Articles from 2023
694 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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News & Views
AI's Impact On Professional Writing And Copywriting
More on AI * In this NYT article, Rebecca Matter, my partner in American Writers & Artists Institute, and Guillermo Rubio, a successful freelance copywriter I once mentored, talk about how AI is changing the…
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Worth Reading
Neither Safe nor Effective, The COVID Vaccines
Neither Safe nor Effective, The COVID Vaccines By Dr. Colleen Huber Paperback, 232 pages Independently published May 14, 2022 I didn’t hesitate to get vaccinated when the vaccines became available. My thinking…
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Worth Watching
Follow-up to My Review of The Banshees of Inisherin
A friend and I got into a debate about the ending of The Banshees of Inisherin after I reviewed it in the Feb. 3 issue. When I came across an essay in Far Out magazine claiming to explain it (though not doing…
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Arts & Letters
Is This Art? Is Sarah Lucas a Sculptor?
The front page of Art News on Tuesday announced that that Sarah Lucas had just won a $400,000 prize from New York’s New Museum. “The award,” the article said, “officially titled the Hostetler/Wrigley Sculpture…
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Readers Write
Re the Mar. 28 issue
“The jiu jitsu video was great! It reminded me of the time when Rhonda Rousey was an MMA champion at 135 pounds. I asked you if you could take her. I expected you to say, ‘Oh yeah, I’d kill her.’ Instead, you…
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Postscript
Baby Racing Beats Frog Racing Every Time
What’s more fun than frog racing? Baby racing! Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Let’s Change the Subject and Talk About… Killer Bees
Sunday afternoons, various members of the Ford and Fitzgerald clans gather at the Swamp House (K’s term for our cottage at Paradise Palms) for coffee and conversation. We do our best to avoid politics because……
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News & Views
Trump’s Impending Arrest
Is That a Good Thing? Many of my friends and relatives are overjoyed by the prospect of seeing Trump arrested in New York. This is reminiscent of how they felt, early in Trump’s presidency, when they were…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Wanna Make a Ton of Money Creatively?
If I said it once, I said it a hundred times. If you want to succeed at the highest possible level in life, you must master at least two out of three fundamental skills. You must learn to think analytically…
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Readers Write
Hunt, Gather, Parent
Hunt, Gather, Parent By Michaeleen Doucleff 352 pages Published March 2, 2021 K heard Doucleff speaking about this book and thought it might make a nice gift for the parents of our grandchildren. But she…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong — March 28, 2023
In the News This Week * Protection From the New COVID-19 Vaccines Is Weak and Short-Lived More evidence for this keeps coming in: The new bivalent vaccines are much less effective than advertised. When…
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Arts & Letters
Yayoi Kusama at the Hirschhorn
When I was living in DC, I spent a fair amount of my weekend time at the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Gallery. It always had something worth looking at. Currently, they’re featuring Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese…
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Readers Write
From PT — March 28, 2023
“In the March 17 issue, you said you were a fan of Sam Brintin. Were you serious?” From RO: “In your July 22, 2022 post, you talked about the idea of ‘cultural appropriation’ – how normal, and constructive, it…
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Postscript
When Encouragement Actually Rings True
“Go, Girl! Go!” I’ve never liked the phrase. It feels false, like wish fulfillment. But in this case, it works. Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Has Your Baby’s Car Seat Expired?
“No need to bring a car seat,” we told our niece. “We have at least four of them somewhere.” “How old?” “You mean for what sized child?” “No, how old are the seats? When were they manufactured?” “What…
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News & Views
Remember Amanda Knox?
In November 2007, in Perugia, Italy, an American exchange student named Amanda Knox was accused of having taken part in the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. Knox was accused even though there…
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The Economy & Investing
Update on the Digital Dollar
The greatest threat to freedom and democracy in the US is not domestic terrorism from the radical right. Nor is it woke-ism coming from the radical left. In my mind, the biggest and most serious threat is the…
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Arts & Letters
Things Worth Remembering: W.H. Auden’s Poetry
It might have been 40 years ago. I was walking by a church in Manhattan and noticed a sign on the door indicating that Auden, WH Auden, one of the greatest English language poets of the 20th century, was…
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Worth Watching
Or Not…?
After giving you my picks for the worst Oscar-winning Best Picture movies of the 21st century in the March 17 issue, I came across a similar list in FarOut magazine. But rather than their picks for the worst…
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Worth Reading
When Men Were Brave…
In 1910, Captain Robert Falcon Scott led a team of explorers on an expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole. On Jan. 17, 1912, after a brutal journey, Scott and his men arrived at their destination…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong — March 24, 2023
More on the Seriousness of the Vaccine Side Effects It’s now reasonably well documented that the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines had side effects beyond the usual (aches, pains, fatigue) that are commonly…
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Introducing...
IRL Rosie's Brilliant Voice Manipulation Pranks On Scammers
IRL Rosie This is someone I’ve been enjoying recently on Twitter. Her métier is taping herself messing with scam callers. She brings to this well-established social media genre something new: an uncanny…
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Readers Write
From PJ
“Your bit about the sentencing of the Canadian rapist in the March 10 issue [LINK]was disturbing. It reminded me of another story I read about a father being jailed because he refused to call his own child by…
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Postscript
Student Filmmakers Create Award-Winning Movie In 72 Hours
A colleague sent me this link to a short cartoon/movie, produced by her daughter and college friends in only 72 hours, that won an award. It reminded me how sophisticated video technology has become since I…
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Notes From My Journal
The Incontestable Importance of Editors
In most areas of publishing, the importance of editors is never in doubt. But in the world of newsletter publishing, editors have played only a minor role. They are usually tasked with cleaning up the text…
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The Economy & Investing
Collectible Investment Secret
Middle Age Crisis + Wealth = Peak Values I’ve written a fair amount about investing in collectibles. But one thing I don’t think I ever mentioned was an ingenious strategy I learned from one of my favorite…
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News & Views
Macron's Risky Bet On French Pension Reform
C’est Ironique! You’ve probably read about it: Emmanuel Macron pulled off a tricky maneuver to increase the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 by 2030. The news ignited protests all over the country. Click…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong — March 21, 2023
The Lab-Leak Debate: What Is Gain-of-Function Research, Anyway? In response to the US Energy Department, the FBI, and several prominent scientists announcing that it was looking much, much more likely that…
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Worth Watching
Written (with Chang Yao-sheng) and directed by Chung Mong-hong
A Sun Written (with Chang Yao-sheng) and directed by Chung Mong-hong Starring Chen Yi-wen, Samantha Ko, Wu Chien-ho, and Liu Kuan-ting Released in theaters (Taiwan) Nov. 1, 2019 Currently streaming on Netflix…
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Introducing...
Duque Hebbert: Nicaragua's Rising Baseball Star
Duque Hebbert Nicaragua’s national sport is not soccer, but baseball. At FunLimon, the community development center my family established in Nicaragua, our baseball field is always in use. And the level of the…
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Postscript
Would you do this?
I wouldn’t have the cajones, but this 15-year-old does. And he knows his rights! Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
True Story
This happened Tuesday morning… K: “Did you ever find the check for C and M?” (C is our nephew. M is his new wife. I was supposed to give the check to them at their wedding, which was held at Paradise Palms. I…
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News & Views
The Sam Brinton Story Just Got Weirder
Do you remember Sam Brintin? The MIT graduate/ non-binary person that the Biden administration hired as a Deputy Assistant to the nuclear waste bureau of the Department of Energy? If you don’t remember, here’s…
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The Economy & Investing
The Cost of Retiring Comfortably
If you have less than a million in your retirement account, but still dream of retiring without having to worry about running out of money, you might want to begin your planning by figuring out where you want…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong — March 17, 2023
Walking It Back… Walking It Back… Walking It Back DF sent in this article from The Atlantic, titled “Why Are We Still Arguing About Masks?” It fits neatly with what I’ve been calling the “walking-back”…
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Worth Quoting
Mark Twain On The Persistence Of Deception
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” – Mark Twain
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Worth Watching
The Worst Best Picture Winners of the 21st Century
The Oscars are silly, as movie critic Adam Chitwood wrote. Hollywood awarding itself. But they are also “kind of great.” A night to celebrate an art form that is in some ways uniquely American. And a chance…
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Arts & Letters
Charlotte Brontë Rejects A Marriage Proposal
In a letter dated Mar. 5, 1839, 23-year-old Charlotte Brontë declines a marriage proposal with her own version of “It’s not you, it’s me.” In the letter to the Reverend Henry Nussey, which is very polite but…
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Fun and/or Interesting
How Did Consciousness Evolve?
Click here for an Illustrated Guide from The MIT Press Reader.
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Readers Write
From PT
“It must feel good to know that you have an audience that includes people as old as I am (I’m your age), but as young as the 14-year-old kid that wrote to you in the Mar. 9 issue.” My Response: It does indeed…
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Postscript
Millennial Complaint
I’m not sure this is real. It can’t be real, can it? Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
My Oscar Predictions: How Did I Do?
Plus: My Take on Some Categories You’ve Never Heard Of I know you are dying to hear my thoughts on the Oscars and to find out, if you don’t know already, how my predictions panned out. So, here you go... Best…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Am I Becoming a Conservative? You Tell Me!
Part I: Let’s Look at My Rap Sheet Some friends and family members that read this blog tell me I’m becoming noticeably more conservative. I don’t mind the label. In fact, I like to think that I am properly…
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News & Views
College Students Are Turning Away From the Humanities
Is That a Problem for the Next Generation? SL and I are on the board of a task force at a local university. The goal is to boost enrollment in courses offered by the English Department. We were asked to help…
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Worth Reading
An Amazing Story of Endurance and Survival
In 1971, Douglas Robertson and his wife sold their farm in England, bought a schooner, and set out to sail around the world with their four children. After more than a year at sea, as they were rounding the…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Putting gun deaths in perspective…
I thought this was pretty funny. Click here.
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Postscript
The Irony Is Almost Too Much to Believe
Angela Davis, who was an important Black Power leader when I was in college (and is still active promoting reparations), has just discovered a startling secret about herself. Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Oscar Winners for 2023
Okay. I know you’ve been dying to find out. Here are my picks for this year’s Academy Awards. Best Movie * What Will Get It: Everything Everywhere All at Once * What Should Get It: All Quiet on The Western…
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News & Views
The Penalty for Rape in Canada Is… What?
Ever since Justin Trudeau became Canada’s leader, he’s been showing the rest of the world what it looks like to advance the sort of woke political agenda that is just getting underway in the US. One of his…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong — March 10, 2023
New Questions, New Answers As some readers have noticed, I’ve been devoting an increasing amount of space to all the misinformation we were sold about COVID. That’s not because my interest level has increased…
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