During the mid-20th century the image of the cigar was a rather tacky one. Its high class image flourished in the First Gilded Age, 1865-1917, and again in the Second Gilded Age, approximately 1975 to the present day. In the […]
Down With the Macron!
A difficult feature of the current – and most popular method – of romanizing Japanese makes it difficult to pronounce properly or understand some words. Would you prefer a Nô play, a Noh play, a Nou play, or a Noo […]
The Median Center of Population and Why It Matters
The ‘mean center of population’ gets a lot of publicity. But it is misleading, and it even misled me for 70 years. There is a less publicized ‘median center of population’ that is more useful for some purposes, like where […]
The Political Mistake I Think I Made
I don’t have any problem with legislating morality. Would that all our laws were moral instead of about advantages for privileged and powerful groups! But rereading C. S. Lewis, I was reminded that the problem isn’t legislating morality. It’s legislating […]
The End of the Myth of the ‘Conservative White Gene’
Author’s note: I have not written in a while. Sorry for those of you who missed me. But now that the recent election is over, I will be doing some posts about it. The results of the 2024 election should […]
How to Reform the Electoral College
Many have suggested that it’s time to do away with the Electoral College. I’m concerned, however, about how that will work. So, I have some suggestions for making it more ‘democratic’. Since the problems of the year 2000, I have […]
Why I Am Not a ‘Christian Nationalist’
I was the old style of Religious Right, and I make no apologies, but I don’t consider myself to be a Christian Nationalist. This is, however, a distinction that is probably too subtle for the media to understand. I am […]
Bringing Back the Great Commission?
Just the other day I was behind a car that had painted on its rear, “Smile! Jesus loves you!” I am not sure that the person who did that was really evangelizing, also known as obeying the Great Commission (Matthew […]
The Link Between Sports and Democracy
There is a parallel between sports and democracy. Both depend on the ability to say, “You whipped me fair and square this round; just wait till next round.” And both, as we know them today, were English inventions. I have […]
The Years Everything Tipped
From 1405 to 1433, the Ming rulers of China sent ‘treasure fleets’ to Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and as far as Mozambique. And then in 1434 the Portuguese reached Western Sahara, after which they went farther south every […]