tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61156742011-07-30T18:11:54.965-04:00Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-87728635307600664562010-03-01T22:56:00.000-05:002010-03-01T22:57:13.837-05:00

Hired in 1927 as a floor sweeper by Ford Motor Company, he became a toolmaker there. In April 1930, through Amtorg, a Soviet trade agency based in New York, a Russian delegation toured the plant. A Russian asked if he would like to work in the Soviet Union. At Ford he earned $140 a month--good wages--but was offered $250 a month, free living quarters, maid service, 30 days vacation a year and a

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-7882802326522946812009-02-19T06:02:00.001-05:002009-03-11T20:59:38.605-04:00

Gaiety transfiguring all that dread.All men have aimed at, found and lost;Black out; Heaven blazing into the head(from "Lapus Lazuli," by W.B. Yeats)Waiting at a Paris bus stop, four months pregnant, Suzanne Segal was about to take a step that would change her life forever. It occurred as she boarded the number 37 line."I lifted my right foot to step up into the bus and collided head-on with an

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-31997427667946029882009-02-10T23:04:00.000-05:002009-02-14T23:05:11.061-05:00

Soldiers of Fortune: Americans In The Egyptian ArmyIn 1865, after Lee signed the surrender to Grant at Appomattox, after Johnny Reb turned, dusty, tired, to wend his way to farms and villages in Mississippi, Georgia, or Alabama, after Billy Yank trudged wearily back to Iowa, Ohio, or New Hampshire, the war was not over for some officers on both sides. No, they were not ready to fight again.

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-75702930512337767312009-02-05T23:06:00.000-05:002009-02-14T23:07:40.941-05:00

Poppa Neutrino: The Happiest Man In The World?Poppa Neutrino is the free spirit (or lunatic according to some) who sailed across the Atlantic with his family on a raft made of scraps.In his book The Happiest Man in the World, Alec Wilkinson chronicles the life of Poppa Neutrino. Now Poppa is supposedly preparing for a solo journey across the Pacific. You can listen on NPR.You can check out the

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1124234027256108382005-08-04T19:05:00.004-04:002010-01-22T08:27:33.482-05:00

Poppa Neutrino was born in 1933 as David Pearlman in San Francisco. Twenty one years ago a dog bit his hand in Mexico, causing a two-year sickness so bad he thought he would die. Doctors were unable to diagnose his affliction. Finally recovered, he had changed, feeling so different that he decided on a new name. Poppa Neutrino is the first that came to him.He explains a neutrino this way:

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1122147336508912282005-07-20T15:34:00.005-04:002010-01-22T08:28:10.661-05:00

Not all people would say that happiness is the highest good, Some would instead assert that a meaningful life is more important. Still others would posit different values. A thoughtful consideration of the matter does reveal that happiness, broadly construed, best serves the public weal. To benefit a nation, policies must define the public good and provide instruments for implementing it.

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1121567445172653412005-07-16T22:29:00.004-04:002010-01-22T08:30:39.985-05:00

These are just some random thoughts, and I jot them down as a reminder to myself and readers of what we already know—as a reminder because we make our way in a world that remains largely ignorant of the values within the thoughts. One of the oldest rules of political science is that (1) human beings come together to keep alive. (2) Then they stay together to live a good life. In the United States

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1120246763161601432005-07-01T15:38:00.004-04:002010-01-22T08:33:22.986-05:00

In The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce provided a definition of happiness: "An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.'' I can imagine Jay Leno saying of the definition that maybe it explains why the Founding Fathers guaranteed the pursuit of happiness, rather than happiness itself. A nation of perfectly happy bastards and bitches would be a miserable nation

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1086545949153707752005-05-30T14:14:00.006-04:002010-01-17T17:07:15.021-05:00

Nature Versus Nurture, II:Of David Reimer, & A Man Who Tampered With A Human Being For The Sake of His Career(See the earlier article for the first part.)The tragic story of David Reimer can be traced to one man, John Money, who put career, ideology, and dogmatism above any real concern for a human being. He wanted to prove that nurture could prevail over nature and used Reimer as his guinea

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1085833104439737332004-05-29T08:13:00.007-04:002010-01-17T17:07:45.540-05:00

Nature Versus Nurture I: Of Twins and How David Reimer Became Brenda They were meant to show that gender was determined by nurture, not nature - one identical twin raised as a boy and the other brought up as a girl after a botched circumcision. But two years ago Brian Reimer killed himself, and last week David - formerly Brenda - took his life too. Oliver Burkeman and Gary Younge unravel the

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1120304154893206082004-05-28T07:35:00.007-04:002009-03-03T15:32:19.230-05:00

White Slavery and The Dark Continent: Lady Florence Baker, 1841-1916A European orphaned at four years old, abducted into an Ottoman harem, and raised to become a concubine, Barbara Maria Szasz stood at a white slave auction, ordered to turn so that men could look at the round of her buttocks, the shape of her breasts, the dimple of her cheek, the depth of her eyes. Renamed Florenz, at

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1120304507309733852004-05-27T07:41:00.003-04:002010-01-17T17:08:14.234-05:00

Martin Seligman & HappinessAs Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology at University of Pennsylvania, Seligman has undertaken the development of a new approach to psychology. He acknowledges the great contributions of clinical psychology in relieving suffering. The DSM, or Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a psychologist's bible, gives evidence of this. The therapist can

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1074512600080126082004-01-19T06:43:00.003-05:002010-01-17T17:08:39.164-05:00

Mother cultures, individualist & collectivistAmericans say the squeaking wheel gets the grease. Japanese say the nail that stands out gets pounded down. A speaker in the West will be introduced as "distinguished" while an Asian speaker begins by saying he knows little about the topic.Various research reveals differences between the two. Cross-cultural scientific studies indicate individualism

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6115674.post-1071369649927317832003-12-13T21:40:00.003-05:002010-01-17T17:10:26.256-05:00

Here Lies The Heart: Mercedes de Acosta met Ramana MaharshiDescended from the legendary Dukes of Alba, daughter in a wealthy Cuban family, Mercedes de Acosta was born in 1893 in New York, raised near Fifth Avenue, and had a beautiful sister Rita de Acosta who was a model for artists John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini. Married to painter Abram Poole, Mercedes was socialite, poet,

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17961469575666435993noreply@blogger.com