I’ve been a fan of college sports, particularly football and men’s basketball, for most of my life. I have always loved bowl season and March madness. Like most fans, I have teams and conferences that I follow and support. However, the landscape of college sports has been changing rapidly over the past decade and these…
Continue ReadingIs Society to Blame?
I just finished reading A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny. If you haven’t yet read it, don’t worry, there are no spoilers in this article. I am a big fan of Louise Penny’s writing. I love the fictional village of Three Pines located in the Eastern Townships of Ontario, Canada, and the characters she…
Continue ReadingWhy Some Poor People Stay Poor
Readers of More Spock know that income inequality is one of my pet topics. I struggle with how a society can generate such huge amounts of wealth using capitalism as its foundation, but can’t figure out how to ensure more people benefit. The only solutions offered by the “champions of the people” are to have…
Continue ReadingMidterms Post-Mortem
Everyone seemed to expect a red wave in the 2022 mid-term elections, but Republicans didn’t take the Senate and at the time of this writing, it’s still unclear if they’ll even control the House when the votes are all tallied. The pundits on Fox News and on CNN/MSNBC were equally stunned as the outcome became…
Continue ReadingNeanderthal Lives Mattered
The oldest known Neanderthal bones date to about 430,000 years ago, but most date from between 130,000 and 40,000 years ago. There are many theories about what caused the ultimate demise of Neanderthal, but one thing is for certain – Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens (modern humans) often encountered one another. The population of Homo Sapiens…
Continue ReadingLogic and the Paul Pelosi Attack
The husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked in their San Franciso home recently as has been well documented. A canvasser in south Florida was viciously attacked for representing the Rubio campaign by some thugs who took offense to his presence. Abortion clinics as well as pro-life churches and organizations have been targeted with…
Continue ReadingThoughts on a Queen and Colonialism
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom passed away on September 8 and this historical event dominated the news cycle for many weeks. As expected, mourners from around the globe have posted tributes to her. Not as expected, comments from certain sectors have used the event as an opportunity to speak out on how the…
Continue ReadingIs Political Violence in our Future?
A number of headlines caught my attention recently: Lindsey Graham stated that if Trump were to be indicted there would be “riots in the streets.” Armed Antifa members showed up at a “kid-friendly” drag show in Texas to intimidate protesters. President Biden said that some Trump supporters are “semi-fascists” to which liberal talking heads like…
Continue ReadingReligion in the 21st Century (Part 1)
In recent months I’ve read abbreviated histories of the Assyrian Empire, the Viking Age, the Persian Empire, pre-Colonial Africa, the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Anglo Saxons. This recent re-immersion into history has lead me to some thoughts about the role of religion in the past and the future. For much of human history, in…
Continue ReadingCourageous Conversations about Race?
I frequently see advertisements for webinars, books, etc. on the topic of courageous or brave conversations about race. The phrase, we need a dialogue, has been common on college campuses and from corporate DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) officers and consultants for years. I generally chuckle when I see or hear this kind of language,…
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