Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest is credited with the idea (often quoted in various forms) that military victory depends on “getting there first, with the most.” It might be added that what matters most in life generally is getting there at all. But in the 1950s, when trans-oceanic travel by sea was beginning to encounter […]
The woman up the aisle from me was staring at the floor of the LUAS tram, now speeding toward Dublin. I followed her gaze and spotted the three large drops of blood she was fixed on. Would she call the police? Would Cassie Maddox and Rob Reilly of Dublin Murders television fame be the ones […]
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What is the current outlook for California water in 2023? Researchers tell us that our state is experiencing “the driest 22-year period in the last 1,200 years.” They warn: “Likely El Niño conditions are predicted to continue into 2023; prepare now for another dry year.” Locally, the Montecito Water District’s (MWD) position remains strong, principally […]
Contrary to what someone might think, a cardiologist does not collect cards – not even such collectibles as those my little Company produces. The word comes from the Greek kardia, meaning “heart,” which has given us such spin-offs as “cordial,” and the French and Spanish “Coeur,” and “Corazón.” Where I live, there is a local […]
California, which already ranks dead last in Chief Executive’s “Best and Worst States for Business,” just took another giant leap backward. On Labor Day, September 9, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law, a new,deceptively named “Fast Food Recovery Act.” This legislation has nothing to do with fast-food recovery. Instead, once again, the government […]
“Ah, but a man’s reach must exceed his grasp – or what’s a Heaven for?” This quotation, from Robert Browning’s long poem, “Andrea del Sarto,” may be all anybody remembers of that work (if any of it is remembered at all). But the idea itself is certainly worth thinking about. Whether or not you truly […]
Loving one another is OK – but let’s not overdo it. Can there be too much love? We’ve all heard of “smother love” – a kind of emotional swaddling that comes near to stifling the object of affection – particularly associated with over-protective parents. Some people are surprised to hear that my own parents, when […]
Last year I lost a dear friend I will call “Susan” when she was on a high-altitude hiking adventure. She had spent most of her life in a fundamentalist Christian religion. But in recent years she had come to realize that religion is “just a bunch of made up stories.” When she died far too […]
There was once a common expression, “This is where we came in.” The meaning was originally quite literal. In the early days of movies – and at least into my childhood in the 1940s – when movies, especially new releases, were still something most people went out to, rather than seeing them at home – […]
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It is well known that most industrialized countries have universal healthcare, good public transit, and free public college education. Why doesn’t the U.S. have these things? A hundred years ago socialism was seen positively in much of the world as a way to share in the productivity of modern industrialization. President Franklin Roosevelt and his […]
A recent New York Times Opinion piece claimed that inequality is not as bad as it appears because “spending power” is a more accurate measure than income or wealth. I reached out to author Peter Coy and to Berkeley economist Alan Auerbach who wrote the original paper. I asked Coy if he was familiar with […]
Because of the way our bodies bend, the most comfortable position, when not prone, tends to be with the buttocks emplaced some distance above the ground (depending on the length of our legs) and our backs resting, if possible, against a vertical surface. This is known as “sitting,” and, for all the improvements, in housing, […]
There used to be a comedian named Rodney Dangerfield (a name which is somehow funny in itself) who built his whole career on a five-word catchphrase: “I don’t get no respect.” This too had its own built-in funny-ness, because we tend to have less respect for people who use grammar incorrectly. But Dangerfield specialized in […]
As I discussed in Part 1, The Luck Factor author Dr. Richard Wiseman gleaned Four Principles of Luck. Here are the last two. Principle Three? Expect good fortune! Start by affirming your luck. “I deserve good luck and will receive some today.” Set Lucky Goals. Make lists of short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Be very […]
