Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

And other  reasons to love the stuff ancient Romans called “liquid gold” Before I moved to Seville, I regarded all fat as the enemy. When I used olive oil at all, I tended to pour a scant half teaspoon on my salad or into a non-stick pan to sauté my homegrown vegetables. So I was…

Who could resist a talisman capable of warding off the evil eye, especially one priced at less than $5 ? This nazar seemed like a lot of good karma for the money — until I got home from Athens and the lapel-pin promptly snapped off the back of the amulet so I couldn’t fix it…

“You’ve heard of Diego Armando Maradona, of course,” said Alessandro, our guide on the Naples Street Food Tour . ​ I had to confess that my knowledge of European football ranks somewhere below my expertise in quantum physics, progressive jazz, and the history of duct tape. ​ Alessandro, a street-smart Neapolitan whose “day job” is…

“It has to be right here!” I exclaimed for the tenth time. Yet again, Rich and I walked up and down the sidewalk, around the corner and back, on an obscure street in downtown Athens. The helpful little GPS map on the phone showed a blue dot (us) right next to the red pointer (the…

“Do you realize we’re just 30 minutes from Albania?” I said. “We could take a boat over tomorrow.” Albania — like Naples — is often viewed as one of the least desirable destinations in Europe, so naturally Rich and I have been longing to go. We’ve set out for it twice, only to have our…

Our fellow passengers on the early-morning flight to Naples “I’m not panicking,” I growled at Rich. “I’m just saying all the coffee sellers appear to be on strike.” I’m rarely at my best for early morning flights; I sleep fitfully, sure that I’ll miss the alarm and worried I’ll forget to pack something vital in…

Living in a city that’s rated the number one travel destination on the planet, I often see tourists dragging around enormous suitcases — the kind that, in a certain sort of movie, would likely contain a dead body and/or ancient artifacts stolen from the museum. Incredibly, however, most travelers aren’t forced to buy these behemoths…

“When I plan a vacation, the first thing I look for is a hospital,” a friend told me last night at dinner. Yikes, I thought! That’s not even in my top ten criteria. But her remark got me thinking about the different ways we all structure our journeys — a topic much on my mind…

​ “Pot promoters eye town as bud hub” read the headline in my local newspaper. And there, leading the charge to bring newly legal recreational marijuana to the sleepy town of San Anselmo, CA, was Patrick Fasano, our family optician. “How’s this going to work?” Rich asked me over morning coffee. “First Patrick makes sure…

Eskimo Pie in her crate, shortly before we took her to Spain. “We’re thinking of taking the dog with us when we go to Portugal for two months,” my sister-in-law said recently. “Like you did with Pie.” Boy, did that spark memories! When we lived in rural Ohio, Eskimo Pie hated to be left behind…