This week I finished: Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, by Adam Alter: Another fascinating, intriguing book on how much we are creating a culture of addiction and isolation, and tolerating it. Alter discusses chemical addiction, but focuses on behavioral addiction, which he clarifies is not like addiction. Behavioral addiction is addiction. Industry is learning ever more effective ways to manipulate our motivational[…] Keep reading →

Longtime readers may remember my op-ed piece in the Village Sun: It’s Time to Ban Single-Use Packaging: The Village Sun published my op-ed piece. The Sun is one of my local papers and I find it covers local news that matter but the big papers miss. All communities would benefit from local journalism like it. I mentioned in past posts how people approach and ask what I’m up to, which[…] Keep reading →

I spoke with the CEO of a major polluting, depleting company yesterday, among the biggest in the world. You know the company. It fundamentally depends on burning fossil fuels. It’s not a car company, but I’ll use cars as a concrete example for clarity. Someone there asked him about sustainability. He acknowledged it as existential—I think implying for his company, his industry, and humanity. He talked about many innovations being[…] Keep reading →

I eat at restaurants less and less the more I avoid doof. They’re similar. Sometimes social obligations lead to me to join groups at restaurants. I don’t mind not eating. One of my greatest discoveries in avoiding packaged food was my first two- and three-day fasts. I used to think there was danger in skipping a meal or two. Then I skipped nine meals in a row with no problem.[…] Keep reading →

On my seventh appearance on After Dark with Rob and Andrew, I share how I’ve been diving into conservative history, thought, philosophy, and community. Both hosts have been on my podcast and I meet Rob periodically in person in Manhattan, where he lives too. About the hosts: Rob is the founder of The Multicultural Conservative Foundation, whose mission is to promote the political diversity of conservatism through social media. He[…] Keep reading →

A lot of solar companies are competing for the home solar market. I once read an estimate of fifty million homes for $30,000 per home on average, meaning a $1.5 trillion market. Since most people can’t spare $30,000 for an investment that could take decades to pay itself back, if ever, these companies are marketing higher end homeowners. They are positioning themselves like BMW or Lexus. My only source of[…] Keep reading →

Writing my book has led me to learn more about how the U.S. Constitution was written. I started learning about influence from other cultures than European. For example, this peer-reviewed article, American Indian Constitutions and Their Influence on the United States Constitution. It said “Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Wilson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, and other Founding Fathers were acquainted with Indian peoples, tribal governments, and indigenous theories[…] Keep reading →