Sunday Reads...

An irregular roundup of thought-provoking reads. Most made me go “hmm…” — none should be mistaken for endorsement.

Quote of the Day:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." - American Declaration of Independence

• Financial Freedom – or “Financial Advice” from America’s Founding Fathers.

• A 10-minute backgrounder on the Declaration:

• Reflections on the Founding, here.

• Independence Day trivia – how did you do?

• From Jefferson's nearly ignored first Draft of the Declaration:

  "He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobium of INFIDEL Powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another."

• Remembering an often forgotten “Founding Father,”

• The Fact v Fiction of the movie: National Treasure.

• 50 Broadway shows about American History, here.

• Half of Americans under age 30 don't know who the primary author of the Declaration of Independence was - let alone that there werre four others. From a research study, these and other tidbits are a snapshot of where Americans are today - including:

Freedoms Currently Appreciated

• The forgotten musicals of Francis Ford Coppola, Remembered.

• The history of the “futuristic” camper and RV.

• Who was the real Jay Gatsby?  We need wonder no longer.

• Ranking the states based on their value for “road tripping.”

• Why are subway tunnel walls tilted?  Learn here.

• What makes the B-2 so special?

• The tale behind the hipster’s fascination with PBR.

• The CIA class on getting people to yak.

• Celebrating the Dalai Lama and prepping for the next incarnation.

• Marriages end for all sorts of reasons – some valid.  But when children are involved, it is nearly always without severe consequences.  Yet another study shows the impact: worsening over time, but a letter-grade drop in scoring is one of the impacts.   Can we make divorce more difficult when kids are involved?

• Counter Narrative: 

  • Right-wing authoritarian regimes increase innovation, Left-Wing authoritarian regimes decrease innovation, per this study.   How about no authoritarianism?

  • Does the data support a "child penalty" for mothers in the workplace? Not exactly. But there appears to be a daughter penalty.

  • Europe has more heat deaths per capita per year than America looses to guns.

• What does the future of satellite internet predict?

• Bear hunting with Teddy Roosevelt, in Mississippi.

• AI stuff:

  • Microsoft claims AI is better than human doctors at detecting complex health conditions.

  • Is China winning the race to AI dominance?  Currently maybe.  Just as the Soviets were once ahead in the “space race,” until they weren’t.

  • Pre-order a doom-and-gloom version of an AI future.

  • A documentary on regulating AI - watch here.

• A global guide to July stargazing.

• Science suggests napping to be more creative, solve problems, and stay healthy.

• Should we redefine Glamping?

• Eighty years later, a Holocaust survivor meets his American liberator.

• Picturing America’s over-bloated federal “budget” as a spending spree by the agency.

• A county-level data set on the ill-defined “housing shortage.”  It’s generally good news if you don’t live in California.

• The history behind a Wimbledon staple: Strawberries and Cream.

• Do professional chess players burn 6,000 calories?  The data may surprise you.

• Charting retirement age by country: check it out.

Retirement Age by Nation

•  Five of the world’s most beautiful restaurants, drool here.

• The behind-the-scenes blow-by-blow of how Pope Leo got selected.

• Challenging the "experts" on their responses to Jonathan Haidt's take on social media and young people.

• Thoughts about the Twain's challenge as it faces a growing PLA threat.

• The story behind the "Star Spangled Banner." An annotated guide to its lyrics.

• Toiken on writing a good story.

• Noting the top 50 castles to visit in Ireland.

• Alpha School - the AI powered k12 program - that works per reviews.

• Cool people are extroverted but good people are introverted or so goes our biases.

• Ten ways to "rebuld" Britian. The problem is, they are almost at the point of no return.

• Appreciating the engineering of gas stations:

Sunday Reads