Over 20 years ago I attended a talk on Madagascar at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. It was one long rant about how the ecosystems of Madagascar had been almost totally destroyed. How there were no indigenous organizations for outside conservation groups to work with. And how the Pope had gone there to […]

Last year I lost a dear friend I will call “Susan” when she was on a high-altitude hiking adventure. She had spent most of her life in a fundamentalist Christian religion. But in recent years she had come to realize that religion is “just a bunch of made up stories.” When she died far too […]

It is well known that most industrialized countries have universal healthcare, good public transit, and free public college education. Why doesn’t the U.S. have these things? A hundred years ago socialism was seen positively in much of the world as a way to share in the productivity of modern industrialization. President Franklin Roosevelt and his […]

A recent New York Times Opinion piece claimed that inequality is not as bad as it appears because “spending power” is a more accurate measure than income or wealth. I reached out to author Peter Coy and to Berkeley economist Alan Auerbach who wrote the original paper. I asked Coy if he was familiar with […]

As I discussed in Part 1, The Luck Factor author Dr. Richard Wiseman gleaned Four Principles of Luck. Here are the last two. Principle Three? Expect good fortune! Start by affirming your luck. “I deserve good luck and will receive some today.” Set Lucky Goals. Make lists of short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Be very […]

Normalizing Atheism is an active Facebook page I recently joined. It is a surprisingly respectful forum for atheists to “come out” and for religious people to ask questions of atheists. On April 13, someone named Brian C. made this post: “I’ve been pondering something lately: Is it possible to live without meaning or purpose? If […]

I want to continue my review of the book Humankind, which I started in my previous article. Author Rutger Bregman showed that many of the best and worst aspects of human behavior stem from a common desire to be “helpful.” Just as wolves domesticated themselves to be able to live among humans, humans domesticated themselves […]

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the latest situation that might lead us to think that people under the surface are evil and only a thin veneer of civilization protects us. My college lady friend recently introduced me to the book Humankind that takes this on. Many issues are raised, and this will be the first […]

“Who are you going to believe, me, or your lying eyes?” Variations of this quote date back to Chico Marx in Duck Soup and earlier. Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has testified in criminal trials that eyewitness testimony is not as trustworthy as it seems. Loftus has shown that it is easy to implant false memories of […]

Do you know how much private motor vehicle use is subsidized in the U.S.? Here are examples of motor vehicle expenses not paid adequately by user fees: “Free” parking. Climate impacts. Land used for roads. Road maintenance. Pollution deaths and illness. “Barrier effect” of blocking access to pedestrians and bicyclists. Military expenses to maintain global […]