The Noble Hector In Greek mythology, Hector was the son of Priam of Troy and was that city’s greatest warrior as the Trojan Prince. Troy is in modern day Turkey and was the first stop we made on our last international motorcycle trip through that exotic and lovely country that seems to be systematically being destroyed by its authoritarian leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan has run turkey as either President or Prime Minister for almost…
Cadet Maxim Redux We have probably all seen the Cadet Maxim that originates from West Point, the U.S. Military Academy on the Hudson River. West Point is the longest continuously manned army post in the United States, having been established in 1778 and founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1802. That Maxim reads: Risk more than others think is safe Care more than others think is wise Dream more than others think is practical Expect more…
A Birthday for the Ages I have been saying I am 68 years old for the better part of the year. I am not sure why I do that, but I always declare my age as the next birthday I am expecting. I have never been afraid of aging, though I probably should be. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel a full share of aches and pains, even though I…
The Supremes Today was a big day on the judicial circuit. Justice Stephen Breyer, a mild-mannered, intellectual and very well-respected liberal judge has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for 28 years. Today he announced his retirement at the end of the current term of the court in June. He has not had the high-profile that someone like RBG had, but it is said that his behind-the-scenes supporting work was quite valuable to…
Trust as a Four Letter Word We have a convention in this country that only partially or barely exists in many other countries. We buy life insurance. Initially, it is sold to us (note that I say sold TO us as opposed to bought BY us or sought out BY us) as a responsible way for us breadwinners to ease our guilt with the dependence we have created for our families on our income earning…
The Mouth of Truth During high school, there were several “low hanging fruit” ways we would do what young men all over the world try to do, which was to meet young women. When you are an expat living in Rome you have several distinct advantages. The first is that there are a constant year-round flow of American young women traveling either with or without their families around Europe, and no trip to Europe is…
Getting Pickled I am writing this story on Sunday night, knowing that it will publish on Wednesday morning. That timing is relevant since when most people read this, Kim and I will be off getting pickled. Couples in retirement have many different ways of operating. In general I think it is fair to say that most couples try to balance individual activities with couples activities. It’s really not good to operate like working couples who…
Day Labor Tomorrow I will start my day by driving over to Home Depot in San Marcos and hiring two day laborers to help me advance the ball on my Hobbit House project. Today, Handy Brad came over for an hour or so and we discussed what had to happen next. He thought we were going to carry the wall frames down and attach them to the railroad tie foundation. I knew that would probably…
The New Bicoastal My head is back on Staten Island all of a sudden. I want to be careful in what I say because for the most part, we were very well treated on Staten Island and we tried to be good citizens who engaged with the community for the three years we lived there. I don’t think those were our favorite times for many reasons, some which are intertwined with the Borough and some…
The Savior of the Western World A few days ago I wrote about my startling realization about ESG as both a corporate policy and investment philosophy driver. That realization was that the corporate world is very quickly coming around to the view that ESG is no longer a “nice to do” and has turned convincingly into a “need to do”. And that tectonic shift in investment approach is forcing boards to take ESG and all…