Posts in ‘Blog’

We’re Getting Worse at Building Things

Even the New York Times understands that our ability to build things is bad – and getting worse!

  • Posted: February 27, 2023

First – Do No Harm

A “Climate Emergency” threatens unless drastic action is taken. We must do whatever it takes as we “follow the science” to save ourselves from catastrophe.

  • Posted: February 2, 2023

Are Teachers Underpaid?

If teachers are underpaid, the question is “Why?”

  • Posted: December 12, 2022

“Green” Hydrogen

Green Hydrogen from Green Energy – the promise of a new tomorrow.

  • Posted: November 29, 2022

The Mid-Term Elections Hole Card

Politics, as well as most of life, resembles a poker game. Having a good hole card allows you to enjoy your ice cream cone.

  • Posted: October 17, 2022

Lot’s Choice

Growing up on a farm, but spending my adult life in a city, gives me perspective on the story of Lot. But as a Grandpa, it also troubles me.

  • Posted: September 27, 2022

Scenes from a Satire

The worse the society, the more rules there will be. In hell will be nothing but rules and due process will be meticulously observed.

  • Posted: September 6, 2022

The Dirty Hands of 2020’s Black Swan

In a global economy dominated by companies using “best practices” promulgated by “experts” following the “science”, how is it we are experiencing infant formula shortages?

  • Posted: June 2, 2022

Exciting Baseball – An Oxymoron?

A fan since teenage years, my interest is wavering. Baseball is now controlled by billionaires advised by “experts” following the “science”. The result is predictable.

  • Posted: May 12, 2022

The Hydrogen Economy

Someday, all those windmills will be making hydrogen to replace natural gas. Society will be much the poorer but a lot of engineers will be employed. What is a simple engineer to do?

  • Posted: February 17, 2022
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  • What I’m Reading

    What I’m Reading

    The Twelfth Department
    By William Ryan

    What happens when we forget, or never bothered to learn, what we believe in and why we believe? What happens when the emotional whirls of Facebook and Twitter are the depths of our understanding? Evil, great evil, is regularly found lurking in the unexamined depths of good intentions. Mathew Arnold put our present political climate in memorable words years ago:

    And we are here as on a darkling plain
    Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
    Where ignorant armies clash by night

    Novels, good stories, provide a lens to see life, including our beliefs, without camouflage. As an example, JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the finest Bible commentaries ever written. Progressive political ideals may lack in recent electoral success, but have undisputed possession of today’s moral high ground. And while death and taxes may be the only sure bets, the eventual victory of those holding the high ground have very good odds in any battle.
    And so fiction provides a look at eventual victories. There is no question that the outlines of today’s progressive agenda can be clearly seen in other times and places. William Ryan takes us to a time and place fondly imagined, idealized at the time, by the forefather’s of todays progressive leadership. In The Twelfth Department, we see a police captain in 1930’s Moscow. Captain Alexei Korolev is just a man trying to be a good father, a good citizen, a good police officer. In many ways Alexei is a fortunate man, with a good reputation and many more material advantages than the average citizen. But a high profile murder brings him into ambiguous circumstances. The tone of the book is respectful of life in Moscow, with no axes to grind. It is just a portrait of a man trying to do his job, bringing a gruesome killer to justice, among ordinary human beings seeking only to live normal lives in a progressive paradise.

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