Work in Progress

The Stock Market – Part 1 I no longer invest in individual stocks. This has partially to do with my distaste for the market as a place where people move […]

HEROES – Get ‘Em by the Bagful The brazen manipulation of perception in America is rarely more in evidence than in our cult of manufactured hero worship. We the people

Objective News Reporting As long as we’re on the subject of subjective opinions and professional critics, let’s take a moment to look at objectivity as it applies to news reporting. There’s no

Operant Definitions Fancy term. Simple concept. The operant definition is a cornerstone of the scientific method. Its purpose is to prevent spin. It means this: If you do an experiment,

Spin Pretty much everything you hear out of official Washington, or your state capital or from your Congressman, has on it what’s known as spin. Here’s some evidence: Government officials at

The Internet Another easy one. If you don’t yet own a computer with access to the Internet, now would be a very good time to get yourself on-line. This is

Existential Agony Did you ever wonder who it was out there who was feeling all those things that we as humans supposedly all feel, except that you don’t feel that

Athletes Endorsing Products I’ve been doing a lot of mouthing off, so let me ask you all a question: Do you really believe athletes endorse products because they think they’re

Intuition Many people tell you to trust your intuition. Is this a good idea? Listen to this: Suppose you have a sack of potatoes that weighs 100 pounds (not including

Playing the Lottery If you enjoy a little gambling, and think it’s fun to buy a couple bucks worth of lottery tickets every week and win five dollars back once