Thanksgiving is a day full of tradition, from giving thanks, to visiting relatives, to the food that is served, to watching one or more NFL games. Today was no exception. We had a wonderful today with my wife's family, filled with lots of food, fun, and football. But when I got home and started thinking … Continue reading It Only Took Me 50 Years to Realize There Was a Pattern, Every Year
My wife and I had the chance to watch a wonderful movie this past weekend, The Peanut Butter Falcon. I highly recommend it. Here's the movie summary from Rotten Tomatoes, where it scored a 95% on the Tomatometer and 96% on the Audience Score: A modern Mark Twain style adventure story, THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON … Continue reading Music Monday: Selected Songs from the Wonderful Film, The Peanut Butter Falcon
This weekend is the Philadelphia Marathon, a 26.2 mile run through America's greatest city. Over 30,000 people compete in the race which winds its way through some of the most historic places in the United States. But apparently, it's not for everyone. A poll sponsored by Advil and Harris found that 28% of Americans would … Continue reading There Are Not Many Things Worse Than Running a Marathon. Or Is There?
Reporters Suzanne Kapner and Dante Chinni had a fascinating story in this week's Wall Street Journal that looked at the consumer behavior patterns of Republicans vs. Democrats, and how those patterns have changed over the years. The Journal analyzed 15 years of consumer surveys conducted by MRI-Simmons, a research firm. The research, which studied 2,528 … Continue reading Here’s How to Show Support for Your Favorite Political Party
These twelve traits are in no particular order, although I would probably say the first one is the most important one for me: kindness wisdom humility collaborative fairness compassion honesty sense of humor enthusiasm creative peaceful sense of gratitude To me, character matters, a lot, in our leaders. I think it would be impossible to … Continue reading Twelve Traits I Look for in a President
It's one of the all-time great songs of summer, "Under the Boardwalk". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKmKezVBdOQ Now I have never personally experienced the romantic overtones suggested by the lyrics, but nonetheless, it's still one of my favorites because of all the other wonderful imagery contained in the lyrics. The song came back to me as I reading a … Continue reading Would You Rather Be Thrown “Under the Boardwalk” or “Under the Bus”?
Was there anything better as a kid than plopping down in front of the TV with a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and singing along with the theme song of your favorite cartoon shows? I can hear some snickering, but I dare you to not sing along as you listen to a baker's dozen of some … Continue reading Music Monday: Some of My Favorite Cartoon Theme Songs
This week, the U.S. House voted to endorse an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Not surprisingly, the vote was nearly unanimously along party lines. All 194 Republicans voted NO and 232 out of 234 Democrats voted YES. I decided to try and calculate the probability of such a vote happening if every Representative voted the … Continue reading Dear Members of Congress: Please Think for Yourself When You Vote
I just refinished reading Range by David Epstein and one section of the book talks about the value of self-learning on a wide range of musical instruments, particularly in the fields of jazz and folk music. Epstein offered several examples of successful jazz musicians who followed unconventional paths on the road to success: Jack Cecchini, … Continue reading Music Monday: The Quintessential Jazz Tune of All Time
A recent study published in PLOS One reports the results of a survey designed to measure the many personal costs of political engagement. The results are sobering, to say the least: Physical Health 38% say politics has caused them to be stressed 26.4% say they have become depressed when a preferred candidate lost. 18.3% say … Continue reading The Social, Psychological, Emotional and Physical Health Costs of Politics
Borden's Blather 