Articles from 2022
900 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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The Economy & Investing
Slight Uptick in GDP, but Pink Slips Are Up, Too!
Slight Uptick in GDP, but Pink Slips Are Up, Too! There has been a bit of positive news on the economy recently. GDP is up slightly. And inflation is slightly down. Neither is significant. It feels temporary…
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Worth Watching
The Hunger
The Hunger Directed by Tony Scott Starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon Released in theaters Apr. 29, 1983 Available on various streaming services, including The Criterion Channel and…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong — December 9, 2022
Part IV: Shutting Down Outside Activities Do you remember that, beginning in March of 2020, on the advice of the WHO and the CDC, the US began issuing mandatory stay-at-home orders? California was first, on…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Future Looks… Connected
According to Peter Diamandis, by 2032, “every person on earth will have access to the web with speeds and capabilities far beyond what heads of nations and Fortune 500 CEOs had just a few decades ago. This…
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Fun and/or Interesting
How To Cook Kale Without Ruining It
In the Nov. 4 issue, I told you what I think of kale… the latest trend in Hollywood style eating. BJ, a golf buddy, agrees. He sent this handy tip for the next time you have kale for dinner.
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A Word to the Wise
paraprosdokian
A paraprosdokian – from the Greek para (“beyond”) and prosdokia (“expectation”) – is a figure of speech in which the latter part of sentence or statement has an unexpected twist. The twist is often humorous…
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Postscript
More Dumb Students
As I pointed out on Tuesday, college students today know lots about white male privilege. How do they do when asked some basic academic questions, like the kind you’d expect a 6th grader to know?
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Notes From My Journal
Last Saturday Was a Special Day at Rancho Santana…
It was my last day at Rancho Santana after a three-week stay. And I participated in two events that made it extra special. In the afternoon, I attended a sixth-grade graduation ceremony at a local grammar…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
The Rule of One vs. Listicles: What’s the Deal?
The Rule of One vs. Listicles: What’s the Deal? One of the ideas I’ve written about over the years is something I called the “Rule of One.” It wasn’t an original idea. It was a compilation of similar ideas…
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Worth Reading
Building a Story Brand
Building a Story Brand By Donald Miller 240 pages Published Oct. 10, 2017 Donald Miller has a blog called “Story Brand” about advertising. He also has an advertising business. His USP (Unique Selling…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong
Part III: The Pandemic of the Unvaccinated Remember the “pandemic of the unvaccinated”? That was the phrase Biden used on Sept. 9 of last year in a speech at the White House. He said: “This is a pandemic of…
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Arts & Letters
From the Smithsonian: The artwork that took 30 years and 200 acres to create
Read about it here.
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Postscript
College Students Struggle To Define Systemic Racism
Every college kid understands that America is systemically racist, and that White people have privilege – especially White Men. The problem arrives when you ask them for an example…
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Notes From My Journal
The Ventilator Shortage That Never Materialized
Tuesday’s essay on how the US dealt with Covid provoked a great deal of response (see below). The opinions were mixed, but reading through them this morning, I could see that some people thought I was making…
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Notes From My Journal
What I Believe: About Entitlement
It’s unfortunate, but it seems to be a universal trait. I’m talking about Homo sapiens’ ability to feel entitled to anything we become accustomed to. Whether we deserve it or not. I noticed this in business…
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Worth Watching
Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?
Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? A 4-part Netflix miniseries Directed by Andrew Renz With John Leonard, Todd Hoffman, Michael Avenatti, and Cindy Crawford Premiered Nov. 17, 2020 A golfing friend recommended it. He…
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Fun and/or Interesting
About Medical Tourism…
Some say that the US has the best health care system in the world. And there’s no doubt that in terms of medical technology, we are among the most sophisticated. But most of our needs are not the kind that…
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Inside Paradise Palms Botanical & Sculpture Gardens
Blue Jacaranda
Binomial name: Jacaranda mimosifolia We have several Jacarandas at Paradise Palms. They are among my favorites of what I think of as our exotic trees. Jacarandas are native to sub-tropical South America. But…
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Readers Write
Re “We Were Not Just Wrong” in Tuesday’s issue
“That issue on COVID was a really good one. Also really scary.” – TG “They have not learned. They are not abashed. They are lying to themselves even more than they lie to us precisely to prevent such things…
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Postscript
Eighth Grader Without Legs Dominates Basketball Court
I clicked on the headline (“8th Grader Without Legs Makes Basketball Team”) with trepidation. Sometimes bits like this are exploitive and depressing. This one is not. Check out this kid’s moves!
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Notes From My Journal
We Were Not Just Wrong. We Were Hysterically Wrong
Part I: The Complaint Think back to the early months of 2020. Do you remember what was happening? Do you remember what we were thinking back then? Do you remember what we were doing? When I think about those…
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News & Views
A Conversation with Bill Bonner and Porter Stansberry
If you are in the mood to learn something about the state of the economy and why I believe a major recession is inevitable, listen to this conversation between two of my better-educated friends and colleagues…
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Arts & Letters
Stopping the “Stop Oil” Numbskulls
To publicize their idiotic cause of “no more oil production,” protestors have been targeting art treasures in museums in Europe almost non-stop since the beginning of this year. At the start, their strategy…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Anna Delvey Under House Arrest: “I’m Still Living Better Than All of You!
Did you see the Shonda Rhimes-produced Netflix series Becoming Anna? It tells the story of Anna Sorokin, a 31-year-old Russian woman going by the alias of Anna Delvey, who scammed her way through New York…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Kid Inventor's Airport Tech Raises Privacy Concerns
This video was sent to me by a high school friend… Under the link, he wrote: “Very cool! And the inventor is a kid.” It’s a new technology that will make finding your gate at the airport, and getting to it…
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Worth Reading
Are We Living in George Orwell’s Nightmare or Aldous Huxley’s?
How many times in recent years have you thought, “This is just like 1984.”? Or “This reminds me of Brave New World”? Click here to read a short, but insightful essay on that subject.
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Postscript
Canadian University Constructs Artificial River For Research
A Canadian university, to better study the dynamics of rivers, has built its own river…
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Notes From My Journal
Choosing Community Over Comfort In Nicaragua
I’ve been up to my neck in business issues. And yet, it’s Thanksgiving. Surrounded by family, I should be spending most of my time with them. J, my editor, who knew I was feeling the crunch, was kind enough to…
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Worth Quoting
Ancient Philosophers on Gratitude and Appreciation
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire…
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Postscript
The Best Thanksgiving Play Ever
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And just for fun… The best Thanksgiving play ever.
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The Economy & Investing
More Layoffs: A Sign of… What?
As you know if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, I’m pessimistic about the economy. American GDP is down. Inflation is up. And rising crime and taxes are driving big companies and wealthy…
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Worth Reading
Small Things Like These
Small Things Like These By Claire Keegan 128 pages Published Nov. 30, 2021 Every once in a while, I read a book that makes me want to read everything the author has written. That is how I feel after reading…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Something I’d Like to See – I Think!
I had no idea this was a thing. It happens every year in Chile. Millions and millions of red crabs leave their homes in the wild to march, en masse, to the sea. My neocortex would love to see this up close. My…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Who Was Nastassja Kinski?
Apropos of nothing, here’s a video tribute to one of the most beautiful faces in cinema history…
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Arts & Letters
From a letter Charles Bukowski, at age 64, sent to his publisher in 1971
“I now write from an old mind and an old body, long beyond the time when most men would ever think of continuing such a thing, but since I started so late I owe it to myself to continue, and when the words…
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Readers Write
Re Bill Bonner’s view of US politics in Friday’s issue
“Pleased to know that Bill Bonner and I concur: The bureaucratic class of both parties are having us on. We are being had.” – JM My Response: I agree with you and Bill re the balance of corruption in politics…
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Postscript
Is this even possible anymore?
Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Contest, providing leadership on getting along with people with whom you disagree…
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Business & Marketing
How Safe Is Your Business from Employees Like This?
I don’t know if this is real. This guy is so charismatic, I suspect he’s a professional actor. Take a look at this video: This may be a con, but this sort of thing does happen. In fact, when a business gets…
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News & Views
Lots Happening at Amazon…
* The week before last, Amazon set a mind-boggling record. It became the first public company ever to lose $1 trillion in valuation, dropping from almost $1.9 in July 2021 to $879 billion. (It’s back up to…
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The Economy & Investing
The $32 Billion Crypto Scammer
If you’ve heard about this crypto scammer but want to wait for Michael Lewis to finish his book or wait for the movie that will be made from it, here’s a good, short review of the story of Sam Bankman-Fried…
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Worth Considering
From Bill Bonner: Who’s More Anti-Democratic? The Red or the Blue?
Bill Bonner has an evenhanded view of US politics. As he explains in this essay, he believes both parties are equally culpable in running a rigged system that is steadily destroying the economy.
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Fun and/or Interesting
Pop Quiz: Which Country Is This?
Here’s something I got from Joel Bowman, writing for Bonner Private Research. It’s enlightening. Can you name this country? Its government runs a state-funded, universal healthcare system, which provides free…
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Worth Quoting
George Orwell On Socialism's Credibility Problem
“As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for socialism is its adherents.” – George Orwell
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Fun and/or Interesting
On Our Way to 10 Billion?
The world population hit the 8 billion mark this year. Some pundits are saying it will hit 10 billion by 2050. I wrote about how the current population trends are drastically changing the world’s ethnic and…
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Inside Paradise Palms Botanical & Sculpture Gardens
Exploring Paradise Palms' Exotic Lychee Tree Collection
The conservancy that I’m developing in West Delray Beach, FL, has one of the largest and best-curated palm tree collections in the world, as well as a growing collection of outdoor sculptures, a traditionally…
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Readers Write
Japanese POW Camps Worse Than German Ones
“The Kurt Vonnegut letter in Tuesday’s issue was horrifying and genuine. I had no idea, as I’m sure most did not…. By the way, the Japanese POW camps made the German ones look like a resort.” – AS
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Postscript
Amadeus' Most Unforgettable Moment
If I made a list of my 10 favorite movie scenes, this one from Amadeus would be among them…
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Notes From My Journal
A New Business Pops Up in Nicaragua
On the trip from the airport in Managua to our house at Rancho Santana, Nestor updated K and me on the local news. The election went off without a hitch, he told us, smiling. Government employees were told to…
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Notes From My Journal
An Introduction to “Realitivity
I’m working on an idea for a book that I will probably never finish. It will exist in the library of two dozen could-be bestsellers that I’ve been working on for years. Like the rest of them, I was excited…
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Worth Reading
From Russia with Love — November 15, 2022
From Russia with Love By Ian Fleming First edition April 8, 1957 253 pages And…
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