Articles from 2022
900 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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Fun and/or Interesting
World’s Most and Least Livable Cities
In the US, people are moving out of the major cities like New York, Chicago, and Baltimore. But in the world generally, the urban population continues to grow. In 2021, 51% of the world’s population lived in…
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Worth Watching
Vice
Vice Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, and Sam Rockwell Directed by Adam McKay Released in theaters Dec. 25, 2018 Available on various streaming services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime…
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Worth Considering
What happens at the moment of death?
Researchers at NYU's Langone Medical Center conducted a study of patients that have had near-death experiences, and the results were intriguing and chilling. Click here to watch Dr. Sam Parnia, the director of…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Sense or Sacrilege?
Often, if my glass of Cabernet is half empty and the bottle of wine I poured it from is completely empty, I open a different bottle and mix the two together in my glass. The object is to see if I like my own…
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Worth Quoting
Michael Masterson On The Four Elements Of Great Art
“All human expression – whether it is in music, art, or literature – can be judged according to the same four elements: depth, complexity, subtlety, and elegance. Its content must be deep and complex. And its…
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A Word to the Wise
busker
A busker – possibly from the Spanish buscar, meaning “to seek” – is someone who makes a living by passing the hat while entertaining in the street or another public place, often by playing a musical instrument…
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Readers Write
Thermal Expansion Explains Rising Ocean Levels
AS wrote to weigh in on something I said in the Aug. 5 issue. I was wondering why we’re being told that, because of global warming and the melting of polar ice, there will be a dramatic rise in ocean water…
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Postscript
Buskers Turn Street Performances Into YouTube Gold
Something to think about for you unemployed buskers out there… You can earn your daily bread by standing in a park and entertaining passersby. But you can also – possibly – develop a second stream of income by…
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News & Views
Will Office Work Ever Be the Same?
The government-mandated COVID lockdowns created, almost instantly, a nationwide experiment in remote working. Since the lockdowns ended, supermarkets, big box stores, sports arenas, and airplanes are full…
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Notes From My Journal
Can This Old Dog Learn This New Trick?
I’ve been told more than once that I have a rather undiplomatic communication style when talking about business problems and solutions. I’m quick to arrive at a conclusion. I push my opinion strongly. And I’m…
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Worth Watching
Argo
Directed by Ben Affleck Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman Available on various streaming services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime I saw Argo when it came out in 2012. I…
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Recommended Places
Savannah, Georgia
I flew from Baltimore last week to Savannah, where I spent a long weekend with K before meeting the kids and grandkids at a resort called the Palmetto Bluffs Montage in South Carolina. This is a family week…
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Fun and/or Interesting
10 Chess Hacks
I’ve never been very good at chess. But I think, probably due to an exaggerated sense of my intelligence, that I should be. I’ve been training on a few apps, and there are many. The better ones allow you to…
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Worth Quoting
Benjamin Franklin On Chess And Life's Strategic Battles
“The game of chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it…. Life is a kind of Chess, in which…
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A Word to the Wise
Verisimilitude
is the appearance of being true or real. As I used it today in my review of Argo. “The movie has a docudrama feeling that, while not overbearing, does add to the verisimilitude and urgency of every scene.”
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Readers Write
Re Tuesday’s issue
“Don’t assume the Inflation Creation Act is a done deal. We must act positive. Positive that the idiots in the House will squabble on this as they have in the past, and allow this to die on the vine.” – TM…
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Postscript
Marilyn Vos Savant's Famous Solution To The Monty Hall Problem
It pays to be smart. I mean high-IQ smart. People with an above-average IQ do better in just about everything from career status to income to net worth – and even to health and happiness. Then there are the…
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The Economy & Investing
About the Inflation Reduction Act
What a wonderfully Orwellian world we live in. Congress has just passed a bill called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that, as far as I can tell, is practically designed to increase inflation. Its supporters…
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The Economy & Investing
Real Estate: A Time to Buy. A Time to Sell
In April and May, housing prices in the US were at all-time highs. In some areas, they are higher than they were at the early 2007 peak, right before the real estate industry began melting down before…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The True Cost of Going Electric
In the July 5 issue, I linked to a video that explained the true cost to the global economy of electric vehicles – both in dollar terms and in terms of the use of natural resources. EVs, it turns out, are not…
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News & Views
California to Become America’s First “Trans Refuge State”?
California Senate Bill 107 passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Aug. 3 with an 11 to 4 vote along party lines. It’s objective: to “make California a ‘sanctuary state’ for children seeking…
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Worth Considering
A Brief History of US / China Relations
Biden’s recent statement (following Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan last week) that the US would defend Taiwan against hostility by mainland China indisputably increased tensions between the world’s two largest…
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Arts & Letters
Kids Write the Darnedest Things
From 11-year-old Emily Dickinson A letter to her brother, April 18, 1842 “[T]he chickens grow very fast I am afraid they will be so large that you cannot perceive them with the naked Eye when you get home the…
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Worth Quoting
Passion Alone Won't Eliminate Work's Inevitable Suffering
“It’s become a Hallmark sentiment that if you find a career that you care for passionately, everything that is disagreeable about work – the drudgery, the disappointment, and the pain – will disappear and be…
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A Word to the Wise
behemoth
A behemoth (buh-HEE-moth) – from the Hebrew for “beast” – is something that is enormous, especially a big and powerful organization. In the Old Testament, the behemoth was a beast from the Book of Job – a…
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Readers Write
Re “A Short History of the Devolution of Air Travel” in the Aug. 2 issue
“This gave me a good laugh! As my wife and I prepare to take our first international flight since 2019, my feeling of trepidation has gone from a 4 out of 10 to a 9 or 10.” – ND Re the Aug. 2 P.S. about Fred…
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Postscript
Jordan Peterson On Why Thinking Matters Now
A fascinating short lecture by Jordan Peterson on the evolutionary importance of thinking – actual thinking – and why it’s now more important than ever. Watch it here.
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Notes From My Journal
It’s Beautiful. But Is It Safe?
I’m spending the week in Baltimore, where my primary client is headquartered. I’m here for meetings about the receding economy, the effect it’s had on our industry, and the challenges it poses to our business…
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The Economy & Investing
The Latest Example of What We Can Look Forward To
Robinhood, the stock trading app that was so hot a year ago, announced that it is laying off around 23% of its workforce. This is its second significant layoff. The first was 9%. The layoffs will be primarily…
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Business & Marketing
Here Today; Gone Tomorrow
A Lesson From the Demise of Juul When you are part of a fast-growing business in a fast-growing industry, it’s easy to imagine that growth is normal and that the good things that come from growth are going to…
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Fun and/or Interesting
If Gender Is Not in Our Private Parts, Is It in Our Brains?
Here’s a TED Talk about transgenderism that is worth a look. It’s given by a transgender woman who is also a neurobiologist with very impressive credentials. In her presentation, which she is obviously…
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Worth Watching
Directed by Bruno Dumont
France Directed by Bruno Dumont Starring Léa Seydoux, Blanche Gardin, and Benjamin Biolay Released in theaters Dec. 10, 2021 Available to rent or buy on various streaming services, including Amazon Prime K and…
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Arts & Letters
Congratulations to the Lionesses, England’s women’s soccer team, for making history Monday night!
Their win over Germany in the European Championship final – after a 56-year title drought for the UK – would have amazed the man who wrote this letter to the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette in 1895: “[A woman]…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Do I Really Have to Sell My Florida Beach House?
We’ve all been told that global warming will raise ocean water levels dramatically along coastal areas everywhere because of the melting of the polar ice caps. Right? That’s what I was told, and for many…
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Worth Quoting
Fran Lebowitz on Reading Before Thinking
“Think before you speak. Read before you think.” – Fran Lebowitz
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A Word to the Wise
auteur
An auteur (oh-TUR) – French for “originator” – is a filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control are so great that he/she is regarded as the movie’s author. As I used it in my review of France…
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Readers Write
Re “Understanding Gravity in Five Lessons” in the July 22 issue
“I love your research. The YouTube on Gravity was fascinating. Something I have been interested in for 50 years.” – MF Another testimonial for our book, Central American Modernism: “It's great to get an…
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Postscript
Technique Trumps Raw Strength In Bull Riding
In business and Jiu Jitsu, strength helps, but without technique it is often a net negative. Apparently, the same is true for bull riding.
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The Economy & Investing
The Recession of 2022: How Bad and Long Will It Get
It’s official. The US is in a recession. According to a report issued last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the real GDP (gross domestic product) decreased in the second quarter of the year by 0.9%. It…
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Notes From My Journal
A Short History of the Devolution of Air Travel
Air travel today is considerably worse than it was before the pandemic, when I was on a plane at least once every six weeks. I did that for 30 years. And a third of it was international travel – i.e., flights…
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Worth Considering
Debunking the Myth of the Lost Cause: a Lie Embedded in American History
Debunking the Myth of the Lost Cause: a Lie Embedded in American History I first read about the “lost cause” theory of the Civil War many years ago. Maybe 20. It’s the argument that the war was not about…
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Notes From My Journal
What I Believe: About What Matters Most to the Human Animal
If you want to know the truth about government and big company activities, instead of believing what you read in the government- and big company-influenced press, you must “follow the money.” That’s what they…
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Fun and/or Interesting
California Wines Explained For The Amateur Drinker
I’ve told you about these videos from “The Wine Explorers Letter.” (Disclosure: I have a small interest in the company that publishes it: the Bonner Private Wine Partnership.) I enjoy them immensely. They are…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Leonard Bernstein Weighs In On The Beatles
Leonard Bernstein was, without a doubt, the most famous American conductor in the second half of the 20th century. In addition to conducting the New York Philharmonic, he was a composer, a pianist, a Harvard…
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Arts & Letters
Vermeer's Mastery of Light and Domestic Intimacy
Long before Girl With a Pearl Earring, I was a huge fan of Johannes Vermeer. Here is a short lesson about him from an art historian, with a few comments about why his art was so great. Click here.
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Worth Quoting
Jack Welch On Confronting Present Reality
“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.” – Jack Welch
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A Word to the Wise
Fricative
– from the Latin for “to rub” – refers to a hissing or buzzing sound produced by forcing air through a narrow space. In phonetics, a fricative is a consonant sound made by directing a stream of air with the…
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Readers Write
Reader Shares Moving Video From Past Conversation
“One hour speaking to you is worth a year of reading books!” – TD RS sent me this little video. It’s a touching story, if I do say so myself. He said, “Not sure if you remember this.” (I didn’t. But it I’m not…
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Postscript
Golden Age Hollywood's Greatest Dancers Ranked
Baryshnikov was right. Fred Astaire may have been the best dancer who ever lived. And Rita Hayworth wasn’t bad either! Watch it here.
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The Economy & Investing
What Is the “Wage-Price Spiral” – and Why Is It a Problem?
Prices are going up. And real incomes (nominal income minus inflation) are going down. (Wages up 5%; Inflation up 9%) From Bonner Private Research: “Workers will, of course, push employers for wage increases…
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