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  • Calling the Social Security Administration

    (My raspy voice): “I want to talk to someone about Medicare Part D.” (Computer Voice): “We don’t offer pedicures. If you think we should offer pedicures, hang up and dial 800-555-1287. Unless you have a hangnail, then you should visit your local Social Security office and file a disability claim. That is if you are between ages 37 and 65. Otherwise, call 800-555-6781.”
  • The start: July 16, 1969 – 50 years ago!
    On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla. On board were Neil Armstrong (of Wapakoneta, Ohio, and a graduate of Purdue University), Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. Two hours and 44 minutes after launch (one and one-half revolutions of the Earth), the S-IVB rocket stage fired and started Apollo into a translunar orbit.
  • In the middle of the night
    The question remains: Does all of this as I have described today make life more convenient and improve the quality of life? Perhaps in some ways, yes, but in other ways, no. I can tell you this: Time passes much faster here in the suburbs with all these devices than it does when I visit my Mennonite friends. I miss the slower times.
  • Five things I learned at HHS that have carried me throughout my career
    I have recently had the occasion to explain to people lacking an engineering degree why they don’t necessarily need such credentials in order to think and understand – in the practical world – as an engineer might. As I noodled this over the last few weeks, it morphed into the identification of things I learned at Hillsboro High School that have served me very well in my career over the last 51 years.
  • How to make it better?
    First, I am talking about the economy and I have the answer: It is highly unlikely that anytime in the future that the basic economic measurements can be better than they are now. Going back as far as Herbert Hoover, one struggles to find basic economic statistics better than now.
  • Agnostic opinions in the corporate world
    When we try to personalize corporations, we are simply wrong. Corporations, just like governmental entities at any level, are not people. Corporations and government entities are just stacks of properly filed legal documents. Indeed, people work for them, people represent them, but people they are not.
  • Why do I like Singapore?
    This is a place where they don’t mess around. The entire city is spotless. And expensive. Unlike here, malls are still very vibrant and full of activity. There are lots and lots of malls and they are all full, all the time. Amazon must not have arrived yet. Additionally, I am told, the choices of family entertainment are limited, hence the malls are the place to hang out. Singapore is about half the size of Los Angeles.
  • What will be banned next?
    It seems like our systems of shaming or bullying people into behaviors considered objectionable by the self-appointed elites is just so 2018.
  • Women and men are equal, but not the same
    It looks like 100 years of liberation for women has not been liberating after all. Suddenly, 2019 looks like 1919 in so many ways for women. The lack of progress is palpable. Women should be furious and protesting in the streets – just like 1919.
  • Bicycles, traffic circles, cats and fellow passengers
    To put the following in the proper framework, realize I long ago said, “A bad day in Atlanta traffic beats the best day I ever spent in a hospital.” I am here to affirm that, but every once in a while a few things get under my skin.
  • Let’s visit the idea of socialism again
    Take a country the size of the United States with the diversity of cultures we celebrate. We are not Scandinavia – we are too large, and we are certainly no longer homogenous in our culture, if we ever were. We could easily become Venezuela, should we believe the siren song of those promoting socialism here today.
  • Environmental lessons from Ohio State University
    Several sources tell us the weight of all the humans on the earth is approximately 316 million tons. The venerable Canadian newspaper, the Globe and Mail, reported on Feb. 21, 2018, that the weight of all insects in the world, not including spiders (classified as arachnids, not insects) is about 70 times the weight of the human population, or 22,120 million tons.
  • Galileo and the coming revolution
    Scientifically, we have been looking at many subjects through a low-resolution fog. The fog is clearing, and the resolution is tightening. Thank the new tools. Hold on to your seats.
  • Spring Quarter, 1968
    This was the quarter I graduated from high school. It was a quarter filled with many memories. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Although there was little in the way of protests or disturbances in our little town, the large cities were torn apart in the riots that followed this heinous act. As a 17-year-old focused on my own world, I did not give this the consideration it deserved.
  • Time to end daylight saving time
    If Congress can do only one thing as a united body, surely straightening out our time mess would be a good place to start. Forget the high-minded ideas and ideals, let’s start with the dogs who become confused each fall and spring when the stupid humans change the times of their daily walks for no apparent reason.
  • Chapter 1963 Third Quarter
    To this day, if I am driving across the country midday and come upon a stock auction operation on the day they are having a sale, and, if I have just a bit of time, I stop. I’ll stop and have lunch and sit in on the auction for a bit. I tell my city-slicker friends the best and cheapest lunches you can find are church women’s auxiliaries serving at a stock sale. Great food, great prices. I have stopped at them all over the country.
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