Corking the Bottle

A few years ago, I was charged with drunk driving and spent the night on the floor in a crowded jail cell. I was humiliated and, upon release, embarrassed beyond words. I was pulled over just down the road from my house. It was late morning. I hadn't had a drink since sometime the night before. I had no way of knowing my BAC was above the .08 legal limit. I felt fine. I thought. I checked out a website this morning ( https://www.factretriever.com/drunk-driving-facts ) and learned a few things: A driver with a BAC of .08 g/dL is 11 times more likely to be in a fatal accident than a driver who has consumed no alcohol. Drugs other than alcohol (such as marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of fatal collisions, usually in combination with alcohol. Drinking just three or four beers for a 170-pound male is enough to make him too drunk to drive. For an average-size woman it may take just one to three. The country with the highest rate of drunk driving deaths is So...

One of the blessings of my retirement is I can do pretty much whatever I want. Like yesterday, I watched a movie called Flight     ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_(2012_film)#Plot ) . I didn't know it was a movie about addiction until I watched it. If you haven't seen it, do. It will make your day. Denzel Washington is a pilot who heroically saves his commercial flight from crashing. Only six died instead of everyone. What the viewer knows and what a few around Denzel know is he drank vodka before and during the flight. He is hospitalized, and while there tests positive for alcohol. The results get squelched. When he is well, he visits a flight attendant who was once his friend, and his copilot who was paralyzed in the crash landing, and sweet talks them out of testifying against him. He finds a new girlfriend, a recovering heroin addict. She convinces him to attend an A.A. meeting with her. When the speaker talks about how he used to lie, Denzel's conscience...