Alcatraz was given up for Marion, Ill. because of cost. Alcatraz was three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison. Everything that comes on and off the island is delivered by boat. This is expensive.

One of my fond memories as a boy was fishing in our pond. It was a small pond, remnants of which are still visible.  

I had been thinking about satellite congestion for several weeks. However, when I got out the calculator and started working through the numbers above, I wasn’t impressed, and it wasn’t going well.

On the farm, we were always experimenting, growing various items. I emulated my parents in this regard.  

If you haven’t taken and understood an advanced course in probability and statistics, you can’t begin to understand how bad the odds are for the individual bettor. And the individual bettor is often the one who is the most desperate player.

This tractor is what I learned to drive – in the third grade. This tractor was also responsible for my interest in mechanical things, ultimately leading to my mechanical engineering education at the University of Cincinnati.  

The naysayers have done an excellent job keeping us focused on the things that don’t matter so that they and their compatriots can continue to do real damage.

Another feature on the McNary Farm was the orchard. It sat behind the main house, backed up to the property line. It was in a corner of the permanent pasture, but had its own fence to protect it from our imaginary cattle (remember, we had no livestock).

We need a national concurrence as to what are appropriate government-funded activities.

The founding fathers saw the purpose of the federal government solely to defend the borders and promote free trade between the states. In the ensuing 250 years, it has become an unrecognizable monster.

You haven’t lived until you have sat in front of a bushel basket of green beans and told to snap them.

The founding fathers were cautious and fearful of setting up a government with anything like an imperial office as its head. They had had it with King George, and they were determined not to make that mistake deliberately. 

So now my family has a farm, on which my parents had a large mortgage. They bought these 164 acres for $15,000. Keep in mind this was 1957 when a foreman in a factory, like my dad, likely made about $5,000 a year.  

In about 15 months, we are going to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States. I am having a little trouble wrapping my head around this, for I can remember celebrating the 200th anniversary like it was yesterday.

It is difficult to find an exact number of federal workers fired by DOGE thus far. What with judges overturning executive branch decisions (how is that even possible?) and general confusion in the reporting, one can make the case for perhaps 200,000.