John Best

For all of us, today is the last day of classes. For some, this is the last day until spring semester. Others, like myself, are experiencing our last class of our college career on this beautiful day. READ MORE

Anything you can do, nature can do better. Nature did it first. Of course such a claim appears to give nature a bit too much credit. After all, animals have been around for about 600 million years, and that’s not even counting older forms of life. Most of my readers have only been around 20 or so years, giving nature a bit of an advantage. That aside, nature does it better, faster and first. READ MORE

Over time, the Nobel Peace Prize has become more a tool for political criticism than an actual acknowledgment of respectable work. The Nobel Peace Prize was originally intended to be given to an individual who “... shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” READ MORE

An informed and actively involved public is the essential cornerstone for a well-functioning democracy. If society lacks a populace ready to resist tyranny and oppression, then the protective forces of democracy crumble. READ MORE

“Take it with a grain of salt” — we’ve all heard the phrase before. The conservatives take MSNBC with a tub of Morton while liberals take Fox News with a wheel barrel of it. That is all fine and good. We should be suspicious of news networks and the history they shape. READ MORE

I came across an article in Monday’s edition of the New York Times that especially sparked my interest. The title of the article was “Venezuela, More Deadly than Iraq, Wonders Why.” It turns out that in Venezuela, a country with a population comparable to Iraq, almost four times as many civilians are killed each year in murders or other violent deaths than in Iraq.  READ MORE

Jesus was not a capitalist, he was definitely an anarchist. READ MORE

Sure, the financial crisis seems quite abstract. READ MORE

democracy go READ MORE

Can Daoism live in our bread-based culture? READ MORE