tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37409773965447121502012-02-16T06:37:04.088ZThis blog is focused sharing ideas on how to life a simpler life, and whatever else pops into my head. In this time of dwindling resources (both economic and natural) and financial strife, it is ever more important that we discover ways to downsize our lives. I hope this will be a forum for people around the world to share ideas and discuss the great issues of our day.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-90134392632156081172009-10-09T17:08:00.003+01:002009-10-09T17:43:48.436+01:00

I was shocked to hear the news today that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought it was a joke at first, maybe something from the Borowitz Report, or the Onion. Nope. It really happened. I am happy that an American won it, and that Obama is the first sitting President to win since Woodrow Wilson, who won it in 1919 for creating the League of Nations and negotiating the disasterous Treaty

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-68569287077488726752009-03-30T09:51:00.002+01:002009-03-30T10:27:08.509+01:00

There has been a lot of news floating around about the supposed benefits of circumcision.  Research has shown that it is effective in reducing rates of infection for a variety of sexually transmitted diseases, and is generally considered a more hygienic way of being.  However, it turns out that much of this research has been poorly conducted, and are likely WRONG. It is a classic case of

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-13951586072155598382009-03-09T22:20:00.004Z2009-03-09T22:28:17.257Z

A quick apology to the legions of readers secretly following my blog.  I have been exceedingly busy.  First of all, my school robotics team is kicking butt and taking names.  You should add their website to your bookmarks, since they will soon be rocking Annapolis at the Chesapeake Bay FIRST Robotics Regional competition.  Anyway, from Jan. 3 to Feb 17, we were working every day after school

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-7341153119873394312008-10-17T21:02:00.002+01:002008-10-17T22:09:23.312+01:00

So, it would seem that the one person both Barack Obama and John McCain would like to be Treasury Secretary is Warren Buffett, the Sage of Omaha. Warren Buffett is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the outrageously successful insurance company that has appreciated in value at an outrageous rate of 21.4% a year since 1965. To put the power of that compounding appreciation in perspective, the stock

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-10111411806473304672008-10-15T11:37:00.001+01:002008-10-15T11:39:10.854+01:00

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-42650655479720990602008-10-12T11:30:00.003+01:002008-10-12T11:51:41.921+01:00

As we approach the election day, and my anxiety about Obama's chances are receding (though not gone), I have been watching in horror as John McCain's campaign implodes.  His Rovian campaign strategists have rolled out hate and fear-mongering as a last ditch attempt to scare voters away from Obama, and from the polls in general.  Unlike Bush in 2000 and 2004, it seems that McCain's crew has

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-24865963073432203662008-10-10T08:44:00.002+01:002008-10-10T09:25:56.343+01:00

It seems that the Conservative blogosphere is going wild with outcries against an organization called ACORN, and Barack Obama's supposed association with the group.  Now, I must admit that I had never heard of ACORN until this week, and still do not know much about the group.  However, it seems fairly clear that this is a bogeyman created by the Republicans to stir things up.  It is a desperate

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-43461061564622744482008-10-07T16:15:00.007+01:002008-10-09T07:15:57.382+01:00

Several blogs have been reporting on a little-known US military organization called USNORTHCOM. Established in April 2002 by President Bush, USNORTHCOM is the first military deployment on US soil since the Civil War. This is a very scary development, made possible by the exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 pushed through by the Bush Administration. Posse Comitatus was enacted after

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-91360579276014612962008-10-07T08:19:00.001+01:002008-10-07T08:20:53.351+01:00

How to Fix the U.S. Financial CrisisPolicies can avert disaster only if they interrupt the cascading threats to the U.S. economyBy Jeffrey D. SachsThe origin of the [ http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=is-testosterone-to-blame-for-the-fi-2008-09-30 ]U.S. financial crisis is that commercial banks and investment banks lent vast sums—trillions of dollars—for housing purchases

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-41934020613682073372008-10-06T13:16:00.003+01:002008-10-07T16:09:56.467+01:00

Here are some "Top Tips" for saving money in the economic downturn:http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/5/145645/376Good ideas here, though growing citrus in your basement using grow lights is not an option for many people (is "citrus" a euphemism here?).  I would add some, which my legions of readers can add to:1) Sick Of It already mentioned hanging clothes to dry instead of using a dryer.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-74424154270745585532008-10-04T11:41:00.003+01:002008-10-04T11:58:32.002+01:00

I managed to restrain myself from staying up until 2 am to watch the Biden-Palin debate live.  I am a junkie, but I need my sleep, too.  My wife wanted to watch it too, so I waited until the next night to watch it in its entirety.  My reaction--painful.I thought Gwen Ifil did a great job moderating the debate, but it irritated that she didn't pursue any of her questions.  When Palin stated

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-79360339512340223512008-10-02T15:00:00.002+01:002008-10-02T15:38:28.445+01:00

Just listened to Thom Hartmann's show from 1 October.  He had dug up NY Times articles from the days surrounding the stock market crash of 1929.  It is absolutely SPOOKY how much it is like today's events.  First, the whole thing was caused by a mortgage crisis caused by a housing bubble--in FloridaIt was followed by a runup of stock speculation, and people buying stocks on margin.  Everybody and

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-43412844178468199392008-09-30T16:14:00.002+01:002008-09-30T16:40:19.708+01:00

So, the bailout bill failed and the Dow dropped 780 points.  Egads!  There are some things I would encourage people to think about:It is not all gloomy.  Notice the price of gold.  I have written previously that gold is a good refuge investment for people in this crisis.  When the markets crashed in the Great Depression, we saw a very different pattern.  The price of gold tanked in 1931, from

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-40183684407768119042008-09-29T22:11:00.003+01:002008-09-30T16:02:09.937+01:00

Thank God that pig of a bailout bill did not pass.  The last thing we needed was another bill passed in a panic, without careful thought, and with more attention paid to the political calculus than the economic needs of the country.  This was a bad bill because:It was funded by borrowed money, as I discussed in my last entry.  Borrowing this amount of money would have driven down the value of the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-16068884681984284842008-09-28T17:57:00.005+01:002008-09-28T22:01:17.214+01:00

I was sipping my first coffee this morning with bleary eyes after my son had us up at 3am due to a nasty cold, and I found an email from my cousin with an interesting idea.  The Fed had just bailed out AIG, an insurance company that insures investment risk, for $85 Billion.  The email proposed that instead of bailing out anybody (including the $700 billion for the banks this week), the government

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740977396544712150.post-76861585063718527192008-09-20T21:30:00.006+01:002008-09-20T22:32:36.911+01:00

Several months ago, I was listening to the podcast of the Thom Hartmann radio show on Air America Radio and became exceedingly anxious.  His guest was Dr. Ravi Batra, the (in)famous economist from SMU, who is known for making doom and gloom predictions, AND BEING RIGHT.  Dr. Batra was predicting that the economy was going to go to Hell in a handbasket in July or August, and made such a logical

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06836502393647599457noreply@blogger.com0