21 19:11
Here’s what you need to know about Jamaican Patois.
The Ingredients
Imagine an island inhabited by native peoples.
The place gets “discovered” by the Spanish.
The Spanish… Read More
2024-02-20 15:04
Bob Marley.
He’s been with me all along.
But my questions have changed.
August 1995
I was an idealist.
As I set up my dorm room in St. Louis, I unpacked the CDs. On top was Legend: Th… Read More
2024-02-16 00:44
Work-life balance.
When you hear this expression, the vision is that of a frazzled professional, hardly able to eke out a personal life among the grueling demands of the workplace.
But let&r&hell…Read More
2024-02-10 22:45
It was June 7, 2018. I had just parked the car, and I glanced back at my 10-year-old son. My wife and I had sensed early on that he could be destined for a life in music, and a Jack Whi… Read More
2024-02-08 23:47
Before the Bay Area became strip-mall-laden, Tesla-obsessed, tech-Jesus-spawning, sterile-wine-pushing, wannabe-chill-but-actually-cutthroat, and just plain overpriced, it produced some good… Read More
2024-02-06 22:59
In the 1990s, I spent my free time listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden, occasionally taking a few minutes to update my flannel wardrobe. (None of that has changed actually.) In other words… Read More
2024-02-05 19:13
Unlike most Grammy trivia questions, these have no real answers. It’s just that after engaging with the 2024 edition—as in all 94 awards, nine of which were presented on air&mdas&hell…Read More
2024-02-01 19:36
What is Neuralink? Normally, I would have waited to dive into this one, as the implications for humanity seem far off. But it’s 2024, and that sort of naivete is proving to be dangerou… Read More
2024-01-31 00:08
It’s January 2024, and yet another Rust Belt city has bitten the dust in the NFL playoffs. First, it was the Cleveland Browns, next the Pittsburgh Steelers, then my Buffalo Bills, and… Read More
2024-01-29 15:18
Quiet.
From personal experience, I’ve learned that this tag is definitely not a compliment.
In a world designed for loudmouths, thinkers can be mislabeled and left behind.
Just ask Sus… Read More
2024-01-25 21:42
As I entered city limits, I glanced up briefly.
Cloudy and dank. Perfect.
I bisected the Olmsted park, knowing full well that its beauty was harder to see under a blanket.
But I saw it anywa… Read More
2024-01-23 19:33
I’m obviously cool with art—music, paintings, books, and so on—being a defining feature of the human experience. It’s the terminology that ties my brain into knots. S… Read More
2024-01-22 15:41
Disclaimer: I’m not actually happy the Bills lost on January 21, 2024. In fact, I’m devastated. There is, however, a silver lining.
American media is concentrated in an ever-shr… Read More
2024-01-19 01:49
We’ve always been enamored with dopamine. And now, we’re enamored with talking about it. Thankfully, I encountered the voice of an intellectual powerhouse.
Below are a few hig… Read More
2024-01-17 17:15
Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé avec toi, Canada?
Je pensais que tu étais parfait
Où les immigrants prospèrent
Où les tulipes fleurissent dans ta cap… Read More
2024-01-16 17:17
A guilty pleasure. For some, it’s ice cream. For others, it’s Netflix. Then, of course, there’s beer, something I can get behind. But my real guilty pleasure is writing abo… Read More
2024-01-12 03:57
When do late bloomers come of age? How old is too old to rage against the machine? Can middle age masquerade as a teenage dream?
These are the questions I found myself asking as I revisited… Read More
2024-01-08 00:38
If everyone’s brain worked like mine, we’d still be living in tents, ruminating all day and accomplishing nothing. That said, seeing the big picture does have its merits. Here&rs&hell…Read More
2024-01-04 15:08
Sure, it’s a new year. But here are 10 signs it’s going to be a good year.
10
You’ve only put on five pounds so far.
9
You were able to make the minimum payment on your c… Read More
2024-01-03 14:53
What am I doing here? I asked myself as I looked around the mostly desolate parking lot.
Empty storefront.
McDonald’s.
Another empty storefront.
Convenience store.
Dialysis unit.
It wa… Read More
2024-01-01 20:02
Dave Grohl is the musician Generation X grew up with—and the one who’s mercifully still around. Yet despite massive success—or perhaps because of it—he’s been a… Read More
2023-12-27 14:06
The breakup song is in.
Just ask Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo.
But there’s an inherent injustice in this market. What about the people who’ve been married forever, living a br… Read More
2023-12-23 16:49
How happy will it be
When the champagne wears off?
What exactly will you see
When you’re alone in your thoughts?
Are you being yourself?
Have you lost the shackles?
Is the act on the… Read More
2023-12-21 16:01
Who would take the time to write about the hypocrisy of Taylor Swift?
Only some thinning, graying, out-of-shape, and grumpy dude who doesn’t appreciate her genius.
I’m not that g… Read More
2023-12-19 17:30
Listen, I’m allowed to create clickbait every now and then. And here it is—the 11 best best songs of 2023.
Was there a panel? No.
Expert opinion? No.
A list of criteria? No.
Ther… Read More
2023-12-18 00:37
In an attempt to monetize this nonsense, I recently attempted to join a semi-selective ad network. Within minutes, I received a denial, with the reason for rejection being low value content… Read More
2023-12-14 22:19
When coerced into giving a talk at the hospital, there’s only one option—turn it into a blog post. So here it is—a 40-minute talk on diabetes and kidney disease condensed i… Read More
2023-12-14 01:43
The better half—aka Anitha Shrikhande—is, well, just better.
(Of course, in this case, that might not be saying much.)
Regardless, here’s the bio—in song.
“Tak… Read More
2023-12-11 18:23
Shohei Ohtani. He’s arguably the greatest baseball player of all time. But because he’s Japanese, and because baseball has been relegated to niche status, Americans are just now… Read More
2023-12-08 01:07
Tribalism.
The human brain seems wired for it.
But does it actually need to be?
Here’s what AI, also known as ChatGPT (GPT-3.5), has to say about the matter.
Some answers have been abr… Read More
2023-12-04 00:52
Not everyone is a technology guru.
Here are 10 hints that you definitely aren’t.
10
You still brag about your DVD collection.
9
You finally cut the cord—and got a cordless phon… Read More
2023-11-30 22:44
These novels are scary AF.
But to understand modern politics, you should be familiar with them.
The Turner Diaries by Andrew Macdonald (1978)
The Author
Andrew Macdonald was a pen name for… Read More
2023-11-29 16:01
Oil. Islam. Authoritarianism. Tenuous feminism. Sportswashing. That’s what Americans know about the largest country in the Middle East (by area). But these 10 facts about Saudi Arabia… Read More
2023-11-27 17:03
Apparently, part of modern blogging is telling your own story. You know, something people can connect with, no matter how non-Hollywood it is. Thankfully, in the case of Who is Amol Shrikhan… Read More
2023-11-21 20:15
Energy concepts are flung around on the regular, but many people—myself included—have trouble processing the data. This quick primer should help make sense of it all (or at least… Read More
2023-11-20 15:58
Border towns have their benefits, even if they are damn cold. Sure, Rochester’s border with its northern neighbor is aquatic and, um, rather voluminous (see Lake Ontario). But our cous… Read More
2023-11-16 19:44
Believe it or not, there are people who tell the truth. Like Vaclav Smil. All he sells are the facts.
Background
Born in 1943 in what is now the Czech Republic, Vaclav Smil spent his early… Read More
2023-11-14 18:16
Upstate New York never ceases to fascinate. Combine the intellectual elitism of New England with the tobacco-assisted toothlessness of West Virginia, and all sorts of interesting things can… Read More
2023-11-14 12:30
You know the NFL—the world’s most lucrative sports league, based in the city with Earth’s second-largest GDP, and a point of obsession for the globe’s number one econ… Read More
2023-11-10 00:05
In keeping with a recent cutting-edge post about Olivia Rodrigo, here are 10 hints that it might be time for some new music.
10
You keep talking about how awesome Creedence Clearwater Reviv… Read More
2023-11-03 22:59
I’ve established repeatedly that watching sports is a waste of time. Yet I willingly continue to make the same mistake. Take the NBA Cup, for example. This brand-new, in-season NBA tou… Read More
2023-11-02 17:01
Olivia Rodrigo. The Disney kid who’s hit it big. It’s not the first time. And it won’t be the last. But here’s why you should pay attention.
A Note to the Grumpy
Nay… Read More
2023-10-30 15:14
Here’s everything—or at least a few geographical things—you should know about the 2023 Cricket World Cup.
The Basics
Before diving in, if you have no idea what cricket is… Read More
2023-10-26 18:00
Dear baseball, when did I first meet you?
I have a vague recollection of 1982
The clash between St. Louis and Milwaukee
The Brewers lost—my poor birth city!
But it was 1986 that reall… Read More
2023-10-25 19:06
Take my hand and let me lead you down a rabbit hole. (Or let go before it’s too late!) The 2023 World Series pits the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Texas Rangers. Could this unlikel… Read More
2023-10-24 15:19
If you don’t know the basic rules of baseball, I highly recommend that you leave this article immediately. On the other hand, if you (like me) wasted your childhood obsessing over base… Read More
2023-10-20 00:15
Dear Daughter,
They say I should be the guide
That’s how it’s always been
Your life—but my ride
Just follow, and I win
But what if I don’t know the way
Because the… Read More
2023-10-15 18:14
We live in an era of self-help blogs, personal growth evangelists, and, of course, productivity hacks.
When it comes to the last one, half the battle is identifying that you have a productiv… Read More
2023-10-11 15:29
What is self-obsession you ask?
My friends, where’s your education?
Unless you want to don that death mask
And bask in the feigned adulation
Perhaps your journeys have meaning
That yo… Read More
2023-10-10 16:28
Apparently MLS also stands for Multiple Listing Service, a type of property listing service used by real estate professionals. Since ComposeMD doesn’t partake in matters of practical c… Read More
2023-10-05 15:16
You know Bob Dylan—the guy born to a Jewish family in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941.
His birth name was Robert Zimmerman, and he spent his childhood around the Gopher State’s iron o… Read More
2023-10-02 11:46
Dear Son,
A path, it was handed down
For your shoes it was meant
On this path no one drowns
That’s why it’s the way we went
Your genes, they got you a ticket
That much I know f… Read More
2023-09-27 17:33
What is the purpose of life?
To answer this question, you have several sources at your disposal—sacred texts, Forrest Gump, Fox News, and your bartender, to name a few.
And to that lis… Read More
2023-09-25 12:57
What is religion? It’s a deep question with all sorts of potential answers. I didn’t want to upset anyone in particular, so I figured I would just upset everyone. As such, you sh… Read More
2023-09-21 16:00
When a colleague of mine recommended a book, I was hoping it would be something fun. Maybe a sports anthology. Or a music biography. Even a novel. Alas, it was about dialysis, as in the grea… Read More
2023-09-20 17:30
The naïve idealism of childhood—does it need to disappear? And when shattered, do we have to pick up every piece? Take Bob Ross, for example. Does the rest really matter?
The Ori… Read More
2023-09-18 13:29
Of all the things you need to know in your life, this probably ranks in the bottom five. As such, it’s perfect for ComposeMD. Here are the NFL metro areas by population, using 2020 Cen… Read More
2023-09-08 21:02
A dream Sunday means different things to different people.
Yours goes something like this.
Morning
You sleep in a bit, but not too much.
You got a lot to do after all.
First things first&md&hell…Read More
2023-09-07 15:06
All origin stories sound crazy, but very few have supporting evidence. That’s where cosmic background radiation comes into play. As a warning, this stuff is confusing, especially for t… Read More
2023-09-05 15:05
It’s a fascinating story, this Duran Duran one. The quintessential ’80s band that you laughed off when it was a flash in the pan. The group that mildly impressed you with an earl… Read More
2023-08-31 23:26
Don’t be ashamed—you had barely heard of Frida Kahlo until a recent trip to Mexico City. Oh wait, that’s me. Anyway, here’s the story behind the artist who has posthu… Read More
2023-08-30 03:45
As the marathoners passed, the crowd went wild.
Maybe a little extra wild.
Running a marathon was one thing. Doing it almost a mile and a half above sea level deserved extra praise.
I would… Read More
2023-08-24 19:18
Actually, let me start with why you don’t like country music. Then we’ll take it from there.
The Facts
Country music—you know it when you hear it—is an indelible par… Read More
2023-08-22 17:59
Coldplay vs Radiohead
Why do I even ask?
They’re two British bands who were wed
Drinking from the alt-rock flask
It all happened around the 1990s
Give or take a few years
At first the… Read More
2023-08-18 01:43
I’ve been told that in the age of AI, writing blog posts that answer basic questions is a complete waste of time. In other words, why spend hours crafting a response to something that… Read More
2023-08-13 20:55
Not everyone goes to Harvard.
Here are 10 clues that you definitely didn’t.
10
You continue to insist that you went to the Harvard of the Midwest.
9
Your good friend is president&mda&hell…Read More
2023-08-10 14:46
It took me a few decades to realize I had problems. Sure, I look Indian. But I speak English with an American accent. My next best language is Spanish, and I’m more comfortable with Fr… Read More
2023-08-07 18:25
If you live in the United States, Pakistan is one of those places you never hear about unless a death-involving event occurs. It turns out there’s an actual country with people (a lot… Read More
2023-08-03 18:25
Up here near Canada, the non-winter is transient. In order to make it seem longer, locals can often be heard singing these songs about summer. Okay, no one actually does that. But hypothetic… Read More
2023-08-01 20:49
Does summer make you pine for winter? Do seaside resorts play second fiddle to that dank coffee shop you hang out in—the one with the ratty carpet and the bad art that hipsters call in… Read More
2023-07-27 18:56
Besides rugby and proximity to Australia, Americans don’t know a ton about New Zealand. These 10 numbers will make you sound like a pro (by American standards).
5.1 million
The estima… Read More
2023-07-25 17:04
Upstate New York is no tourist magnet. Unless, of course, the tourist and magnet are of the same pole, but no need to get technical. Regardless, if you ever land here for work (unlikely, as… Read More
2023-07-24 14:17
These 10 numbers will help you make sense of the Women’s World Cup. (That’s soccer by the way.)
1991
The year of the first Women’s World Cup. Held every four years, that m… Read More
2023-07-13 01:00
Reading is so passé. But speed reading—actually, it became a thing in the 1950s. So passé as well.
But as a proud member of Generation X, I have earned the right to talk… Read More
2023-07-07 20:39
If the yellow T-shirt with E=mc2 wasn’t a dead giveaway, I’ll be even more overt—I fit the description in the title. And that means while some might recommend reading Nicho… Read More
2023-07-06 17:32
I don’t smoke (or eat) marijuana. But a lot of people do. And with the changing legal landscape, everyone is talking about it, leading to all sorts of confusion. Hopefully, these ten f… Read More
2023-07-05 13:06
The New Yorker stopped pining for Dhaka years ago.
Those days are long gone.
The ones with youth. Options. Optimism. Pessimism.
By now, it is all written—just a matter of acting out th… Read More
2023-06-28 18:30
Living in Upstate New York, it’s easy to have an inferiority complex. Why? Because Downstate is home to the city. If there were ever any doubts about that, these numbers regarding New… Read More
2023-06-27 00:27
Born in Long Beach, California, and raised in Tijuana, Mexico, Julieta Venegas was perfectly situated to combine the best of both worlds. On that backdrop, the legend of Latin music has been… Read More
2023-06-22 16:52
The US is obsessed with its states. As evidence, each one gets an entire star on the national flag. Not to mention that people outside the US refer to the country simply as The States. It tu… Read More
2023-06-20 15:51
Ciudad de México, no conozco mucho de ti
Es así, viviendo aquí
La mayoría de lo que he oído
Tiene que ver con ignorancia y odio
Tienes problemas no cabe d… Read More
2023-06-15 15:12
Just as the COVID-19 pandemic made everyone an amateur virologist (some more amateur than others), the Taylor Swift Eras Tour has turned us all into ticket pricing analysts. Here’s an… Read More
