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Mistakes when choosing a career
What did you want to be when you grew up? A dancer, fireman, rock star? Or maybe an astronaut? When I was 10 I told my mom I wanted to be a TV preacher. Then she informed me that I’d probably have to join a …
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The Normalization of Dystopia
Lily Tomlin used to say “I try to be cynical, but I can’t keep up.” Writers of dystopian sci-fi have the same trouble keeping ahead of actual reality. Forty years ago, Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, in the Illuminatus! trilogy, portrayed a near future …
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If Zimmerman’s head was bloody, charges shouldn’t have been filed
The chant during the OJ trial was, “if the glove don’t fit then vote to acquit.” In the Trayvon Martin killing the legal system should focus on the wounds of George Zimmerman. Now that the bloody photographs of the back of George Zimmerman’s head has …
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The paradox of mobility in America
We’re a species that has gotten around; we’ve migrated to every corner of the world. The spear tip of technology is how we can get somewhere else: the wheel, the sailboat, the rocket. In short: we’re movers. We are now as mobile as we’ve ever …
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Should older drivers be tested?
Some call it profiling. Some call it discrimination. Some call it stereotyping. Some call it “Grandma, you can’t keep ripping off my metropolitan phonebook in order to see over the steering wheel!” Whatever one’s gut reaction to the issue of older drivers, the aging of …
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Blame Congress for the GSA scandal
Who should we tar and feather for the scandalous spending spree at that General Services Administration “conference” in Nevada two years ago? Whose fault is it that a bunch of GSA bureaucrats wasted money on $44 breakfasts, a clown and a $75,000 bicycle-building exercise? Not …
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Mountain View: A community of arts, crafts and nostalgia
Mountain View still maintains the easy-going lifestyle that the back-to-nature advocates who moved there decades ago enjoyed. The Ozark Folk Center has contributed significantly to both the rhythm and the character of the charming Ozark Foothills community. And while this unique state park, devoted to …
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America’s most desirable jobs
“I’d be happy to have any job on the list, if you want to know the truth.” “Ah, yes, you speak of the CareerCast.com ‘2012 Jobs Rated Report,’ which classifies the most and least desirable jobs in the U.S.” “That’s right. The worst job of …
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Is time a friend or enemy?
The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and me were locked in a hopeless Mexican standoff. She was effectively arguing her side of the issue and I was, well, let’s say I was not agreeing. I will not say who won, just that it wasn’t me. …
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Dad, the fix-it guy
My 5-year-old daughter came to me and wanted me to put up a “Clo line” for her doll things. “Don’t you mean a clothes line?” I asked. “No,” she responded. “I only want it big enough to hang one clo on.” I had never thought …
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Fragile voting system
You would think that after more than two centuries of practice, we’d know all about running efficient and accurate elections. Voting, after all, is the great shared ritual of democracy. Elections make real the consent of the governed and provide legitimacy to our government. Registering …
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Romney: Down, pretty close to out in Grand Cayman
Rick Santorum has finally sauntered off the big stage, leaving him with plenty of time to lament the length of high school girls’ skirts and bark at the moon about its nocturnal promiscuity. So you’d think it would be high times for Team Romney, right? …
