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Public Citizen

The tyranny of fiction

In the beginning, there was The Word, and not too long thereafter, The Book. The first books were all about The Word, and other genres remained well in the future. Books were simply books, and their content represented the wisdom of the world. By the... Continue

Happy Old Year

Orwell wrote “Who controls the present controls the past” and in light of the current state of politics in America, Orwell proclaimed truth. I'm referring of course to George Orwell, English writer of the dystopian “1984”, his eerily prescient vision of the contemporary world. In... Continue

New gets old

All things change; what is born grows older and dies. Sometimes such change is quick, sometimes slow, unexpected or anticipated, dramatic or subtle. Moment to moment, we are changing; our thoughts literally alter the physical framework of our brain, our actions alter the components of... Continue

It’s all about you

You get up, use the bathroom and find your robe and slippers in the dark while your wife sleeps. Closing the bedroom door behind, you make your way to the kitchen at the front of the house. You flip on the lights. You walk to... Continue

My dinner with Audré

“Good morning Audré,” I murmur, slipping out from under the covers. “Good morning, Larry,” Audré replies, “Do you want me to begin preparing your tea?” “Not yet, thanks,” I mutter, walking to the bathroom. “Lights dimmer please, Audré.” I blink as the illumination drops a... Continue

Ripe fruits and red rumps

For the vast majority of us, the world is emblazoned in millions of colors, from intense solids to the most subtle shades and blends. While it is impossible to describe color to another person in absolute terms our color sense is consistent enough that to... Continue

From the Starship Latke Gravis

I know it’s inexplicable and defies understanding, but somehow I received an email from the distant future yesterday! From what I’m told, it’s traveled 36 light years (roughly 212 trillion miles) to reach my desktop, from the constellation Vega. As I said, it’s inexplicable. It’s... Continue

The meaning of life

Let me begin by saying I like food; I make it everyday in my own kitchen. Food can undoubtedly be one of life’s finest distractions, though as I’ve been explaining to my three-year-old granddaughter Isabelle, no matter how cool food is, tomorrow it’s all poo-poo.... Continue

A bite of the apple

Experts like to make economics sound complicated; after all, who needs experts for something simple? Macro, micro, Keynesian, free-market, leading indicators, blah, blah, blah...start talking about this stuff and eyes glaze over, minds drift and before too long another scoundrel has ripped off ten or... Continue

Just one of the gals

My wife and I recently returned from a long-delayed week’s vacation south of the border staying at what was the first “health and fitness” retreat, Rancho La Puerta, founded in 1940. The founders of the ranch were a Transylvanian professor named Edward Szekely and his... Continue