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Culture

Berlin Impressions, 29 Years Later

This summer 2018, I travelled to Berlin, Germany, for a conference. The last time I had been in Berlin was about two months before the Berlin Wall came down. My friend Brennan Novak, now a resident of Berlin, encouraged to write down my impressions, so here I am. My last trip, so many years ago,…

Almost half of US households can barely make it

This is incredibly awful and shameful. According to the United Way ALICE project, a research project run by a group of charities, almost half of US households are barely getting by. ALICE stands for: Asset Limited Income Constrained, but Employed. and it means: a “household who cannot always pay the bills, has little or nothing…

I’m done with War On Anything

The older I get, the more I realize that I have no interest whatsoever to make war on anybody or anything. I don’t care for: War on other countries, people or religions War on drugs, poverty, and so many other things War on competitors, etc. etc Renaming the “War Room” at Uber to “Peace Room”…

About Values and this Election

My friend Ben Werdmuller wrote a piece about the values that drive his vote in this election. I don’t get to vote (because I’m an alien, a legal one, but just an alien). However, he inspired me to write down my own values. They are quite short: We got to take care of our kids.…

The political cage fight drug

If you had to design a political system where big, urgent problems can remain unresolved and connected criminals can stay out of jail, without (much) protest or repression, how would you go about it? I think I’d invent a supposedly all-powerful “grand prize” position called the Presidency, and make sure everybody believes it is a…