Trego's Mountain Ear

There are cultural and religious quirks that just don’t fit.  I read of the mayor of some Palestinian town setting a five dollar reward payment for anyone who shoots a dog.  I don’t particularly care how, what, or where you worship.  That’s behavior that decent folks have no need to tolerate.  First of all, it’s Read more

I tend to like successful politicians – their very likability is the largest factor in getting elected.  Most successful scam artists are likable.  When we get screwed over, financially or politically (assuming there is a significant difference) it’s generally done by people we like rather than curmudgeons whom we can’t stand. In general, the politicians Read more

Sometimes, a chart or a graph says everything about inflation and economics I want to say.  This chart says everything that I could hope to say – particularly if you look at 3 different rates in the past 13 months. Standard Mileage Rate The following table specifies the standard mileage rate for specific tax years Read more

When I studied surveying, compass declination was a simple thing – there was a page in the text that showed a map of North America, the geographic north pole and the magnetic north pole, and a series of lines showing where to set the declination so you could push a line due north (or south Read more

I went through three books that seemed unrelated this past week – Benjamin Lee Whorf’s Language, Thought and Reality, Robert Ruark’s The Honey Badger, and Gary Montgomery’s Doughboys, Rumrunners and Bootleggers. I’ve been looking, off and on, for a copy of Whorf since 1969.  He was an MIT chemical engineer who was employed in fire Read more