What happens when the financial resources and financial expectations differ significantly for those dating? Who pays for what? Can it really work, (more…)
April 26, 2011
April 5, 2011
Cigarettes, 2 for $1: The Brisk, Shady Sale of ‘Loosies’
The title above is from a recent NYTimes article about the illegal sale of single cigarettes, and it poses many questions about the society we live in. Here are some things to consider:
Does this encourage people to break the law? Does it even become “hip” or “smart” to be a little bit illegal? What about all the folks who cross state lines to avoid paying their sales tax on liquor or other items?
Is this American entrepreneurship? The central character is working regularly, when no other more appropriate jobs are available for him.
Is this how we get healthcare – doing your time in prison? (more…)
March 18, 2011
Japan, the United States, and a radioactive nightmare waiting to happen.
Safety and environmentalism can cost consumers a lot of money, without immediate benefit. Government can force this on the consumers, as with cars and building codes, while industry and government profit from it. But there’s no profit for industry and government in protecting the public, and so, in a capitalist dominated society…failure and disaster (earthquakes ARE a predictable event in Japan, unfortunately).
February 8, 2011
INTJ Myers-Briggs personality. Who, me? Does this make any sense?
I hesitated to post my Myers-Briggs personality measure, thinking it might be egocentric (there are enough of those blogs around) and because I don’t put much weight on personality testing. But if Myers-Briggs measures can lead us to consider (or reconsider) some aspects of ourselves, they can be of value. And recently I had reason to consider that perhaps I really am INTJ and not always the sweet, agreeable guy that I tend to think I am. (more…)
February 1, 2011
Comments on Big Little Wolf’s Daily Plate of Crazy
I recently came upon this well-written and challenging blog http://dailyplateofcrazy.com/ The author (BigLittleWolf, or BLF) discusses personal issues of family, relationships, work, etc. from the perspective of a single mother. Here are some of my Comments on her blog and on similar blogs. They can be put in perspective by referencing them to her original postings if you wish. The bold heading is a brief identification of the nature of her original post. These topics are different from my usual ones and present an opportunity for me to write about some issues that I usually don’t cover. But I also see that the author’s situations and concerns are different from mine, and thus my blog and her blogs will naturally go their separate ways, even while we continue to learn from one another. Also, I have transferred much of my attention from my blog to my Facebook posts, where I condense some serious ideas into the allotted 420 spaces.
Her Blog Topics are in BOLD. She identifies as BLW. Her original post would be necessary to set the full context of my comments. My Comments may follow hers and be interspersed, so things may not be clear at times, but this is whatever it is and should not be considered definitive of anything.
September 12, 2010
How bad (and potentially dangerous) can public science reporting get?
Headline in current Time Magazine – HEALTH: BOTTOMS UP. NEW STUDY FINDS THAT HEAVY DRINKERS OUTLIVE TEETOTALERS AND MODERATE DRINKERS LIVE ONGEST OF ALL. First, Time published a retraction (apparently online only) that the study does not include any teetotalers (excluded), but that “abstainers” refers to people who said they were no longer drinking (20 years ago). Next, when they control for a number of co-variates, the statistical significance is greatly reduced. Makes you wonder what if they had identified more co-variates. (more…)
September 9, 2010
Appeasement Reconsidered: Investigating the Mythology of the 1930s
Appeasement Reconsidered: Investigating the Mythology of the 1930s by Jeffrey Record, Ph.D., Monograph published by the Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army College. The author is on the faculty of the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama.
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub622.pdf
June 25, 2010
I am a co-complainant to the U.N. Human Rights Council
I am a signatory and co-complainant in a formal complaint to the United Nations. We are waiting to receive a full response. (more…)
June 13, 2010
A 50th High School Reunion
Fifty years ago I graduated from Mount Hermon, a preparatory boarding school in the middle of nowhere in northwestern MA. They have since combined with their sister school across the Connecticut River, Northfield School, to form Northfield Mount Hermon. (more…)
May 19, 2010
Blumenthal’s dubious “Vietnam Service” political campaign
I posted the following Comment in the NYTimes in response to the Senate candidate’s misleading speeches (“lies” may be too strong a word for it) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/nyregion/19veterans.html regarding service in Vietnam:
What bothers me even more than his inferences of having served in Vietnam is that Blumenthal’s Vietnam campaign strategy works directly against the nation’s welfare today, as he tries to generate anger over Vietnam so as to garner veterans’ votes. (more…)