You Can Take it With You.
A relative of mine had a real problem accumulating things. When she passed on, her house and garage were filled with things. There was enough furniture, crates of collectibles, and antiques to fill a moving van. Before she passed on, she heard that, in fact, she could take it with her. “Hire someone with a […]
If You Can Stand it, More on the Map.
I was so disturbed by recognizing vanity at work in buying the map for showing off to visitors that I forgot something. This particular map, from the 1550s, would have been a good investment. One seller of old maps and Atlases reported the consecutive sales of an old Atlas that he’d tracked since 1948. That […]
Confession: Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa. (My Fault, My Fault, My Most Grievous Fault.)
Yesterday’s column was written even as its author had two bids in on an auction of old maps from the 1500s. The maps were made by Munster, and encapsulated the view of the world in his century. They were drawn and published a few decades after Columbus and others had provided some charts of their […]
Double Hmmm. The Word in the Blank.
It’s important to read Luke, 16:15 when we’re examining our conscience. “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.” We should remember that advice when we want something. Usually, when we think of buying something, or […]
Hmmm.
Yesterday’s Reading contains the passage from Luke, 16:15 “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.” When we look at how we spend much of our mental effort, it becomes apparent that our concerns about impressing […]
Our Big Choice, Things or Time.
Most of us want more things. We also want the ability to obtain even more. Collectors of everything abound because the desire for acquisition is one of the things most of us human programs have in common. Many, many, many of our thoughts and conversations begin with the phrases “I want . . . . […]
Today, More People Have More Free Time
The Blue line shows how our gross domestic product (GDP) has increased since 2009. The Red line shows that 6.6 million fewer people were needed to produce the same amount of goods and services that were produced at the end of 2007. 6.6 million people are no longer needed to provide those goods and services. […]
From Good Feelings to Bad
After the American Revolution, there were party disagreements. Federalists, like Adams, disagreed with Anti-Federalists, represented by Jefferson. The hatchets were buried during the Monroe administrations. Between 1815 and 1825, Americans got along so well that the decade became known as the “Era of Good Feelings”. That stopped when Adams got support from Henry Clay in […]
Greece’s Financial Problem – Solved!
Around 1400 B.C., the people of Athens were forced to pay tribute to the Kingdom of the Cretans. Every year, their tribute took the form of sending noble children to Knossos, the Cretan capitol. They were, supposedly, sacrificed to the Minotaur. More likely, most of them would have been sold into slavery. Even the Cretans […]
Unbelievers Demonstrate God’s Power to Separate Sheep from Goats
Catholic Fundamentalism helps computer users relate to The Church by using words from current technologies, rather than the old, Iron Age vocabularies that comprise our Scripture and liturgies. God, The Father, is thought of as The Loving Programmer. He wrote The Creation Program, which included angels. Catholic Fundamentalists think of them as “Programming Assistants”. They […]