Savannah
The Post Oak Savannah is an ecological region in Texas, a relatively narrow section of sandy soil prairie stretching from near Dallas south to Interstate 10. Early settlers described the savannah as a...
View ArticleA Pimple
Two weeks after I walked away from the emergency room with my leg stitched up from a run-in with my chainsaw, there I found myself again among the tubes, monitors, instruments, examining tables, and...
View ArticleThe Problem Solved
The title of the research paper, like most scientific research papers, is dry, lacking any pretense of hyperbole, fantasy, or self-promotion, each word picked for a precise meaning, a title designed to...
View ArticleI Love Fossil Fuel
Regular listeners of this show may have the impression that I don’t like fossil fuels. That I have it out to ban them, or price them out of reach. Well let me tell you, if I’ve given you that...
View ArticleRunning on Empty
On Christmas Day, my brother, a litigation attorney, called from the San Antonio airport to say he would be late for the lunch we had scheduled. “You’ve got business on Christmas Day?” I asked...
View ArticleEvasion
There we sat in the conference room in the downtown skyscraper in Houston, Texas: my client, my client’s accountant, my client’s accountant’s colleague, and I. While the accountant had requested the...
View ArticleThe Speech Obama Should Give
At the risk of straying into an area that I don’t much about, political strategy that is, I’d like to present my version of the speech that Barack Obama should give right now. Here it is:In the past...
View ArticleOur Land
We sat around the dinner table one Friday night, my family, my parents, my brother’s family, and aunts, uncles, cousins. Over the years we’ve learned to try and stay away from the really hot topics,...
View ArticleA Fool and His Money
Thomas Martensson got off the plane one morning in Houston in 1998, as the Internet bubble raged. He was here to raise money for his new venture, which he called Instore.com, and I had arranged for me...
View ArticleThe Boss
On Monday morning, I sat in the meadow by the lower creek at my ranch, the third day in a string of absolutely stunningly glorious spring days in Texas. My intention had been to meditate, in sheer...
View ArticlePre-Existing Condition
Ten years ago, I began seeing Howard, an experienced and accredited psychotherapist. I found myself having difficulties in my romantic relationships, and troubled by family issues from childhood,...
View ArticleNow You Know
So now you know. Now you know why I’ve spent so much time on the radio for the past five years talking about how much oil we consume, how much we have in reserve, where most of the world’s oil is...
View ArticleAtonement and Return
It is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, a solemn day of fasting and self-reflection, the most important day of the Jewish calendar. This year, it may be that many, if not all of us, could use a...
View ArticleOut of the Kitchen, Into the (White) House
As a little boy, I spent time at my grandmother’s in Dallas, Texas. She was the only kosher caterer in town, and she ran her business out of her home. Her kitchen, garage, back entry hall, and dining...
View ArticleTake Your Shoes Off
Several months back, my wife and I went to the Hobby Center here in Houston to see a musical; I don’t know, it was “Mamma Mia” or something like that. Before the performance, the announcer informed us...
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