Friday

Petri dish metaphors are totally appropriate for an economics-oriented note during a global pandemic.  Julius Richard Petri invented the eponymously named Petri dish.  This simple tool is used along with a growth medium to culture cells of things like mosses, yeasts, bacteria, and fungi.

Scientific laws are both derived and sustained by generations of repeated observations of natural phenomena.  Physical sciences are founded on the unveiling of these laws.  In other words, something like chemistry or geology wasn’t invented but discovered.  That doesn’t mean scientists don’t postulate about yet-to-be discovered phenomena, but until an idea is em

Here we are at the beginning of the Fourth of July Holiday weekend in America.  With a long weekend, many will visit friends and family.  With travel volumes expected to be elevated, one’s odds of finding themselves in traffic is high.  You know that feeling; you are motoring down the highway, just slightly above the posted speed limit, and then the brake lights light up.&n

Last month I was in New Orleans at a conference with my broker-dealer, Cambridge Investment Research.  Like many of these events, moderators want participation from the group, so they’ll offer some sort of icebreaker topic to gets folks engaged.  Participants in our room were asked to name the state they’d get rid of if given the chance.  I answered diplomaticall

Movies are the perfect medium for a comeback story.  Most that come to mind are fictional.  The writers can concoct a variety of scenarios to facilitate the protagonist getting back up from whatever setback she’s encountered and triumph before the credits roll.  On occasion, a movie sets up an actor for a return to the Oscars.  Two that come to mind for me is John Trav

For some people assuming more power drives their behavior.  History books are filled with leaders exhibiting this characteristic.  A few fairly recent examples come to mind.  Changes in both Russia and China have allowed leaders to stay longer than the initial arrangement, and those at the helm of both Hungary and the Philippines seized more authority during the coronavirus pande

What an era to be alive.  Americans have no shortage of entertainment options.  We’re just beginning to be able to see movies in theatres again; Broadway is planning its return; visits to amusement parks are part of the nation’s reopening; and our at-home selection of programs to stream is robust.  Binge watching is available 24/7.  But it wasn’t always thi