Category Archives: literature

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 39: The Worst Day of My Life: Naples An Assembly Line of Death

I wanted desperately to return to Naples to my Ginevra who I was beginning to miss terribly. Physicians at the hospital were concerned the bone chip near my heart might be an issue so travel was forbidden until a round of tests was completed. I was in gnawing pain and miserable. John Lennon gunned downContinue reading ““The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 39: The Worst Day of My Life: Naples An Assembly Line of Death”

Misadventures in Wine Chapter 6: Wine Drinker Profiles: “The Intimidated”

Do you ever see someone in the aisles looking overwhelmed? What wine to purchase! So many countries! So many regions! So many appellations! Different price ranges! This may the driving reason for the “I don’t care” crowd or the “stuck in the rut” folks. Stick to a limited choice range and preserve your mental health.Continue reading “Misadventures in Wine Chapter 6: Wine Drinker Profiles: “The Intimidated””

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Eternal Youth? (Nikos Kazantzakis)

“He murmured to himself, ‘It’s really a shame, that youth in human beings doesn’t last a thousand years! Is God perhaps afraid that we’ll take His throne away from Him? Is that why he craftily dismantles us, piece by piece? He pulls out our teeth, screws our knees up stiff, wears out our kidneys, dimsContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Eternal Youth? (Nikos Kazantzakis)”

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned But Marvellous”: Chapter 34: Ginevra Get Your Gun: Is My Sweet Campanian Plum a Ruthless Killer?

Dear reader you must sense I am all shook up. A gangland attack and a cold-blooded execution of two young teenagers Guido and Lino by Don Lupara all in one day. If it wasn’t for my sweet Campanian plum Ginevra, I would be hightailing it out this Neapolitan Truman Capote nightmare. I was reeling evenContinue reading ““The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned But Marvellous”: Chapter 34: Ginevra Get Your Gun: Is My Sweet Campanian Plum a Ruthless Killer?”

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned But Marvellous” : Chapter 33: Attacked by “Cyclops”: The Execution of Two 14 Year Old’s

I was told by Ginevra all involved in the Neapolitan narcotics trade had nicknames as a matter of pride and to assist in obfuscating identification by law enforcement and tax authorities. You remember that notorious American gangster Al Capone who visited the “big house” not for murder but tax evasion! The names were colourful andContinue reading ““The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned But Marvellous” : Chapter 33: Attacked by “Cyclops”: The Execution of Two 14 Year Old’s”

RKS Health: U.S.A. Big Pharma Where Sales and Marketing Trump Research

“In fact, shaping doctors’ beliefs has become the drug companies’ primary job. To this end, the majority of the largest drug companies spend twice as much on sales and marketing as they do on research and development of the drugs themselves. And a quarter of those spend ten times as much on sales and marketing.Continue reading “RKS Health: U.S.A. Big Pharma Where Sales and Marketing Trump Research”

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous”: Chapter 32: Scampia, Naples: Down and Dirty in the Cocaine and Heroin Factory and Costco Distribution Centre

Don Lupara and I left the family compound after a hearty breakfast of fruit, smoked ham and Napoli croissants loaded with his wife’s stupendous orange marmalade from oranges from the family orchards in Ischia. With food like this perhaps the “Fat” in “Fat Fox” might have referred to the effects of all the tremendous NeapolitanContinue reading ““The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous”: Chapter 32: Scampia, Naples: Down and Dirty in the Cocaine and Heroin Factory and Costco Distribution Centre”

RKS Health; Skyrocketing Health Costs in the United States and Decreasing Healthy Life Expectancy

“Back in 1980, the United States spent 8.2% of GDP on health-care, virtually the same as the second highest spending country (Germany at 8.1 percent) and just 1.7 percent above the average of ten comparable countries. But as discussed in the introduction, by 2019 American health-care spending had skyrocketed to 17.7 percent of US GDP.Continue reading “RKS Health; Skyrocketing Health Costs in the United States and Decreasing Healthy Life Expectancy”

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous”: Chapter 31: My One on One with Don Lupara (the Fat Fox): Invited to Join the “Family”

I knew Don Lupara wanted to speak to me in private. Hopefully it was not to slit my throat! So after dinner one night Don Lupara “invited” me for a chat, just him and me! We had yet another coffee and grappa. Boy those Italians drink coffee like water and just as fast! Don LuparaContinue reading ““The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous”: Chapter 31: My One on One with Don Lupara (the Fat Fox): Invited to Join the “Family””

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous: Chapter 30: Meeting the Cocaine King in Naples: Better Toasted than Being Toast!

Ginevra and I flew to Naples via Frankfurt in mid November. Naples was almost warm when we arrived at 11 a.m. We were met by two burly men in the arrivals area. And wouldn’t you know one of the men was that heavily tattooed man with a scar on his face and Iroquois haircut thatContinue reading ““The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous: Chapter 30: Meeting the Cocaine King in Naples: Better Toasted than Being Toast!”