The Old Lone Ranger

All Hail a New Pyramid

By Rich Marin | October 20, 2025October 19, 2025 by Rich Marin

Several years ago why trying to build a megastructure on New York Harbor, the New York Wheel, I spent some time studying the whys and wherefore of megastructures in the history of mankind. People don’t “have to” build megastructures, but throughout history they’ve chosen to for several noteworthy reasons. The biggest of these is for demonstrating power and authority. Massive structures like pyramids show “we have the resources, organization, and power to do this.” They’re…

Georgie Porgie

By Rich Marin | October 19, 2025October 18, 2025 by Rich Marin

Georgie Porgie is a classic English nursery rhyme that goes like this: Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry. When the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away. The origins of the rhyme are a bit murky, but it’s been around since at least the 19th century. There are various theories about who “Georgie Porgie” might have been based on. Some suggest it referred to King George I.…

Memoir

The Key to Ketosis

By Rich Marin | October 18, 2025October 18, 2025 by Rich Marin

I’m feeling good this morning for many reasons, but particularly because my daily weigh-in has me down 9 pounds since I started this odyssey 11 days ago. This is not my first weight loss rodeo, so I know that there is often an initial burst of weight loss on most programs, but this time it feels different (don’t it always?). I am totally bought into this game right now and hope to remain so. I…

Love Memoir

Midnight Cowboy

By Rich Marin | October 17, 2025 by Rich Marin

Everybody’s talkin’ at me…Can’t hear a word they’re sayin’…Only the echoes of my mind. It was 1969 when Midnight Cowboy hit the big screen and boy did it score big. It won Best Picture, Best Director (John Schlesinger), and Best Writing (Waldo Salt). Both stars, Jon Voight (Joe Buck) and Dustin Hoffman (Ratso Rizzo) were nominated for Best Actor, but lost to the long-time favorite of Americana, John Wayne for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn…

Memoir Retirement

Stormy Weather

By Rich Marin | October 16, 2025 by Rich Marin

Yesterday was a dark and stormy day here on the hilltop. The weather report says that we got 0.42 inches of rain, which in an area that averages 10 inches per year, that’s a healthy rain day. Hidden Meadows (of which we are technically a part of even though it is not an incorporated village) receives between approximately 5.6 and 13.6 inches of rainfall per year , with sources varying somewhat. One source reports an…

Memoir

Food Focus

By Rich Marin | October 15, 2025 by Rich Marin

I have often said over my life that my biggest problem with food is less about the fact that I love it too much and more that I have no respect for it. While that is hardly something to be proud of, I do think it accurately reflects the relationship I have generally had with food. The only time I was ever involved with food preparation was in my early college fraternity days. I was…

Memoir

Paradise Lost

By Rich Marin | October 14, 2025 by Rich Marin

When you go to high school in Rome, Italy and your school is called Notre Dame International and is run by the Brothers of the Holy Cross, there’s a good chance you will end up reading Dante Alighieri. Dante lived from 1265-1321AD. That period falls during the Late Middle Ages (also called the High Medieval period, transitioning into the Late Medieval period), and marks the early stages of the Italian Renaissance. When you travel around…

Business Advice Memoir

The AI Rapture

By Rich Marin | October 13, 2025October 11, 2025 by Rich Marin

AI is changing every day. I remember back in 1996 when one of my friends brought out a new toy on one of our motorcycle rides to Vermont. He had been a Naval Officer in the past and considered himself quite the navigator. This gadget he had acquired was something he called a Global Positioning System and it was about the size of an old Nokia cellphone. On it, on a dimly lit screen was…

Memoir

Falling Into Fall

By Rich Marin | October 12, 2025 by Rich Marin

I’m sitting out on our deck on a Saturday morning in mid-October and the weather on our hilltop is pretty much ideal. It is 77 degrees with 53% humidity and an 8 mph breeze blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. There is not a cloud in the sky and on this west-facing deck at 10am it is cool and light and perfect weather to enjoy a lazy weekend autumnal day. Gary & Oswaldo are down…

Fiction/Humor Memoir

Pulling Fingernails

By Rich Marin | October 11, 2025 by Rich Marin

Fingernails serve several important functions that were crucial for our ancestors and remain useful today. Given that our sense of touch mostly happens through our fingers, its only logical that they are very sensitive and have lots of nerve endings. Nails shield the sensitive fingertips and the underlying bone from injury and trauma. The nail bed underneath is rich in nerve endings and blood vessels, and nails act as a protective plate. Nails provide crucial…

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