October 30th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Some years ago, I wrote the first piece in what’s now, with the publishing of this piece, turned out to be a series. Who knew? A common expression says there are no guarantees in life. Since, as Grandpa O’Brien loved to say (among a million other things), “It’s the exception that proves the rule,” there […]
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October 23rd, 2023 Mark O'Brien
In the October 2nd episode of my program, The Anxious Voyage, I welcomed a guest named John Tejada. After being imprisoned on a sexual-assault charge, John wrote the manuscript for a book called, Searching for Redemption. During our conversation, I told John I’m conflicted, torn between two points of view: On one hand, I believe […]
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October 16th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Late last month, NPR ran a good news/bad news story online. The good news, according to the headline, was this: “An annular solar eclipse is coming to parts of the U.S. in October”. The story went on to specify: The moon will pass between Earth and the sun, treating viewers here on our planet to […]
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October 9th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Because I love true crime shows, it should come as no surprise that I love the Oxygen True Crime channel. My favorite show on the channel is New York Homicide. I love New York cops just because I love the way New York cops talk. And even if the show were a waste of 59 […]
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October 2nd, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Once a bureaucracy grows beyond a certain size, it exists only to sustain itself and to grow. No bureaucracy ever recognizes its inefficient dysfunction, nor do the people who serve it ever examine it, seek to improve it, apply logic and reason to it, or say no to it. If the people who suffer its […]
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September 25th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Author’s Note: People ask me fairly routinely, “What the hell do you think about?” I don’t know why they do that. And I’m not at all sure they really want to know. In any case, this is what I was thinking about after I read a recent headline in a local business journal. Read it […]
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September 11th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Do you ever wonder how many people living first-world lives might be compelled to change their behaviors on any given day, all of those behaviors likely to be superficial or trivial? Me, too. The question occurred to me yesterday when I came across three things in my Apple News feed. For openers, we could have […]
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August 21st, 2023 Mark O'Brien
If you’re not yet convinced that climate-change alarmism is more about politics, wealth redistribution, power, control, gullibility, and ignorance than it is about climate (it is), maybe you should read this anyway, even if it’s just out of curiosity, be it morbid or idle: “Cancellations Start for John Clauser After Nobel Physics Laureate Speaks Out […]
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August 14th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
My name is Daniel. That won’t matter to you because you won’t see me. You’ll pass me by. But you won’t see me. So, my name won’t matter to you any more than I do. But I’m Daniel, nevertheless. Image By Leroy Skalstad From Pixabay.com I can’t decide If it’s odd that you don’t see […]
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August 7th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
I have a theory. Most of my theories are now buried, layers deep, in the Great Trash Heap of Failed Ideas. But this one seems to possess some merit, to have legs as we say in the marketing biz. Try it on: Ignorance breeds fear, which breeds hatred, which breeds abuse, violence, and sometimes death. […]
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