Last month I read Hamas-Israel story from an angle few will touch, but is critical: overpopulation, which I wrote about in my post Overpopulation in Israel and Gaza. The population in Israel and Palestine have both more than quintupled since 1950. There are plenty of sources of problems there, but not many places can handle that kind of growth, especially when mostly desert. The article led me to read Alon’s[…] Keep reading →

I contend that my floor is as clean as any you’ll find. One of my sidchas (maybe standard operating procedure) is that I clean it every six days as part of my six-day exercise cycle. I used to clean it before lifting, but realized I get on the floor more for my Turkish Get-ups so clean before it. I’ve gotten complements on my floor’s cleanliness, which comes despite how much[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, by Eric Foner: Another great book by another great writer about Lincoln. This one focuses on his views and actions on slavery, which evolved over his life, especially during the Civil War. Wikipedia wrote “The Fiery Trial won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for History, the Bancroft Prize, and the Lincoln Prize. The New York Times Book Review listed[…] Keep reading →

Jacquie emailed me that this podcast is inspiring her. She wrote that she’d “always had a spark of interest in sustainability, but I mostly followed the herd mentality and went about my life not really making a conscious effort & just thinking about ways I could reduce my impacts. In the last couple of years, it’s like jet fuel has been added to that spark and it’s changed the trajectory[…] Keep reading →

While talking to a friend about how what people call travel isn’t travel any more, he told me his friend counted how many steps he took on a trip from New York to Los Angeles: 800. That’s not traveling. That’s being transported. If I take 801 steps, I’ve put more effort into traveling. And going from New York to L.A., he isn’t visiting a different culture or learning about humanity[…] Keep reading →

The BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) found that wine glasses hold seven times more volume today than 300 years ago. Do we enjoy wine more or just more wine? I see people plow through volumes of food and doof without appreciating it. I contend we can attain as much enjoyment with the smaller amount. Not just wine, the whole Thanksgiving dinner. How? Expect to drink less but to appreciate the[…] Keep reading →

The twentieth-century introduced marketing based on wants instead of needs. The other was the shift in marketing from needs to wants. Podcast guest Amy Westervelt’s podcasts, particularly Drilled, documented this shift, especially through the work of Edward Bernays. Needs can be met. Once you have enough food, water, shelter, and a few other necessities, you can move to other things in life, like hobbies, family, arts, sports, and civic participation.[…] Keep reading →