The Certified Skeptic

Fuel prices are at record levels and people are having to adapt. It can be a hardship and the additional money spent for fuel has to come from somewhere else… food? vacations? entertainment? health care? Often, there’s not much one can do but pay the price and get mad… and maybe look for someone […]

Monday, April 21, 2008
(from The Sabbatical Journal)
Increasing costs for food, fuel, air travel, and almost everything we buy is affecting all of us — and it’s really beginning to bite. Gas is approaching $4/gallon, diesel is well over $4. The price of cereal grains is at near record levels. The common denominator in this problem […]

It’s raining and cold tonight, so I’m not sitting out in my garage. “What”, you say? “Has Dar kicked you out of the house again”? Give me a chance to explain.
This spring, when I chill-out before and after dinner, I’ve come to prefer sitting outside facing the front of the house instead of our […]

I’ve searched the news. I’ve looked through the op-ed pages. I’ve “googled” the internet. Nothing. Why am I feeling so alone in being concerned about the next big, no, little, thing in TV technology… live TV programming beamed directly to your cell phone. The cell phone companies are starting to push it in a big […]

While driving home from Wisconsin this past weekend, Dar noticed the bright bluish-grayish flickering light in many of the windows of homes and apartments along the highway… the glow of television. An interesting discussion followed, always a good thing on a long drive.
The primary purpose of commercial television programming is to make profit. It […]

Our little town of Geneva recently concluded the consideration of an indoor smoking ban. Unfortunately it was voted down, mostly because a small number of vocal bar owners bitched, whined, and brought up all kinds of red-herrings — for instance: shoppers won’t be able to navigate the sidewalks near bars because all the smokers will […]

Dar and I are in the process of “de-cluttering”. This is really a big deal, since the two of us have opposite views on the subject of accumulating possessions and their subsequent disposal.
My dear partner is a pack-rat. She admits it. These genes run in her family, and she really got […]