“If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like!”  Candide Pangloss was the silly old philosopher (a stand in for Leibniz) that Voltaire poked fun at in his classic story Candide. I read Candide years ago and continue to learn from and enjoy it...

 Here we are once again up against the dreaded debt ceiling. What is it? It’s a self-imposed limit on the amount the U.S. government can borrow that allows politicians to play Russian roulette with the American people. It is a stupid idea because it prevents the...

  In a recent post Think in the Morning reviewed a new book by physicist Sabine Hossenfelder (Existential Physics). In this Big Think video Hossenfelder discusses what human beings are and whether they have...

  Sabine Hossenfelder has been known to piss off a few people, scientists and nonscientists included. That’s what makes her and her new book interesting. She is a German theoretical physicist, author, musician and YouTuber. She has strong opinions and is not afraid to...

 A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.                         Senator Everett Dirksen Beware, this is a LOUD song. Not our type but the lyrics were irresistible in this discussion of the FTX...

  You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.  William Blake  You are in your hotel room and hear sounds from the room next door. “Oh my God!” she says. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Oh God, oh God, oh God! Keep going! Don’t stop!” The walls...

 When I was in college many many years ago Salvador Allende was elected President of Chile as a democratic socialist. The Sound of Silence was at the top of the music charts. Richard Nixon was the U.S. President and Henry Kissinger was Nixon’s National Security...

 Be thankful when people disagree with you in good faith because they are being kind when they do.Annie Duke, How To Decide Keep an open mind but not so open that your brain falls out. (Richard Feynman and others) I know only one thing: that I know...

 We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.                                                                                                          T. S. Eliot, Little...

 Those who know do not tell,Those who tell do not know.                   Lao Tzu George Santayana, reading Moby Dick: In spite of much skipping, I have got stuck in the middle.                    David Markson, This Is Not A Novel We’re hooked on David Markson....