Blog
Debts and Deficits and the Price of Gas. Oh My.
Introduction
When government actions affect my friends, out-of-pocket costs, and community health, I read and ask questions. Rarely can we draw direct lines in real time, but today I paid $3.90 per gallon for unleaded gas in Georgia ...
Power of the Pause
We rush. We are quick to react or respond. Unless on Jeopardy, why hurry?
My football coach at San Mateo High School, Buz Williams, used to tell the quarterbacks to “set, look, throw.” This meant, first, get your feet set. Next, look ...
Don’t Do the Dumb Thing
When it comes to making choices and decisions, I think we overvalue “best,” we underappreciate “good” and “effective” and “better,” and we fail to purge “dumb.”
This idea rooted itself into my brain years ago after reading a ...
Defend Freedom and Privacy: Revise or Retire FISA 702
To decide on what to do next, it helps to have a clear view of the situation, and clarity often comes with time. Most issues are not so urgent that they require a manufactured rush or emotional impulse. To cite a Chinese proverb, ...
Accept Inconvenience and Floss Your Teeth: Fix FISA 702, Part IV
When things are too easy, we overuse and abuse them. Mailing a letter requires buying a stamp and walking to the mailbox; sending email means tapping a few keys and costs nothing, and now our inboxes overflow. Driving to the store ...
Simple Language and the SAFE Act: Fix FISA 702, Part III
The late comedian George Carlin talked about how, instead of simple words, we use “soft language” or euphemisms to hide the truth or avoid confronting reality. For example, practical “toilet paper” became formalized “bathroom tissue.” ...
Warrantless Searches and the Four-Way Test: Fix FISA 702, Part II
Over the years, I’ve given dozens of Rotary talks, usually about the MIT baseball team or forestry, and often leave with a keepsake, like a mug or a pen. On one occasion, I received a coin with the “Four-Way Test of the things we ...
Cats and Dogs Agree: Fix FISA 702, Part I
When cats and dogs agree on an issue, natural curiosity encourages us to look up from our phones and take in the situation. After all, how often do natural antagonists take time to slow down, listen to each other, and find common ...
Do You Trust the U.S. Government with Your Private Information? Why?
In Phones, Fashion, and Fighting for Fourth Amendment Protections, I wrote about how recent figures in American history fought to protect our right to privacy (all while remaining runway ready). In this post, I focus on, one, how the ...
Phones, Fashion, and Fighting for Fourth Amendment Protections
Cornell University in Ithaca currently has an exhibit – “Fashioning Justice: Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 and the Power of Presence” – which celebrates fashion trends and legal decisions influenced by the former Supreme Court Justice (aka ...
Brooks on Books: When the Chips are Down
In 1999, while in business school, I interned with the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) at Point Reyes National Seashore, living in employee housing about 90 minutes from where Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds, now ...
Consistency Produces Results, Good and Bad
Daily Habits and Practice
As a second grader in Cockeysville, Maryland, I came home from school nursing a bruised ego the first time we took a physical fitness test. That day, I had barely managed one chin-up after watching my ...
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