Iit is the fate of every humorist to suffer an attack of seriousness in old age. It happened to Mark Twain, so why not to me? This collection of highly personal essays articles, talks and unclassifiable fragments of analysis and opinion shows that I couldn’t resist the temptation to write down some of the darker thoughts that have been plaguing me over the years. With due modesty, I would describe it as a festschrift by myself and for myself, my valedictory contribution to the literature of skepticism, based on a lifetime of following my mother’s wise advice: “Don’t believe everything people tell you.” Right now it is hard to believe anything. The lies, delusion, and illusions go all the way down, and all the way up. We seem to have a problem.