Heurista

Do you live in Switzerland, Norway, or Singapore? You’re in luck. Your political leaders are competent. Switzerland's constitution centers power at the regional level. Its Federal Government has less authority. This is why the Swiss have responsible fiscal governance. Populist tribes at the Federal level don’t get money to waste on suboptimal programs. Norway has the good fortune to sit atop massive oil fields. It supplies domestic energy consumption from renewable sources. Norway sells its oil…

I listened to an interview by Nick Gillespie of Reason this morning. It may change your view of nuclear power. Nick interviewed Zion Lights, a former anti-nuclear environmentalist. This interview highlights interesting details about nuclear energy. Developing a more informed perspective about its risks and benefits is a crucial ingredient for renewing the viability of this power source. Zion is inquisitive and open to changing her position when she gets better information. Nuclear energy is the…

Imagine you must live in a well-provisioned cabin for one year. The cabin is in Antarctica. You can choose anyone from history, living or dead. No family members, spouses, or dating partners permitted. Who would you select and why? My PicksI want each person to be their 25-year-old selves. I’m going to be my 67-year-old self. Albert Einstein Adolf Hitler Jimmy Carter Engaging with a future scientist, a mass-murdering dictator, and a former US President as young men. Each would have the…

I did my first financial deal while attending Purdue University. It was at the beginning of my Junior year, 1980. My roommate received a grant. The state gave him money to pay his college tuition, fees, and living expenses for the semester. Larry received his grant a week before the semester started. After paying his tuition, he had $1,100 remaining that had to last till the end of December. The arrangement caused him concern. It was more money than he had ever had under his control. Larry was…

One of the OGs of Bear circulated a question that got me thinking about time travel. What have been examples of great cities? Why did they achieve greatness? How did they contribute to the world? Here’s my list of globally dominant cities: City Period Problem Contribution Key Figures Athens 450–400 BC How should humans think? Philosophy, democracy, reason Pericles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides Rome 50–200 AD How do you govern vast societies? Law, engineering, administration, empire…

My wife has been feeding backyard wildlife for years. We have six bird feeders, two squirrel platforms, a suet feeder, a hummingbird feeder, and a birdbath. Our birdseed and suet bill is a budget item. Our porch is situated like the stage in an outdoor amphitheater. The planning beds are arranged like stadium seating, with our covered porch being like a stage. We have a 270-degree view of every part of our planting beds. Arranged along the top rear of the stadium are evergreen trees, each…

I’ve been using the DayOne app for almost 15 years. Looking at the history for a particular day can be interesting. Here’s what popped up for July 11th. 2025: Two photos, a picture of a lake and another of a toad hunting bugs on my back porch. 2023: Four photos of Purple Coneflowers in my backyard with the comment “recovering from the Deer assult.” 2022: I’m going to get the first few years of this printed in a book and give it to the CEO/Founder when I retire in 2026. In the meantime, I’m…

Today’s AI-driven climate reminds me of the 1990s internet-driven stock market bubble. I can recall, like, yesterday, when I decided to de-risk our portfolio. Flying from Oklahoma City to Houston, I overheard two young guys discussing their portfolios. They were planning to retire in less than five years. I could hear the 'hot tips' they were sharing. When I got home, I told my wife why I was selling a significant amount of our portfolio—those dudes on the plane. Liquidating 30% of our stock…

My parents allowed me to solo in our small day sailer (a Sunfish) when I was 11 years old. I enjoyed the freedom of the water. My adventures on Lake Michigan went well. There were a few exceptions. One involved a friend of mine, Howard Westbrook. We met in kindergarten and stayed friends even after my family moved to Peru, Indiana. Howard showed up in West Lafayette unannounced a few days after both of us graduated. I went to Purdue, and Howard went to Indiana University in Bloomington. In…

During my career in manufacturing, I spent 17 years with one corporation. I became acquainted with a fellow who was reliable in two ways. First, he was a superstar salesman who always achieved his targets. Second, he was the most talented practical joker I’ve ever met. His name was Karl. Karl was a storyteller who was the subject of the stories he told. He gave me the nickname Two-Can Dan. He correctly observed my inability to handle alcohol. I later gave it up because Karl was right. This post…

My childhood was spent in Long Beach, Indiana, on the south shore of Lake Michigan. In the summer months, we occupied our time at the baseball field in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. Our home was on the beachfront. I had a brother and two sisters, and a half-sister through my father’s prior marriage. I am the oldest in my parents’ family. My older half-sister visited during the summers. The period I’m describing is from 1965 to 1973. The cultural vibe was intense. Hippie…

I know many young people today are struggling. The costs of living are up. Housing prices are high. College debts are mortgage-sized, and healthcare costs are ridiculous. These are facts in the United States. Healthcare and education are less daunting in other countries. Housing and taxes are more. What was it like in 1982? It was one of the worst periods of stagflation during the last 100 years. Only the Great Depression, from 1929 to 1935, was worse. This will give you a sense of things:…

I have been blogging since the early 2000s on a variety of platforms. When I discovered Bear, it was refreshing. Bear reminded me of the internet of the 1990s. Friction-free, populated by normal people. It is so undemanding. Setting-up a blog required 15 minutes of effort. I wanted a personal space on the web because I knew I was a few years from retirement, and I wanted a personal blog that required little effort to set up and maintain. Minimalist in design. The relative anonymity Bearblog…

I’ve been investing since the 1980s. Investing is the buying of an asset that you intend to keep for years or decades. Which brings me to the recent SpaceX IPO. During the last thirty years, there have been many businesses that have gone public with losses. Some of them turn into wild successes. Many are not. NVIDIA is an established company and a recent AI success story. Their CEO made calculated bets on the future twenty years ago that have been paying-off the last five years in particular.…

Today I implemented signficant changes to my Bearblog. I purchased a domain name, Heurista.net and registered it at Cloudflare. I also updated my blog theme to use Robert Birming's wonderful Bearming theme. Adding a couple of Robert's enhancements this morning, I'll do more customizations over the next few days. I've been blogging on Bear more than four years. After retiring at the end of 2025, I've posted more regularly and want to develop a regular cadence of posts this year. I'm not an…

I’ve lived in the United States for my entire life, but I’ve benefitted from extensive travel to Europe and Asia during the last 40 years. I appreciate the perspective of my friends who live in other countries. Balance. Which brings me to my current thought about the state of politics in the United States. I’ve observed Donald Trump since the early 1980s. He has always been controversial, brash, and a bad leader. Business surveys from the 1980s and 1990s consistently listed Trump’s companies as…

I’ve lived in the United States for my entire life, but I’ve benefitted from extensive travel to Europe and Asia during the last 40 years. I appreciate the perspective of my friends who live in other countries. Balance. Which brings me to my current thought about the state of politics in the United States. I’ve observed Donald Trump since the early 1980s. He has always been controversial, brash, and a bad leader. Business surveys from the 1980s and 1990s consistently listed Trump’s companies as…

During the last few days of April, my wife and I drove from our home in Georgia to Whitehall, Michigan. My sister invited me to join her in a group dedicated to the upkeep and management of five lighthouses along Michigan’s west coast. Volunteers run the museums. Fewer people volunteer to clean each lighthouse for the upcoming season. Cleaning the White River Light Station would be our project for the last week of April. We grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan in the small town of Long Beach,…

This event is scarred into my memory. It is difficult to fathom something that happened 40 years ago, feels current. I got married the year Chornobyl melted and spread a radioactive cloud over Europe. Watching documentaries about this is surprising. At the time, reports indicated nothing would be able to survive within a hundred-mile radius, but we see wildlife flourishing in the restricted area. The lack of human disturbance in the restricted area (aside from the war) has been a boon to wild…

This event is scarred into my memory. It is difficult to fathom something that happened 40 years ago, feels current. I got married the year Chernobyl melted and spread a radioactive cloud over Europe. Watching documentaries about this is surprising. At the time, reports indicated nothing would be able to survive within a hundred-mile radius, but we see wildlife flourishing in the restricted area. The lack of human disturbance in the restricted area (aside from the war) has been a boon to wild…

Yesterday, my wife and I drove 540 miles from Georgia to Hamilton, Ohio. We stayed in a hotel by the Miami River. My wife wasn't feeling well, so I walked to a pharmacy to get her some medication. On my way back to the hotel, I picked up tacos for dinner. Today, we're driving another 380 miles to a coastal town on Lake Michigan. My sister and I are working together to clean a lighthouse that's now a museum. Growing up near Lake Michigan, I know how important these old lighthouses are. Before…

I started going to Upstate New York for winter wilderness treks in the 1990s. My brother-in-law invited me to join him and his friends for the first time in 1991. We began that trek near Keene Valley, New York and followed a frozen drainage to the summit of Mt. Marcy. I was in my early 30s. We stayed in one of the lean-to shelters typical of the Adirondacks. On the second day, we ascended Mt Marcy, then returned to the shelter. It was a fun trip. This is the pattern of these trips: three days…

From grades 1-12, I had a handful of teachers who motivated me in different ways. Each one was unique and memorable. Each left a mark that served me well. I was a child who didn’t adapt well to classroom discipline. By the third grade, I was taught to behave by my teacher, who made me stay late and write *I will not talk during class * an increasing number of times until I learned to behave. Ms. Ginther taught me the hard way because I was stubborn. She never raised her voice. When I…

I grew up from 1963 to 1973 on the shores of Lake Michigan. At this time kids were allowed to roam without supervision. At ten, I was allowed to roam without adult supervision. I learned to think for myself and deal with trouble without adult supervision. This was a cool time to be a kid. I spent summers on the beach and playing baseball. Sailing in a small sailboat, learning to swim, sail, canoe, life saving, and camping. Summers seemed like they lasted forever. Looking back, I realize how…