Published inFree Factor·2 days agoMember-onlyBook Review: Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireThis plot moves so slowly — I read Gibbon’s work about 30 years ago. It was a long read. It was a ponderous read. Hard to keep track of the many, many Roman emperors, senators, and generals. With Latin names. There were undoubtedly many literary nuances in sentences and paragraphs that I could not afford the…Rome3 min readRome3 min read
Published inFree Factor·6 days agoMember-onlyWinston Churchill & The Turning PointHow Winston still leads us today — “Democracy is the worst form of government — except for all the others that have been tried.” Since WW2, this Winston Churchill quote has shaped our psyche around democracy. After all, democracy defeated fascism, thus validating the superiority of our favorite system. …Churchill4 min readChurchill4 min read
Published inTiered Democratic Governance·Mar 18, 2024Member-onlyAre Polls Believable?Another weak feature of western democracy — My aunt was a news junky. She read the paper; she had AM radio going all day; she liked her evening news TV programs. Compared to many Canadians, she was fairly up-to-date on civic affairs. One day, the pollsters found her. She happily gave them her opinions. She answered all…Democracy5 min readDemocracy5 min read
Published inUnpopular Opinions·Mar 15, 2024Member-onlyPolitical Canvassing is an Unpopular OpinionBut more effective than amateur political writing. — When commenting on other political writers’ works, I occasionally ask — indirectly or directly — why the writers are putting time and effort into their writing. Often, I get something like the response below: “If I can change the minds of a few people, then all my efforts are worthwhile.” …Canvas2 min readCanvas2 min read
Published inTiered Democratic Governance·Mar 11, 2024Member-onlyTDG’s BlogMoving Everything to One Place that I Control — I am always trying new ways to get the message across that our western democracies are broken and beyond repair. We need to stop believing that we can fix things by complaining, blaming, protesting, and voting. …Blog2 min readBlog2 min read
Published inTiered Democratic Governance·Mar 7, 2024Member-onlyCutting my Writing TeethWhat do you mean only 600 words? — After self-publishing the first edition of “Tiered Democratic Governance” in 2000, I got a writing internship. A weekly rural newspaper — the Brooks & County Chronicle — asked me to write a weekly social/political column. “Volek’s Voice” it was called. The publisher gave me two restrictions: not too much direct…Writing4 min readWriting4 min read
Published inTiered Democratic Governance·Mar 4, 2024Member-onlyBook Review: The Magicians of the GodsThree Fellows with Strange Ideas — I had encountered Graham Hancock in several scientific documentaries. He talked about ancient civilizations, but I didn’t get enough incentive to investigate his work. A credible Medium contributor recommended “Magicians of the Gods.” And this book sat on my e-reader for a year or so before I finally read it. …Ancient Civilizations4 min readAncient Civilizations4 min read
Feb 26, 2024Member-onlyWhen Musical Notes do not ResonateLooking beyond the major and minor scales — What makes music so musical? The first article of this series provided a methodology to analyze the frequencies of the major scale. In particular, what happens when two notes on the scale were combined. …Math7 min readMath7 min read
Feb 24, 2024Member-onlySpolu 24: ConclusionThis is the final installment of the fourth draft of “The Spolu.” As I was publishing this series, I was seeing better ways to present this idea. There will be improvements. I appreciate the comments I got from the other 23 articles about the spolu, in particular, from John Vandenberg…Business2 min readBusiness2 min read
Feb 23, 2024Member-onlySpolu 23: Tax CascadingI’m pretty sure some financial experts will criticize the previous section. Taxing post-tax profits is called tax cascading. In our example of EZ Productions, EZ received profit distribution from other spolus. But these profit distributions came after these spolus were taxed. So this profit was already taxed. Yet my income…Trickle Down Economics3 min readTrickle Down Economics3 min read