Sam Barry's Blog
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Oct.01.2009
Many of us are thinking about dieting because we feel like bloated, unhealthy, repulsive blobs. The question is, what’s the best diet for me? Or, for that matter, you? There are actually more diets available today then there are human beings on the planet, leading to considerable confusion on the...
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Sep.29.2009
I work in an office with about thirty other people at HarperOne (a platoon of HarperCollins, a company of NewsCorp, a battalion of Rupert Murdoch Media-Growth Opportunities Unlimited, a regiment of China, Inc.). In the course of a month, I enter every room and cube in our office. I am not always...
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Sep.28.2009
We have some of the best kindergartens in the world here in San Francisco. Or they should be, given what kids and parents have to go through to get into these elite institutions. The screening begins at age three and a majority of applicants are turned down for their first choice of kindergarten....
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Sep.25.2009
I was listening to KQED the other day when the regular programming was interrupted by their fall pledge drive.
As we all know, organizations that rely on donations have to use all kinds of techniques and tricks to persuade us to give them our hard-earned cash. This year at pledge time NPR has made...
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Sep.23.2009
As the husband of the noted author, producer of West Coast Live, and kazoo advocate Kathi Kamen Goldmark, I am fortunate to be the recipient of many invitations to cool events where I meet fascinating people. But all those invitations pale by comparison to the one we just received from the Hotel...
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Sep.21.2009
The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown’s third Robert Langdon thriller. I’ve read the first two books in the series, Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, and, in what I consider to be an act of real moral courage I also saw the movie The Da Vinci Code, in which Tom Hanks portrays a man stranded on a...
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Sep.19.2009
San Francisco, California (Just to the Left of the United States) — It was garbage night. I was bringing out the various types of garbage—the trash, the compost, the recycling, the nuclear waste—and the process was taking me longer than usual. Just when I thought I was done I discovered a forgotten...
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Sep.18.2009
The other morning I was walking down 14th Avenue on my way to work when I passed a boy going the opposite way, uphill to Hoover Middle School. (It’s odd that we have a school called Hoover in San Francisco, the most Democratic of cities.) The boy was small for his age and had a dreamy look on his...
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Sep.16.2009
In the past the Daily Sam has focused on important etiquette issues such as fighting for your armrest when you are stuck in the middle seat on an airplane and what do to when the person sitting in front of you reclines their seat directly into your face, breaking your nose. But The Daily Sam’s...
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Sep.15.2009
It’s time we here at The Daily Sam—all of us—got back to reporting the news. Real news. Important news. News that matters to readers. News that matters to everyone in the world. In short, news about me.
But before we get to that, let’s go to Boston, where Harvey Cox, author of The Future of Faith,...
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Sep.12.2009
This week I had the good fortune to be a presenter, along with my wife Kathi Kamen Goldmark and our team leader Leslie Levine, at a wonderful health resort called Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. Rancho La Puerta is the sort of place where a big decision is “Should I wear sneakers, which means I...
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Sep.08.2009
We are fast approaching the time when we, as a nation—and here I am referring to the United States, not Denmark—must make a decision regarding the healthcare system. Broadly speaking, there are two positions on the healthcare crisis, which can be characterized as follows:
Everyone should have...
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Sep.06.2009
This week the Daily Sam has left the country to become a foreign correspondent. During this week I will be blogging from an undisclosed location in Latin America where I will be investigating international matters such as the consumption of light, refreshing Mexican beers, etc.
But there is another...
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Sep.04.2009
With Labor Day weekend upon us and all that this means—hedonistic consumption of beverages and chips, traffic jams, and family arguments—we at the Daily Sam would like to offer a few additional tips for preparing for the school year. Moms, Dads, Kids, Sadistic Football Coaches, Gang Leaders, and...
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Sep.01.2009
It’s time for my digital child, Keaton Barry, to go to school. I learned about this digital son when the human resources department at work informed me Keaton had been added to my health insurance plan, triggering an epic battle in Congress over health care reform. My colleague at work, Laina Adler...
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About Sam
Sam Barry is the author of How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons and coauthored Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now with his late wife, the author and founder of the Rock Bottom Remainders, Kathi Kamen Goldmark....
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