John Green (the guy in those history videos I link to most Sundays) explains why healthcare reform encourages people to start new businesses and create more jobs: Link: http://youtu.be/R7LF5Vj2n64 (I included his previous video essay on the high cost of … Continue reading
Senator John McCain has died of the same illness that took the life of my youngest brother just short of two years ago. I disagreed with Senator McCain about a lot of things and like all of us he was … Continue reading
At something over 17 minutes, the clip below is longer than I normally post here, but it really is worth seeing, and it gets better as it goes along. The best parts have to do with a charming, smiling 16-year-old … Continue reading
On Sunday’s edition of the CBS news program Face the Nation (transcript), Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) was asked about Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and the Speaker said, “I’ll refer you to my remark at a fund-raiser I … Continue reading
A week ago I posted a video from John Green about the current refugee crisis in Europe, much of which is the result of the ongoing civil war in Syria. Here John’s brother Hank (who possibly drinks nothing but espresso) … Continue reading
I enjoyed the Mars novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs when I first read them in my early teens and retain a great deal of affection for them still. Flawed they certainly are, with preposterously flowery dialog, implausible, formulaic, and coincidence-driven … Continue reading
You may recently have heard about the suffering caused by cholera, an infectious disease that can kill anyone but as with most infectious diseases is deadliest to the the youngest and the oldest. There’s an epidemic of it in Yemen, … Continue reading
Hans Rosling, who died of pancreatic cancer 2017 February 7 at the age of 68, was professor of international health at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He was a gifted public speaker who specialized in correcting popular misconceptions, including pessimistic … Continue reading
Here’s another John Green vlog post I like, one March 28 but still very timely, on the subject of health insurance in the U.S. and the dismal level of conversation about it. Link: https://youtu.be/09RvU9_m30Q Passion tends to far exceed information … Continue reading
This three-and-a-half minute video from John Green discusses something a bit surprising: Your neighborhood, specifically your zip code, is strongly correlated with your life expectancy. Even a distance of a few miles can make a big difference, and the difference … Continue reading