Human beings have been managing many things for a long time; we manage piling rocks into a wall, corralling livestock, selling stocks and bonds and so forth. The “management of things” means things are used and applied to situations by human effort so that a... Continue

I’m reading a 1996 book entitled “Demonic Males” which endeavors to explore the roots of male violence by examining the history and habits of our closest animal relative, the chimpanzee. Genome comparisons show we share 99 percent of our genes with chimpanzees, but genes tell... Continue

Everyone hates taxes, or so it’s said, yet of the certain both death and taxes are included. The anti-tax crusaders bellow “no new taxes!” while the pro-tax crusaders sound apologetic. At best the pro-tax forces muster arguments about “fairness,” but this is not a terribly... Continue

I’ve been back in New York City for a while visiting my mother. She’s nearing 89-years-old, slowing down and not quite up to whipping up a big dinner like she used to, so we’ve been going out to eat quite a bit. Having run the... Continue

Physicists generally agree the matter we can see and detect makes up only a small percentage of the total matter in the universe, something less than 17%. The remaining matter has been named “dark matter” because it cannot and has not been positively detected; its... Continue

America’s extended political primary process has been dubbed the “silly season,” but given the pronouncements of this year’s Republican candidates, “stupid season” is a more appropriate moniker. The various GOP candidates talk trash about everything from the TARP bailout to the recent budget fiasco, but... Continue

Ringing, actually. Like millions of others, I suffer from tinnitus, in my case a continuous squeal of high-pitched hissing, sounding much like the steam valve in a turn-of-the-century radiator I lived with in my first one-room apartment in New York. Tinnitus affects millions of people,... Continue

Lucky for us the framers of the U.S. Constitution put happiness right near the top of the list, just under life and liberty. Had that not been the case, most of us would be in dead-end jobs we hate, buried in debt, beholden to others,... Continue

It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention but what is the mother of necessity? Just as generosity is mother of all blessings, so the mother of all necessity is suffering. To live is to suffer. Is there anyone you know who does not... Continue