Today Is ...

On this date in 1995, Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. (He was pronounced guilty and then later executed on June 11, 2001.)

From 1992 to 1996, I was a reporter, writer, editor, and researcher for an international weekly magazine about the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry.

Shortly after the bombing, the FBI came to our office in the Financial District of New York City because McVeigh had a subscription to our magazine. At that time, I was writing about heavy and agricultural chemicals, including the fertilizer ammonium nitrate, which was the explosive chemical that McVeigh used in his truck bomb.

I was NOT questioned by the FBI. After all of these many years gone by, it is still disturbing to be tangentially (remotely?) linked to someone that evil. He most probably read what I wrote.

April 19, 2025, at home

I love Amaretto, an Italian almond liqueur. Long ago, I used to drink Bocce Balls (Amaretto mixed with orange juice; no vodka). I also like those Italian Amaretto cookies. Sipping Amaretto straight is nice, too.

April 19, 2025, at home

Being half Italian, I absolutely LOVE eating garlic. However, my religion (Gaudiya Vaishnavism) forbids me from eating it. I still eat it. TRIVIA: The country that consumes the most garlic is South Korea.

April 19, 2025, at home

My good friend (still) and I, while at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia in the early 1980s (in my early 20s), went to a standardbred race horse auction. He suggested that I make the opening bid on this nice, small horse. So, I made the first bid, not knowing what it was. A few seconds later, the bid flashed on big boards: $30,000 !!!

I obviously didn't have the money, and I had no place to stable the horse. So, my friend and I are laughing until a full five minutes passes without another bid. We start to panic a little. My friend said that he would drive the car home and that I would be riding the horse home. Thankfully, there was another bid. After a couple more bids, the horse sold for $75,000, which was a lot lower than we had anticipated.

April 19, 2025, at home