by Phil Houseal | May 20, 2020 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
May 20, 2020–I’ve always held the controversial opinion that no one knows the true extent of our cash economy. All those reports of retail activity, employment, GDP, etc., are based on data of transactions taking place within the official economy. They don’t include...
by Phil Houseal | May 13, 2020 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
May 13, 2020–During my lockdown-compliant travels through my silverfish-invested bookshelves, I came across a timely trilogy from the 1990s–The Tightwad Gazette, Volumes I, II, and III. These 300-page tomes were compilations of a popular newsletter produced by Amy...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 12, 2020 | All Articles, Education, Events, History, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Mar 11, 2020–Why have puppets fascinated humanity throughout history? Why do they continue to fascinate us? Because they cut across every culture, era, language, and age, according to Rob D’Arc, who will be building them at his workshop this weekend during the Llano...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 25, 2020 | All Articles, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Feb 26, 2020–Sometimes an idea is so elegant, it is discovered more than once. Such is the case with the “cello podium.” This platform cum amplifier started as a rumor uncovered by Ken Freudigman when he was a cello student at Eastman School of Music back in 1985. The...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 5, 2020 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
Feb 5, 2020–We gave up conventional and cable TV 25 years ago. But for Christmas I received access to one of the streaming services, so I’ve been revisiting series from the 1980s and 90s, the last time I watched anything. One that popped up was an episode of Star...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 27, 2020 | All Articles, Education, Events, Food, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Jan 29, 2020–Musketeer, fire breather, or wizard, it’s always fascinating what motivates a person who leads an otherwise conventional life to don the garb and persona of a character living in the middle ages. To help me understand, Cathryn Harper agreed to talk on...
