by Phil Houseal | Jan 28, 2026 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
Jan 28, 2026–Once you’ve reached midlife, you are the least stupid you have ever been or ever will be. That’s why every person who has passed that milestone should write down wisdom from their life that worked for them, and that might work for future generations. I am...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 21, 2026 | All Articles, Education, History
Some wily entrepreneur in the Old West understood marketing. This coffee bean supplier wanted to make his beans stand out among the grizzled cowboys and settlers who swarmed up the cattle trails and carved out the west. He made and sold Arbuckles’ coffee, one of the...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 14, 2026 | Philosophy
Here’s a fun new trend you can worry about: Title Inflation. It first took root in large organizations. There, it’s an accepted practice that instead of rewarding job performance with money–as in giving an employee a raise–businesses hand out lofty yet meaningless...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 7, 2026 | All Articles, Philosophy
Jan 7, 2025–Another year, another list of random observations: Why do we personify years? January 1st is literally just the next day. Yet we speak about a calendar year as if it were a character in a 1940s radio play. At Walmart on Black Friday I saw many people...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 31, 2025 | All Articles, Education, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
Dec 31, 2025–What if your life were a sitcom? SCENE: Breakfast table, cluttered with opened cereal boxes, butter dish, crumbs and coffee. He: Good morning, dear. What are your plans for today? She: Plans? You think I PLAN my existence. I believe in foreordained fate...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 24, 2025 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
Dec 24, 2025–Power belongs not to those who create, but to those who control. These are the people I refer to as gatekeepers. Gatekeepers stand in every industry and field, public and private. They are the people manning the spigots, opening the doors, signing the...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 17, 2025 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Dec 17, 2025–Do you name your bread machine? I have just been made aware that there is a whole sub-section of humanity that names objects in their lives. It is not an affliction; it is a life hack. In a previous column I posited how we dehumanize our opponents in...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 10, 2025 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
Dec 10, 2025–I was attending a political rally when a high school basketball game broke out. Not really, but the two are connected. As a lifelong fan of roundball, I occasionally drop in on a random high school game just to enjoy the level of play and skills of the...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 3, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
Dec 3, 2025–What would you do if you didn’t have to do anything? Lately I seem to know a lot of people who have reached that point in life when they no longer need to work for a living. Circumstances vary: they may have sold a business, they may have come into an...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 26, 2025 | All Articles, Events, History, Philosophy
Nov 26, 2025–One of our favorite family excursions while raising our combined DNA was attending the Texas Folklife Festival. Held every summer on the grounds of the Institute of Texan Cultures in downtown San Antonio, the event gave us three days of wallowing in the...
