The Ones-at-Large
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American Self-Making: More of the Long Con
The Long Con is the sting we pull on ourselves, where we become our own mark which might be why we are able to get others to play along: the self-con generates profound belief by others because we are so… Continue reading
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The Most Deadly Drug: Alcohol
In 2009, David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist who served as chair of Britains Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs ACMD, published a paper in a medical journal that offered a provocative thesis: horseback riding, he wrote, was more dangerous than… Continue reading
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A Boon of Dandelions 4
Our greatest shortcoming: obsessive desire for certainty, compulsive appetite for the sure thing. Some will panic in the search; a few get utterly lost in trying to fix the “game.” Yet life is no play-thing to manipulate. The conviction that… Continue reading
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Denton Drilling: Draft ordinance needs overhaul
Denton, Texas’ draft ordinance concerning gas drilling gets an F from local citizens. Time for a do over. Last night, about forty dedicated citizens gathered to review the draft gas drilling ordinance and generate ideas for how to improve it.… Continue reading
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Human “Enhancement” vs Environmental Reformation
When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall. The pills boost focus and impulse control in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D… Continue reading
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Combatting Knowledge with Opinion (and some Prayers)
This is a nice follow up piece for the earlier link I posted today on why we are not ENTITLED to throw our opinions around without evidence and/or expectation of being challenged by those with broader knowledge: It is more… Continue reading
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Becoming Empassioned
Good piece. Opening ourselves up to the possibility of this Beautiful Order, we become conduits, energized by the dynamic force of the Encompassing Good. Letting-go of worry or fretfulness or obsession, we need not follow bliss as the blissful will… Continue reading
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The Entitlement of Opinion
The problem with “I’m entitled to my opinion” is that, all too often, it’s used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for “I can say or think whatever I like” – and by extension, continuing… Continue reading
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The Trials of Teaching in Texas
Since the [Texas State] Legislature eliminated more than $5 billion in financing from public education in 2011, some early results are easily quantifiable — like the approximately 25,000 employees shed from the state’s schools and the more than 6,200 additional elementary school… Continue reading
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Freedom of Religion Clause a “Shield” NOT a “Sword”
A key insight in this opinion is that salaries and health insurance can be used to buy birth control, so if religious employers really object to enabling their employees to buy birth control, they would have to not pay them… Continue reading
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The Pay-‘Em-or-Lose-‘Em Myth
There was a time when I thought the arguments given for ever rising executive compensation were all examples of the slippery slope. Stupid me! I now realize that they are examples of a false dichotomy. How is it that I… Continue reading
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The Fox News & the Hedgehog Syndrome
It very well could be that I am drawing a hasty generalization. But I have been watching politics closely for 30 years. Since the 1996 campaign, I have seen an interesting phenomenon: Democrats spent a lot of time trying to… Continue reading
CALL ME MAGGIE 