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All countries that even pretend to have democratic institutions have freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and that includes the right to be able to use billboards, radio and television, the internet, etc. and to contract with publishers to carry advertisements for one’s preferred issues, candidates, or whatever in newspapers, magazines, electronic media, etc. This is quite straightforward, but there are people who seem to think that such freedom of expression is not ...

Or Are You A Psychopath?

I still amuse myself with online personality questionnaires, and some of them are entertaining. I recently took the Psychopath test, and the result was “The complete opposite of a psychopath.” I have done similar questionnaires in the past; I even joined OKCupid to take their Psychopath test. I have flunked all of those tests, not that I thought that I was a psychopath. These questionnaires certainly aren't rigorous, but they do give some idea of general tendencies. ...

I just read an article in the Valley Advocate suggesting that people eat more soy and less beef, but soy is not good food. In large quantities it can do nasty things to people, and if it is not properly cooked it might even be lethal; although few people could stomach enough for a lethal dose. Rather than poisoning themselves on soy, people should eat more lamb and mutton (meat of full grown sheep).

I don’t know the exact amounts, but much of Western Massachusetts was sheep grazing ...

The question in the title is very easy to answer, or it should be. Facts are essential. We can’t say much about anything without accurate facts to start with. I hope you noticed that I specified that the facts must be accurate; after all if they are wrong, then there aren’t really facts. This matter came up in regard to something that was too simple. Some mentioned “Skinner Mountain” in reference to Western Massachusetts. I pointed out that there is no place of that name in Western Massachusetts. ...

Combination devices always manage to have major deficiencies in at least one aspect of their ranges of alleged utility. Swiss Army Knives have long been exemplars of things that didn’t do anything well but were better than nothing. There are many models of Swiss Army knife, but a typical one has maybe ten implements packed in. A knife blade is fine, but some have a sawblade, and that doesn’t work for something that small. The corkscrew that some have are not very effective; it would be much better ...