Many years have passed since I read the advice in a book written by the keynote speaker at a writers’ conference. It was one of those nuts-and-bolts type collections, with the author’s insights on finances and other procedures for freelancers. One that caught my attention was about planning your day. In addition to making a…
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It’s the kind of story that could be featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Medical researchers make up a fictitious illness, give it a name, and then watch as the internet-juiced rumor mill—egged on by artificial intelligence (AI)—spreads the word. Until an editor in one of my freelance groups posted a link to the…
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This spring at a pre-primary-election “Meet the Candidates” event, I heard for the first time about “axe the cap.” It supposedly is a move to eliminate the cap on earnings subject to Social Security taxes. Someone at the meeting shouted out a website name, but in an online search I was unable to find it.…
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Modern discourse, political and otherwise, has grown progressively more debased, off-color, and hateful. That’s not just my opinion. Take this article that appeared earlier this year on Axios, titled: “The rise of the political potty mouth.” Noting the F bomb dropped by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in demanding ICE agents leave his city, reporter Avery…
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Last year, I discovered the value of artificial intelligence (AI) for research. It is particularly helpful for identifying sources of older articles published in journals or magazines. Some no longer exist or are only in digital format today. Recently, though, I learned to be more vigilant in sniffing out those trying to pass off AI…
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This year’s Fourth of July may seem a bit anticlimactic. It’s like we have been celebrating our nation’s 250th birthday for a whole year, with the pace picking up in recent months. At the same time, as a nation we seem to be coming apart at the seams. The global village enabled by laptops, smartphones,…
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With Father’s Day this Sunday, it seems a good time to reflect on the strategic importance of fathers. Not just for our personal sense of security and well-being, but the future of our nation. This thought came to me recently reading From Chaos to Clarity by Mike Signorelli. The Indiana native made waves after moving…
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Until I read Michael Connelly’s The Proving Ground, I had never heard of Garcia v. Character Technologies. In the book’s endnotes, the bestselling crime author mentions reviewing court pleadings in the case while working on his eighth novel in the “Lincoln Lawyer” series. In October of 2024, Florida mother Megan Garcia filed a lawsuit against…
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It’s been years since I saw this quote from bestselling author Stephen King, but it stuck with me: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work.” A corollary appeared in a collection of inspiring quotes published in Inc. magazine. It came from Robert Collier, whose The…
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We acquired a flat-screen TV several years ago when one of our grandsons offered us his 40-inch Television free of charge. Turns out it had been sitting in the corner of his living room after he purchased a friend’s 50-inch model. Then in the midst of a move, the friend didn’t want to drag the…
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