People are proposing wealth taxes People are talking about taxing wealth. Everyone relies on society so if you own more, you use more and benefited more, they say, so should pay more. Besides, they add, the wealthy can structure what anyone would call income so it doesn’t look like income on taxes so avoid paying any taxes. Moreover, they further add, there’s no “natural” law that makes wealth untaxable, so[…] Keep reading →

I feel a euphoria when eating fresh fruits and vegetables, in particular my famous no-packaging vegan stews. It’s subtle enough to miss if I’m talking to someone or listening to a podcast, but wonderful. I’d pick it over the high from things refined from plants like coca, poppy, etc since I can do it every day my whole life with no unwanted side effects. It gives me plenty of wanted[…] Keep reading →

Following up on my post yesterday about Buy Nothing Season, I came up with a gift idea that costs nothing, takes almost no time to prepare, and only uses a sheet of scrap paper. I don’t know about you, but I would love to receive it. I think it would build a relationship. I doubt I came up with it. More likely I heard it a while ago and it[…] Keep reading →

A problem exacerbating all the litter in the world is that stores profit from selling it without paying the costs of the litter. Here’s an idea that I propose working into legislation: Every retail store that sells disposable or packaged products must provide receptacles to accept at least the volume and weight of disposable products and packaging that they sell, available to the public any time they are open. This[…] Keep reading →

My recent conversation with the Chief Engineer, Terik Weekes, of an award-winning electric and hybrid plane company led me to conclude that soon almost no flights will take people across the Atlantic and maybe none will cross the Pacific. He knows the state of the art as well as anyone. Listen to the episode to conclude for yourself, but I concluded the following. Electric planes fly now. Many of us,[…] Keep reading →

When I pick up litter from a pile or collection, I don’t always pick up all of it. I imagine conversations in my head if someone asked why I left some. Sometimes the drug users in Washington Square Park will point me to pieces I didn’t pick up. I think they feel like they’re doing me a favor, maybe based on thinking I like picking up trash just because and[…] Keep reading →

Last week I posted The most amazing “You Are Here” map you’ve ever seen, which featured a map that referred to itself. In the closing paragraph I referred to a book—Godel, Escher, Bach—on recursion. I’d read and reread the book in the 1980s and it stuck with me. Not sure if anything would come of it, I wrote the author, Douglas Hofstadter, with a link. Beyond writing back that he[…] Keep reading →