Category: Society

“I Don’t Watch TV.” Too Bad – You are Missing Out

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This is Not Your Parents TV.

Surprise! This Might be a Golden Age for TV.

I have friends who proudly proclaim they watch no TV. Some even make a point of saying they do not own one. On the one hand, I can understand that. There is a lot of junk on TV. There always has been. But there are also amazing feats of programing going on today. My biggest problem is not avoiding the junk. The problem is catching, or even knowing about, all the good stuff that is out there.

If we are going to talk about this,

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A Simple Thing is the Undoing of the Republicans

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“What Goes Around, Comes Around” has a certain ring to it

 

“Politics is not beanbag” is a well-known truism. It can be a tough business. Political parties will go to great lengths to win. The histories of both major parties are full of abuse of power and unfair or illegal acts to gain advantage. Gerrymandering was not invented yesterday.

Yet, today’s Republican party has crossed too many lines for most Americans. Process and protocols are pretty simple, yet their importance is significant. When “anything goes” is the norm,

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Mel Brooks and the Ten Commandments

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What if 10 was Not the Right Number of Commandments?

 

It’s Friday; let’s relax a little today and have some fun. If anyone reading this may have thought I am a sophisticated person, allow me to put that to rest now. Mel Brooks is one of my favorite funny guys. I love his stuff.

One of my all time  favorite Mel Brooks scenes is from his film History of the World, Part I. Check out the film clip for a reminder of the Brooks genre. 

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What’s for Dinner? Funny You Should Ask…

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How We Classify Our Food Is Important – And Getting More Complicated

I bet that a lot of people reading this make many of the same choices to eat better. Me, too. Eating better might involve health, environmental sustainment, morality.

For most on that long march, two guideposts are organic food (when we can find it and afford it) and less meat, if any. I ran across a couple of recent stories that show (A) Some people are working hard and creatively to help us do all that.

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Reflections on the Church – Catholic and Otherwise

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Time to examine what religion means to humanity at this point in history

There is renewed concern about the Catholic church, thanks to a grand jury’s diligence. But the Catholics are not alone. Religion is in serious trouble everywhere. And that may not be a bad thing. Ironic, since so much of the trouble is self-inflicted.

This is a discussion that will make a lot of people uncomfortable, if not downright unhappy. Still, it is one we need to have. I note that this post has some tough things to say about religion writ large.

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Medicine and Society: It’s A Complicated Relationship

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Reflections on Modern Medicine, Social Norms, and Unintended Consequences

There May Be a Wonderful New Medicine Out There That Could Save Your Life. You Likely Would Not See it in Time.

The opioid crisis in this country is major. We are overrun by this. It makes most other drug epidemics seem like child’s play. I read last week that a Wake Forest University research team may have developed an opioid substitute. It could be as much as 100 times (!) more effective than opioids and has zero addiction risk. This is big news.

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Did We Learn the Right Lessons from The Primaries?

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A Lot of Lessons Were in the Offing. Are We Adapting the Right Ones?

Happy Labor Day, America. Labor does not have much to celebrate at the moment, but hope springs eternal. Which takes us to today’s topic, lessons learned in the primary season.

It has been a remarkable primary season in many ways. Not that it is quite over. There are still a few stragglers out there, including the one for NY governor. But for the most part, the party is over. It is time to assess what to carry forward from the primaries into November and beyond.

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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner!

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Let’s Imagine You Have a Dinner Date — with History

For our weekend rumination, we are going to draw upon two what-if games that I have enjoyed over the years.

The first of these was a TV show created by the great Steve Allen (a true genius and talent). The show was Meeting of the Minds. The scenario was that Allen had the ability to reach back in time. He could invite any historical figure he chose to sit with other notables Allen had invited. Attendees would share their vision and goals,

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The Robots are Coming! Good News or Bad News?

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A Whole New World of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence is Coming. Interesting Times are Ahead – Soon.

I, like many of you, have long been fascinated by the increasingly sophisticated development of robots and the parallel acceleration of artificial intelligence, or AI. We are now at a time wherein these two technologies are merging in some fascinating ways. As usual with technological advances, we should expect good news and bad news.

Just in the last month, three fascinating articles have been published in the general media about this phenomenon. Articles in Wired and in the Washington Post discussed new studies.

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The Joy of Flying

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Life is More Three Dimensional Than We Acknowledge. Here is a Way to Regain That Perspective.

By the time you read this, I will have finished a couple of days of commercial flying with one of the three remaining large airlines in this country. Rest assured, this blog post is not being published to sing the praises of commercial flight as we know it today.

We could talk about that, but why do that to our blood pressure?

No, today I want to encourage you to listen to the siren song of flight on a small scale.

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