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Yearly Archives: 2019

For a Bigger America

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The classic American road trip is a great experience for a lot of good reasons. More than the core of great novels and movies, it’s usually a journey of inner discovering and bonding and so much else all at once. At the core, however, is one undeniable lesson – this is a truly vast and amazing nation.

The best measure of how stuck in a rut this nation have become is how much that obvious fact has been forgotten. I promise you that the United States is bigger than you or I can ever possibly imagine. But to listen to today’s media or politics of any kind you’d swear that this nation is weak, fragile, and small.

We need a road trip. Short of that, let’s take one in our minds.

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More Feminine, More Real

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“People say that having more women in engineering will change everything. Well, that’s the damned point!”

Professor Toor was particularly animated one day in 1986. Our Heat & Mass Transfer class at Carnegie was very technical, with infinitely more time spent on math than sociology. Herb Toor, however, was a empathetic and real-world professor with a reputation. He was out to change engineering forever, and put his prodigious passion into it.

I think about him a lot when we reach milestones, such as the recent swearing in of a record 102 women in the US House of Representatives.

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What is a Bear Market?

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We recently stated that this is a “Bear Market.” So what does that mean?

It’s not all that scary, at least not once the market really settles into bear territory. In fact, it can be a great time of opportunity for many investors, particularly away from stocks. It’s worth spending a moment contemplating what a bear market is and why it’s important.

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2019 Predictions!

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A new year means a new start. Resolutions are made and we all hope to be better people. it’s also a time for predictions, which shrewd people can write in a way to not look bad in another 363 days. It’s not just about making them vague and easily attained, no – a good prediction can be an excuse for not being a better person.

That’s my way of saying that we can expect a lot of ugly in 2019, but we shouldn’t let that get us down. here’s what I see happening in the year ahead. Bookmark this and make fun of me if you want.

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Happy 2019! (Special Request)

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Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope you don’t mind a special request on a Tuesday.

Barataria has been coming to you every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday without a single miss for almost 12 years now.  That’s 156 times a year, and about 120,000 words annually.  I hope that at least a few of them were enlightening.

I would very much appreciate it if you would be so kind as to donate just a small amount to help me in a time of need.  How much?  Whatever you think this is worth, but let’s start with one dime per post, or $15.60 for the year.  Naturally, more would be appreciated. Continue reading →