The Old Lone Ranger

Ought v Naught – The Declaration of Independence

By Rich Marin | September 13, 2023September 11, 2023 by Rich Marin

Ought v. Naught The Founding Documents The Declaration of Independence On July 4th, 1776, we all know that the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to sign this declaration from the thirteen founding colonies of what would become known as the United States. They had actually signed the Resolution of Independence two days prior as their assertion of independence and then went on to publish the formal declaration to announce and explain their basis for…

The Universe Speaketh

By Rich Marin | September 12, 2023September 10, 2023 by Rich Marin

The Universe Speaketh All throughout my youth, I enjoyed school and learning. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t cry when it was time for school letting out for summer or the holidays. But I was clearly on the side of liking the learning process. I cannot remember all of my teachers through my grade school years, but I at least remember Mrs. Hunt, who was my fifth grade teacher in November, 1963 because I remember…

Love Politics

Ought v. Naught : Reimagining America

By Rich Marin | September 11, 2023September 10, 2023 by Rich Marin

Ought v. Naught Reimagining America George Pratt Shultz lived 100 years and for 35 of those years was a leading force in the forging of America’s foreign and domestic policies. He held four different cabinet-level positions under two Republican presidents, holding a seat at the cabinet table for a dozen years from 1969 to 1989. He was on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors for Eisenhower, Secretary of Labor, Director of the Office of Management…

Memoir Politics Retirement

Talking to Old Friends

By Rich Marin | September 10, 2023September 10, 2023 by Rich Marin

Talking to Old Friends None of us ever do a good enough job of staying in touch with old friends. Some try harder than others, but for the most part we all accept that life moves on and some people just drift away and disappear from your screen. We all segment our lives to some degree, but I suspect I do it more than most since I grew up as part of my mother’s traveling…

Memoir

Giggity Gig

By Rich Marin | September 9, 2023September 8, 2023 by Rich Marin

Giggity Gig One of the oldest nursery rhymes is To Market, To Market, which first appeared in print in 1805, but can trace its origins back to the “Old Countries” of Europe (in this case Italy and England), where it was heard repeated as early as 1611 and was partially recorded in 1598. Like all nursery rhymes, they are meant as songs to soothe children, so they are simple ditties that describe everyday events, in…

Fiction/Humor

To Infinity and Beyond!

By Rich Marin | September 8, 2023September 5, 2023 by Rich Marin

To Infinity and Beyond! Who doesn’t love Buzz Lightyear? The guys at Pixar created him for the original Toy Story movie in 1995. Actually, Buzz comes from a movie within a movie and is the toy character that comes from that inner movie. He was modeled after G.I. Joe, which I sort of understand, but never really caught on to even though I was a big G.I. Joe kid. His voice is from Tim Allen,…

Memoir

The Conundrum of Education

By Rich Marin | September 7, 2023September 4, 2023 by Rich Marin

The Conundrum of Education On MSNBC this morning, the topic of the inequity of education, especially in regard to the admission standards to Ivy League universities, was on full display. To begin with, they showed data from public universities (think University of Michigan or UCLA), what they call “Second Tier” universities (Oh, say like Vanderbilt or Washington University) and Ivy League or Elite universities (the obvious 8 plus a few extras like Stanford, Duke, University…

Love Memoir

The Fringes of Fall

By Rich Marin | September 6, 2023September 5, 2023 by Rich Marin

The Fringes of Fall We turned an important page yesterday. We wrapped up a whirlwind weekend actualizing and celebrating my youngest son Tom’s wedding to his new bride, Jenna. The wedding itself was on Sunday, which the cognoscenti will recognize as indicative that it was a Jewish ceremony held under a chuppah, a Jewish bridal canopy. Tom is not Jewish, but Jenna is. Tom was raised in a very open and embracing manner in Manhattan,…

Business Advice

R*

By Rich Marin | September 5, 2023September 1, 2023 by Rich Marin

R* R* is something that I don’t recall seeing before today, which is probably an indicator that I’m not as fully tuned into the world of global finance, as I like to think I am. R* was mentioned in the Financial Times headlines this morning with the title of “the most important chart in the world”. R* is defined by the Federal Reserve as the natural rate of interest, a rather theoretical concept that gets…

Love Memoir

Being Rude

By Rich Marin | September 4, 2023September 3, 2023 by Rich Marin

Being Rude Modern life is all about managing through an 8 billion person world. It can be misleading as we travel around from here to there. Whether in the West or the East, the North or the South, there are great swaths of wide open spaces. I watched a movie the other day called Survive. It was about a woman who is suicidal who survives a plane crash and then has to find her way…

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