One of the great things about the Eldorado scandal is that the nation gets an opportunity to really look at the Mormons. lupoleboucher, in a recent post, calls the Mormons "America's Holy Warriors". They see America as their holy land and are supremely patriotic, says he ( Read more... )

Farewell, My Subaru is Doug Fine's autobiographical account of his attempt to move "off the grid" to 40+ acres in New Mexico. [Book. Descriptive article.] His adventure began from a desire to "use a lot less oil", utilize more renewable energy, and to eat more locally ( Read more... )

The dissolution of Bear Stearns over the weekend put a rather somber exclamation point on the sub-prime mortgage crisis. If anyone had any doubt regarding the extent of the problem or how deeply it had spread, that doubt should now be lifted ( Read more... )

"It hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be," Barron said. "I really wasn't for beer. `Course, we had the country club here and I didn't like that either."source


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My current book is Michael Grant's The Etruscans, self-published in 1980. His view of urban development is very organic, seeing it as a disorganized collection of little steps rather than a tidy, straight-line shift. Unlike other writers, who have the Etruscans pop fully-developed from the head of the Alps, Grant describes how the Etruscans ( Read more... )

In the ancient world, there were frequently household members known as 'slaves'. These people were unrelated to the head of the household, would work at the bidding of the head of the household, and would receive a share of household resources. In terms of the notion of Household discussed earlier, there is a need to socially and ritually bring ( Read more... )

It is an imperative of Life that we each must search for more of what we have, only better. It's no accident that hominids, like most herding species, were originally nomadic. They were always searching over the next hill, beyond the next valley, for the greener pastures and fatter sheep. The advent of semi-agricultural habits redirected the search ( Read more... )

Just to note, that as it is practiced in America, philanthropy is not a gift economy.

In America --1. Funding is only provided in context of achieving some goal ( Read more... )

Principles of Gift Economy1. Gifts are given without anticipation of reward ( Read more... )

If you have a problem with somebody, you can either work it out, or you can fight about it.

( notes and thoughts )