Category: Everything Else

Is There Anything in Transportation Better Than a Train Ride?

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No. There is Not Anything Even Close.

A Life-Long Love Affair Continues

I suppose I tipped my hand a bit in the opening lines for this post. I do indeed love just about everything related to trains. There have been times when AMTRAK tested that love mightily (more on that later, with  good news).

Much of my life has been spent in one form of transit or another. A lot of it in airplanes (sometimes landing with them, sometimes jumping out before they landed). More miles than I can count on roads and highways,

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The Phantom Post!

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Where IS that Texas Article?

A few of you were kind enough to pass on that you received an email yesterday announcing a post in Agents of Reason about Texas. You clicked on the link and found no such article. What happened? Has Texas actually left the Union, taking the article with it?

No such worries. Yours Truly hit the wrong button yesterday during drafting of said article and accidentally hit SEND before it was ready. I deleted the article, but could not recall the notice. My apologies for the false alarm.

Our discussion of Texas is alive and well (which is more than we can say for the state) and will appear in your inbox next Monday,

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Economics for the Rest of Us

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Much Economics Writing is Academic and High Level – Today Let’s Look Closer In

 

Economics is Life

Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, economics is a powerful force in all our lives. It may be complex, it may be removed from our observation, but it determines so much, including much of our politics and social norms. If there ever was a domain in which the term “unforeseen consequences” rings true, it is economics.

I am in the process of reading Barack Obama’s last book and have just completed the section about the economic crisis he inherited and the remarkable demands it placed,

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If I Were King for a Day

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A Short List of Things to Make the World a Better Place- In My Humble Opinion

Ever Play “King for a Day?”

We all did this as kids. Let’s do a grown-up version. If I were granted the power to do anything, including some fanciful things, this is my short To-Do list of a dozen items as it stands today. Enjoy!

Physiology

  1. An Engine Check Light for People– We are far enough along in science and medicine now that we should have one of those all-purpose trouble lights just like in our cars.

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Let the Contest Continue!

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Next Contestant: Socialism

Part of a Four-Part Series on Choosing a Socio-Economic System for America

 

Ah, Socialism. The One People Love or Hate – And Seldom Understand

We started this little review and exploration of systems with capitalism. This time around let’s take a quick look at socialism. No one has any strong feelings about this one, do they? Oh, well, OK– maybe we do.

Remember our analogy for evaluating these systems- this is a bit like buying an automobile. Socio-economic systems carry a lot of the same characteristics we look for in automobiles.

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Let the Contest Begin!

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First Contestant: Capitalism

A Four-Part Series on Choosing a Socio-Economic System for America

 

Ah, Yes. This One is Familiar

We start this little review and exploration of systems with capitalism in large part because it is the incumbent in America, and the one most of us know best. Well, at least we know a version of it. More on that later.

We begin or review of these systems on Friday the 13th. What could possibly go wrong?!

Remember our analogy we set up to evaluate these systems?

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Taking Some Time to Think About Time

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Time Shapes So Much of Our Lives. Yet We Understand It Hardly at All

 

What is Time, Anyway?

Seems a simple question, but there is little agreement out there among people who cogitate on such musings. For most of us, time is a given. It is what provides the benchmarks and guideposts of life. When we think of life’s events, we often think of when they happened, and in what sequence. Time and events, life as a whole, seem intertwined inexorably.

But there is a serious coterie of scientists who think time is not a real thing but is just something we incorrectly perceive.

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About the Olympics

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Few Human Endeavors Carry Such Contrasts

 

 A Reminder as to How All This Began

The Olympic games were an invention of ancient Greece, one of the wonderful things that civilization left us. The idea was to foster peaceful competition and to celebrate youthful excellence, dedication, and skill. It was a noble and inspiring idea that was restarted in the modern era, for all the right reasons.

The Power and Beauty of Youthful Athletes

It would be difficult to not admire the skill and remarkable dedication of Olympic athletes. For most of them,

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Mixed Emotions on the 4th of July? That is Very American

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The Fourth is More Than Our National Holiday. It’s Our National Mirror

Reflections on the Fourth of July, 2021

You and I are probably like most Americans on this Fourth of July. In looking back over the past year, over the past 245 years, and over the years to come, we feel a wide range of thoughts and emotions. As well we should.

I decided a long time ago that anything less than conflicting feelings would be a waste – and lazy. This country has always been a mix of hope and despair,

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Hey! Did You See This?

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A Small But Varied Collection of Fun/Interesting Things Found Online

 

Smorgasbord Time

Every so often we take a break from focusing on one thing to share some assorted tidbits that seem worth sharing. Today is such a day. Hope you enjoy these as much as I have. Most are short descriptions of and reflections on interesting articles, along with links to those articles. The last two are simply me thinking out loud. One never knows what will bubble to the top of my (or your) brain; here are a couple for today.

10 Books About Geopolitics

One of my disappointments in high school (boy,

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