by Phil Houseal | May 7, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
May 7, 2025–Don’t you hate when columnists write lists of disjointed observations? Me too. So you can skip this one. Still here? Okay, here we go… If your town or state is named “New” something, it is derivative and therefore gives you less reason to be proud....
by Phil Houseal | Apr 30, 2025 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
April 30, 2025–Are you a shusher or a susser? An ongoing debate has revived about the best way to teach kids. The battle lines are drawn as: 1) Sitting kids in desks lined up facing the front of the classroom. Back to basics, rote and repeat, teacher lecturing. This...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 23, 2025 | All Articles, Education, History, Music, Philosophy
April 23, 2025–Was telling some youngsters about how my Music Theory final was to score out the melody to Jingle Bells without using an instrument. I don’t think I did very well. We used our knowledge of intervals to sing it in our heads. I could do it now with my...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 9, 2025 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
April 9, 2025–A business guru recently proposed we could increase the global economy by 2-3% by installing large whiteboards in every home. This caught my attention because I am an inveterate wall scribbler. I have worked in offices where we truly believed if every...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 8, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
April 16, 2025–Round and round we go, cleaning house, sorting records, purging junk, burning memories. It never ends. No matter how many times we attack the piles, junk drawers stay junky. Bookshelves groan with tomes we’ll never read. Closets stay crammed with...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 2, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
April 2, 2025–There was a point in my life where I was in a position to receive a substantial financial windfall, entirely outside my control. The details don’t matter, and it was entirely legal and ethical. It didn’t happen, but it set me to daydreaming about what I...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 19, 2025 | All Articles, Food, Philosophy
Mar 19, 2025 Feels like the first time. Foreigner Everyone seeks pleasure. It is the one desire shared by every human being. Pleasure is so desirable we go to extreme lengths to obtain it. Seeking pleasure in a destructive manner with drugs is called addiction. With...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 12, 2025 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
March 12, 2025–Local feed dealer Bruce Woerner once told me about the time he was drinking coffee with his buddies at the local diner. One member of the group always kept his nose in the newspaper, so Bruce decided to have a little fun. He took out his lighter, leaned...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 5, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
March 5, 2025–”We were never meant to hear everyone’s opinion on everything all the time.” Sean Ono Lennon “It’s 17 degrees.” Ten minutes later: “It’s 18 degrees.” Fifteen minutes later: “It’s…” “Stop saying the temperature!” She was right. And I...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 2, 2025 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
March 26, 2025–How many squares of toilet paper do you use? How many paper towels does it take to clean up a cup of spilled milk? If you had parents or grandparents who lived through the Depression, I wager that you are familiar with the often compulsive lengths they...
