Articles from 2024
411 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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Quiz of the Week
AP US History
18 out of 20 for me on this one.
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Photo of the Week
Simple Pleasures
Walking the dog on the beach.
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Readers Write
On COVID Lies and Failures
GM sent in an essay by Alex Berenson titled “Team Apocalypse will not quit.” It starts like this: “The fact that public health bureaucrats and their pet science reporters are still lying about their COVID…
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Postscript
From Far Out Magazine: 10 Movies too controversial for cinema
I was intrigued enough to read the listicle and even watch the trailers. I suppose I was hoping for a smorgasbord of outlandish fare. A few were bizarre, including two I’d already seen decades years ago. Among…
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Just One Thing
Tired of the Relentless Struggle to Stay Lean?
Thinking (Like Me) About Oprah and Ozempic? Oprah’s many struggles with her weight appear to be over. Thanks to her recent highly publicized success with weight-loss drugs, their use has surged in popularity…
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Just One Thing
Most Americans Don’t Know These Basic Facts About Our Population
An interesting poll from YouGov provides an idea of how out of touch Americans are with reality. Question: What percentage of the American population is Black? * What the Average American Thinks: 41% * The…
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Notes From My Journal
Funny… You Should Ask
I gave up on Saturday Night Live after the original cast (including Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, and Gilda Radnor) and the original writers were replaced by less talented performers and…
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Worth Quoting
Peter Ustinov On Comedy's Serious Purpose
“Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.” – Peter Ustinov
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News & Views
The New Angst Over Grade Inflation
The New Angst Over Grade Inflation There are a few rules of life that anyone over 30 understands from experience. Among them is that making challenges easier for your children, your mentees, your employees…
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The Economy & Investing
Once Again, the Idea of a Wealth Tax Surfaces
Once Again, the Idea of a Wealth Tax Surfaces In the new global/socialist age, the desire to tax and redistribute income and wealth is greater than ever. And the good people of the UN and G-20 are doing…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — May 20, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Makes your head explode! How much did we spend on illegal immigrants in 2023? How about homeless veterans? Click here. * Fun. Shark Tank’s best pitch ever. Click here. *…
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Quiz of the Week
The History of Grocery Stores
At 50%, this was the weakest performance for me on any of these quizzes. And of the eight I got right, I guessed at seven of them! Click here.
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Photo of the Week
Portrait of Huli Tribesmen
This was the “Readers Choice” winner in Smithsonian Magazine’s 2023 Photo Contest. The Huli is an indigenous Melanesian tribe in the Hela Province of Papua New Guinea. There are more than 250,000 Huli, making…
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Readers Write
Re my May 9 Special Issue on “Antisemitism vs. Free Speech and Peaceful Assembly
“Everything you said is right. Students and professors and non-students should not be able to shut down a public university by threats and intimidation. How do we protect the rights of the non-protestors? And…
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Postscript
After 40 Years in the Making, Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis Makes Its Debut
Coppola began working on this project in the ‘80s, and it was finally released this year at the Cannes Film Festival. You can watch the trailer here.
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Just One Thing
If the Biden Management Team Had Only Listened to Me!
As even the Trump-hating New York Times admitted earlier this week, Donald Trump is leading in five of the “crucial battleground” states, according to a new poll conducted by the NYT, Siena College, and The…
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Just One Thing
Aphorisms
I was having lunch with BW, a longtime friend and fellow wanderer through new adventures. He said he liked the quotations I included in the May 1 issue, especially the one from Van Gogh: “I would rather fail…
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Notes From My Journal
The Retirement Question
The Retirement Question “How did you know it was time to retire?” I was asked that question twice last week… once by a reader (IK) and once by the CEO of a Japanese publishing company that is doing some kind…
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Worth Quoting
James Clear on Finding Happiness
“You will never find one answer to what makes you happy. There are many answers, and they change based on your current state. People need to relax, but if all you do is sit on the beach, it gets old. People…
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The Economy & Investing
Chart of the Week: When to Buy Stocks
Chart of the Week: When to Buy Stocks One thing any experienced salesperson knows is that, despite what we like to think, people make the decision to buy things based on their emotions rather than their reason…
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Worth Considering
The Decline of the Convertible
The Decline of the Convertible Something is going on in America that is not especially newsworthy, but it is intriguing. Because it must reflect some sort of larger social or economic change that perhaps is…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — May 13, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Get ready for hybrid thinking. Click here. * Interesting. Days passing too quickly? Here’s how to slow down time… maybe. * Fun and Interesting. German trains will soon feature…
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Worth Reading
The Hemingway Stories
A new collection selected and introduced by Tobias Wolff Published March 2, 2021 320 pages There’s a reason why so many writers of Hemingway’s generation are no longer read much, but he still is. One of my…
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Worth Watching
1964: The Beatles Playing Live in Washington, DC
It was Feb. 11, 1964. At the height of Beatlemania, the Fab Four played live. They are playing with nothing but microphones and speakers – with none of the sophisticated computerized equipment that bands have…
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Quiz of the Week
How Many Legal Terms Do You Know?
This one was just too easy. And yet, I got one wrong.
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Photo of the Week
Moon Shadow
Researchers on board the International Space Station captured this view of the moon’s shadow over parts of North America during the solar eclipse on April 8.
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Postscript
If you had a billion dollars, which house would you live in?
Choose one. And tell me why. This one? This one? Or this one?
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Just One Thing
If I Were President, I Would Not Sign This Treaty
I’m Hoping Biden Won’t Either WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland I haven’t commented on this story, although I’ve been following it for more than a year. The proposition seemed so outlandish, I couldn’t…
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SPECIAL ISSUE
Antisemitism vs. Free Speech and Peaceful Assembly
How US Universities Mishandled the Recent “Occupations” Columbia University students participating in an ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on their campus, April 25, 2024 Although the worst of it is at least…
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Notes From My Journal
Things I’ve Been Thinking About Lately — May 6, 2024
Speechwriting (with a Little Help from My Friends) I’m a little nervous. I can’t deny it. In July, I’m going to be in Tokyo for two days, lecturing to 2,000+ Japanese investors and businesspeople that, I’ve…
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News & Views
Brilliant. Scary. Crazy
Brilliant. Scary. Crazy. Meet Victoria Shi She is a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But she’s not real. She’s AI-generated. In this clip, she introduces herself and explains how she was…
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The Economy & Investing
The Supply Crunch in Luxury Homes
The Supply Crunch in Luxury Homes The difference between a mortgage rate of 3%, where rates were four years ago, and 5.5%, where they are today, can make a significant difference in the monthly mortgage…
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Worth Quoting
Warren Buffett On Making Wrong Decisions Work
“Wrong decisions are part of life. Being able to make them work anyway is one of the abilities of those who are successful.” – Warren Buffett
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — May 6, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. How Ronald Reagan reacted to “mostly peaceful” student protests. Click here. * Fun. The Hobbit read in what is apparently the style of a BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast. Click…
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Quiz of the Week
How Much Do You Remember About Nursery Rhymes?
I aced this one. (Is it the easiest quiz we’ve ever encountered?)
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Photo of the Week
Argentine Zoo Struggles To Survive Pandemic's Economic Toll
A lion at Luján Zoo in Buenos Aires, Argentina The zoo provides a home for animals rescued from circuses, animal trafficking, and private collections. Losing its main source of money due to the effects of the…
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Readers Write
From Steve Leveen, following the publication of my piece on bilingual children in the May 1 issue
“Thanks for this story. I’m delighted that Nazario has his family here, as I thought they were still back in his country. “You express an oft-told story of precocious children impressing adults with their…
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Postscript
Being Liberal Isn’t Fun
I’ve said before that the best humor is that which unites, not divides. In the past several years, many of America’s best-known comedians have ceased performing at college campuses for fear of telling a…
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SPECIAL ISSUE
Taylor Swift: What’s the Big Deal?
I’ve been trying to understand the Taylor Swift phenomenon – how she became perhaps the most successful pop star of all time. Here are some of the facts: * She is the “most-streamed artist of all time” on…
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Notes From My Journal
Learning About Languages
Learning About Languages Steve Leveen, founder of the America the Bilingual Project and author of America’s Bilingual Century, an excellent book, is a friend of mine. He recently copied me on an essay he…
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Worth Considering
Hate Speech? Or Legitimate Call for Resistance?
SH sent me this article from The New York Times about Khymani James, a student at Columbia who was barred from the school’s campus after comments he made on social media went viral. SH included this video of…
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News & Views
Election Watch — May 1, 2024
Trump’s “Show Trial” in Manhattan: An Embarrassment to the American Justice System? From Alex Berenson in the 4/24 issue of Unreported Truths: Like Trump or dislike him (and as you know, I dislike him), he is…
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The Economy & Investing
Chart of the Week: Interest Payments Explode
Chart of the Week: Interest Payments Explode This week’s chart is an appropriate follow-up to Sean’s April 22 column and my April 24 post on inflation. As you can see from the chart, the cost of servicing our…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Unlikely Story of a Soon-to-Be Billion-Dollar Business
The Unlikely Story of a Soon-to-Be Billion-Dollar Business I only occasionally read stock-market-related stories about companies in which I’m not invested. But I found this piece on “Uncrustables” worth the…
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Worth Watching
Of Muppets and Men: The Making of “The Muppet Show
A made-for-TV documentary Released in 1981 Watch Time: 52 min Of Muppets and Men is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “The Muppet Show,” a TV series that ran from 1976 to 1981 and eventually became a…
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Worth Quoting
I would rather…
The April 26 issue of Letters of Note presented a list of memorable quotations that began with, “I would rather…” These are my favorites: “I would rather fight a guy who had a knife and no talent with same…
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Quiz of the Week
Travel Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Governments of the World?
Click here. (I got 15 right on this one.)
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Photo of the Week
Walrus Wading Through Arctic Waters
A walrus wades in the chilly waters near the Magdalenefjorden fjord
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Readers Write
From RB re the April 24 issue on inflation
“Once again, your essay on yet another important and timely topic – this one, on inflation – is the best and clearest thinking I have read in recent memory on the subject.” From JG re “My Escape Plan from…
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Postscript
Local Heroes
Three short news stories to restore your faith in humanity: Click here and here and here.
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