Articles from 2023
694 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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Postscript
August's First Supermoon Shines Brighter Than Usual
Click here for some amazing photos of the first of two supermoons expected this month.
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Notes From My Journal
Are Liberals Really Smarter?
There is a widespread idea about liberals held by liberals – that they are smarter than conservatives. Studies show that this is not the case. People that identify themselves as liberals tend to have more…
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Worth Watching
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Oppenheimer Written and directed by Christopher Nolan Based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Oppenheimer in Film and Music: A Cultural Reckoning
* Five songs that reference J. Robert Oppenheimer. Click here. * 10 movies about scientific discovery like Oppenheimer. Click here. * Four other movies about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb: The Day After…
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Worth Reading
How Lewis Strauss Orchestrated Robert Oppenheimer’s Downfall
Oppenheimer, the movie, was, as I said above, a good movie, but not a great one. It suggested all sorts of historical and scientific questions it didn’t even try to answer. But one question it did answer was…
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Health & Wellness
One More Reason to Lose Weight
I told you about my knee-replacement surgery six weeks ago. I’m about 70% back to where I need to be in terms of strength and flexibility, and I’m feeling confident that I’ll get the joint back to 100% in the…
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The Economy & Investing
Where High Earners Are Moving
The number of high-earning American households continues to grow. And the migration of these high earners in or out of a state can have a significant effect on tax revenues and property values. Click here for…
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Readers Write
From GM, re Ivermectin
“My wife and I attended a memorial in NY for her sister who passed in May 2022 from pancreatic cancer. Her sister had been the principal of a local school in Westchester County and was a very popular figure…
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Postscript
Funnier than Kamala Harris!
There’s something about this guy’s accent and delivery… Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Is President Biden Reading My Blog?
On Friday, I wrote about Navy Joan, Hunter Biden’s child that, for four years, the Biden family has never officially acknowledged. On the contrary, Hunter has been suing the mother, attempting to legally…
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News & Views
Smart Guns Hit the Market
After years of development and promotion, smart guns are finally on the market. In December, a brand called the Biofire Smart Gun will be widely available to US citizens from Florida to Oregon. Smart guns…
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Worth Watching
The Quiet Girl
Written and directed by Colm Bairéad Based on the book by Claire Keegan Starring Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Catherine Clinch, Michael Patric, and Kate Nic Chonaonaigh Release date (US): Dec. 16, 2022 My…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Stories Worth Your Time This Week
* Oppenheimer’s secret city explained. Click here. * How the investor of the first chatbot turned against AI. Click here. * Why fraud thrives on Wall St. Click here. * Amazing rules for teaching Air Force…
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Readers Write
From Murzban Shroff, author of one of the “Book Recommendations for 2022” that I listed here
“A small note to say: I stumbled upon your website here, which lists one of my recent books, Third Eye Rising, as a recommendation – and I was quite blown away to learn of your accomplishments and interests…
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Postscript
Whale Ballet!
Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Catching Up on the Hunter Biden Story
Catching Up on the Hunter Biden Story “I’m not really interested in the money accusations,” MM said to me. “What really bothers me is this story about him turning his back on one of his children.” Not…
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News & Views
European Union Countries, Liberal on Most Issues, Are Putting a Lid on Immigration
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s first female prime minister The European Union is ratcheting down the flow of immigrants through negotiated migration and asylum policies and tighter enforcement at the borders. The…
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The Economy & Investing
Market Sentiment Is Up. But Why?
2022 was a bad year for stock investors. Finishing at 33,147, the Dow was down 3,191 points for the year. (In percentage terms, that’s a drop of 8.8%.) That made 2022 the worst year for the Dow since 2008. But…
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Worth Reading
AOC Is Just a Regular Democrat Now
An insightful essay by Freddie DeBoer, my favorite Communist, on AOC’s disappointing (to him) failure to support the leftist ideas she associated herself with in the early months of her political career. Click…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quirky News Stories From This Week
* Alaska mayor proposes flying the state’s homeless population south for the winter. Click here. * The eight habits that could add up to 24 years of your life. Click here. * Rep. Chip Roy asks FBI Director…
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Postscript
Wait for my mum’s voice…
This kid has a great voice. And his mother’s? Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Are Big Cities Dying?
I’ve been writing a lot about the demise of America’s big cities: Chicago, LA, New York, San Francisco, Houston, etc. Crime is up. Property values are down. COVID lockdowns taught corporations and their…
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Worth Considering
Who Is This Taylor Swift Person?
If I’ve ever heard a Taylor Swift song, I wasn’t aware of it. I’m just too old. And, happily, out of touch with the pop music scene today. I’m not embarrassed to admit that. I mean, by the time she hit the…
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Worth Quoting
Taylor Swift On The Fear Of Mediocrity
“I’m intimidated by the fear of being average.” – Taylor Swift
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News & Views
The World Is Getting Older. Fast!
It’s not just my generation, it’s the Baby Boomers. And it’s not just in the USA. The population of the entire world is aging. And aging fast. To get a feel for how important this is, check out this chart…
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Readers Write
From SL, re the action movie clichés in the July 21 issue
“Great list, but you forgot this! At the final battle to the death between hero and arch villain, the hero actually saves the villain (after proving that he could have killed him or let him die), only to then…
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Postscript
What Scientists Are Learning About Mammal Intelligence
More evidence that mammals are more than we assume. This one is almost unbelievable. Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Did You Ever Notice…
The Myrtle Beach crew (high school friends who spend a week in Myrtle Beach every October golfing – sort of) killed some retirement time recently by composing this list of Action Movie Clichés: * Whenever the…
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News & Views
Mike Pence: Like Abbott & Costello in One Person
Mike Pence has an interesting personality. On the one hand, he comes off as contemplative and serious. On the other hand, he often says things that make my jaw drop. In this example, he responds to a very…
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Introducing...
Naval Ravikant: The Angel Philosopher
The Knowledge Project is one of hundreds of blogs where the host interviews minor celebrities in different fields and disciplines, picking their brains to find tricks and techniques that subscribers can use to…
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Worth Reading
Welcome to the MAGA Hamptons!
“Every summer, the haute bourgeoisie of Middle America descend on Lake of the Ozarks to jet ski, barbecue ribs, and (until 2023) drink a shit-ton of Budweiser,” writes Max Meyer, in The Free Press. Click here…
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Worth Considering
A Long-Awaited Truth About COVID from a Surprising Source: the NYT!
I have predicted many times that the mainstream media will eventually have to tell the truth about COVID, which would mean correcting so much of the fake news that they, and the rest of Corporate Media, have…
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Readers Write
G, a regular reader and sometimes contributor, sent this…
More Disturbing Vaccine News from Alex Berenson “A new treatment to lower harm from a minor respiratory virus in infants instead is associated with MORE baby deaths, clinical trials show. Yet no one seems to…
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Postscript
Will this little girl be canceled?
I don’t know where this came from. I’m guessing it was some conservative programming with traditional bits like this. And it’s clear that this kid has been relentlessly practicing the answer she gives here…
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Notes From My Journal
Today…
It’s been several weeks since I served up a new conspiracy theory, or even given you a juicy update. So today, I’m giving you one of each – one on why the FTC is getting involved with AI, and another follow-up…
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News & Views
What’s FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan Really Up To?
Lina Khan The FTC is going after OpenAI’s ChatGPT by “investigating” whether the technology may be “harming people” by publishing false information about them. In a July 13 press release accompanying a civil…
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Worth Reading
Factotum — July 19, 2023
Factotum By Charles Bukowski 208 pages Originally published Jan. 1, 1975 Factotum was one of three books the Mules read for our mid-July meeting at the Cigar Club. A semi-autobiographical novel about a wannabe…
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Worth Quoting
Charles Bukowski on Writing
* “Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.” * “If I stop writing, then I am dead. And that’s the only way I’ll stop: dead.” * “It’s better to do a dull thing with style than a dangerous thing without it.”
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Worth Watching
Factotum — July 18, 2023
Matt Dillon and Marisa Tomei Factotum Adapted from the book by Charles Bukowski Directed by Bent Hamer Starring Matt Dillon, Marisa Tomei, and Lili Taylor Released Aug. 18, 2006 (US) Factotum is a good but not…
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A Word to the Wise
factotum
A factotum (fak-TOW-tum) – Latin for “do everything” – is an employee or official that has many different responsibilities; a handyman or jack-of-all trades hired to do all sorts of work around the house.
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Postscript
Sure, These May Be Cherry-Picked, but Still…
Another amusing episode of “How Dumb Are Young People Today.” I love the last bit, where the young woman could rattle off the names of all the Kardashians but couldn’t name the capital of the US! Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
A Look Back — July 14, 2023
The Power of Wit On Tuesday, I shared an excerpt from an essay I wrote in 2008 about the state of America – an essay that is still disturbingly relevant. Today, I’m switching gears with a piece that I was…
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Worth Reading
The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity
The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity By Douglas Murray 288 pages Originally published Sept. 17, 2019 I’ve heard Douglas Murray on the BBC. I’ve seen him in a few debates. And I’ve had The Madness…
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Arts & Letters
The Current State of the Art Market
Artworks going for $20 million plus comprised half of the art sold at auction between 2018 and 2022. This Botticelli, for example, sold for $92.2 million at Sotheby’s in London in 2021. Click here. Auctions of…
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Fun and/or Interesting
How much do you know about famous facial hair?
Take the quiz here. (I got 15 out of 20.)
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Readers Write
Getting More Quality From Your Money
From DB: “I’ve read you as a subscriber since 2010, when you were a founding member of the Palm Beach Wealth Builders Club. There were reports that I found extremely helpful and fun about things that you are…
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Postscript
Why Animals And Owners Inspire Belief In Love
One day I’ll research an evolution-based explanation for this behavior. In the meantime, seeing these animal/owner reunions makes me believe in love. Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
A Look Back
The Problems Facing America in 2008 To give my immune system an extra challenge last week, I caught a cold. So, between the energy needed to defeat that and the energy needed to repair all the damaged tissue…
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Fun and/or Interesting
This can’t be true!
King John (1166-1216) [italics] In 2009, a young girl did a school research project and “discovered” that all US presidents except Martin Van Buren are descended from one British king. I’m 99.9% confident this…
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Readers Write
Readers Share Knee Surgery Recovery Tips And Alternatives
My thanks to everyone who wrote in after reading about my knee surgery in the July 7 issue. Here are just a few examples… From CS: “I am glad you are recovering from your knee replacement surgery. The metaphor…
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