On The Price of Oil and Gasoline: Why Is It So Much and How Can It Be Reduced?

President George W. Bush was a terrible president – arguably the worst ever.  That said, he did one thing that I really liked: he greatly increased the American production of natural gas – which is why its price has fallen by half of late.  Why then have the price of oil and gasoline stayed so ridiculously high when the cost of natural gas has fallen?

On The Time Crunch: How our Society Steals Your Time – and How to Get it Back!

Many people in this country are short on time today.  Work, family and other obligations take nearly our entire time.  There is not much left for personal time to ourselves.  Not much time is left to be politically or religiously active or start a business.  For the good of the country, the good of the economy, and most of all the good of ourselves we must recover some of this time. Three areas of opportunity present themselves for recovering some of our precious time. 

On Marriage: Can it be Saved?

I recently heard my aunt’s parrot make a door-slamming noise and shout ‘FUCK YOU!’.  Apparently the bird had been sold to my aunt by a couple who divorced immediately after.  My aunt, who divorced too, years before she got the bird, speculates that the woman kicked the man out of the bedroom because he was a male chauvinist pig who wouldn’t help with the housework.

On The Independent Blogger Part 2: What is He Doing?

I am building up to three things here in my drive for reform, Fixing the Country,  Fixing the Economy, and Fixing Religion.

On Fixing Cleveland – Part 4: Who Can Lead this Change?

In the previous 3 pieces, I defined and analyzed the problem in the previous 3 pieces, and suggested improvements – most of which have already succeeded in solving similar problems in other cities. The only thing unique is that Cleveland has allowed itself to fall so low. My commenter lsbnbj blames a lack of leadership for the problems. This is true. By definition, strong, wise, caring leadership would not have allowed this decline to occur.

That said, it doesn’t take brilliant leadership to follow in the path of regeneration that other cities have already established. Mostly it takes persistence, concentration and cooperation. This is something that even bureaucrats could accomplish, if they were empowered to do so. What does take leadership is in persuading people, at the beginning, to support a new system that would be much more effective in achieving its goals. This is how I would do it:

On Fixing Cleveland – Part 3: How to Attract People to the Region’s Urban Cores?

I recommend that you first see Part 1 and Part 2 of this series

In Part 1 I established we need to solve this on a regional basis. In part 2 I established that people will come to this region if and only if there are good jobs to be had here. That said, the above are necessary, but not sufficient conditions for growth. There also has to be reason to live in the cities not just the suburbs. Once again, the urban cores must build on their strengths and turn their weaknesses into strengths.

On The Independent Blogger – Part 1: Who is this Masked Man of Write?

About Me: I’m creative, bold and irreverent. I love liberty. I’m smart, and sometimes suave; but sometimes not. I have 2 technical degrees, and my Six-Sigma Black Belt. Hablo Español e tambem estou aprendendo Portugues. I’m an engineer, and where there’s an engineer there’s a way.

I have 2 goals for this blog:

1. I am looking to change minds, including, sometimes, my own.
2. I am looking to make a lasting measurable positive impact in this world – beyond what I can do in a job.

I see good ideas across the political spectrum from far right to far left and everywhere in between. Occasionally I will suggest some of my own ideas too.

On Stupidity: What Can Be Done to Reduce it?

2. Teen falls into manhole while texting
3. Drunk woman drowns in creek trying to escape police sobriety check point
4. Plaxico Buress shoots self with own gun; is imprisoned on firearms conviction

I recommend that people who do really stupid things should be gently encouraged by friends and loved ones to enroll in a remedial kindergarten course. There they could be taught valuable skills such as

1. common sense,
2. how to follow rules and instructions,
3. how to pay attention to what is going on around them,
4. how to play nicely with others,
5. how many drinks they should stop at so they don’t hurt themselves.

On Fixing Cleveland – Part 2: How to Bring Businesses and Jobs In?

I recommend that you first see Part I of this series in my previous post …

Retain, grow and attract businesses:
To grow again, Cleveland and the other cities in its region need to provide opportunity. This opportunity needs to come in the form of business and jobs. The cites in North-East Ohio need to work together to provide the right conditions to grow, retain and attract businesses.

On Fixing Cleveland – Part 1: How Can It Be Done?

Why fix Cleveland? I live in the region and I have a personal interest in it. I can tell you that it was once a great city; of over 900,000 people. It has beautiful architecture, sports, lots of museums and other cultural institutions.   It has all the makings of a wonderful place to live.   Since 1950, Cleveland has imploded to barely 400,000 people. Now it is known as ‘the mistake on the lake’. If you can fix Cleveland you can fix any city, because Cleveland has nearly all the problems that any city faces. Even if we only partially fix it, it is worth doing for its own sake. Also any lessons learned can then be rolled out to other struggling cities across the country.