Refuge
Robert Klassen
2009-04-30 15:00
Exclusive to STR
May 1, 2009
'If you find a chance to vanish into some wilderness out of their reach, do so'; build a productive life of your own with those who accept your moral code and are willing to struggle for a human existence.' ~ Galt's speech, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, 1957.
Inflation: A Personal Narrative
Robert Klassen
2009-04-06 15:00
Exclusive to STR
April 7, 2009
Federal Reserve inflation policy stole 90% of the purchasing power of my lifetime income from work. I would like to examine that in detail.
In 1959 I graduated from high school earning $0.90 per hour as a tractor driver. Various unskilled labor jobs paid the same through college. In 1963 I got an entry level hospital job that paid $1.25. Although I was not...
What If?
Robert Klassen
2009-03-19 16:00
Exclusive to STR
March 20, 2009
What if we're not looking into the portal of another Great Depression, but we're looking into the abyss of another Dark Age instead?
No living person can answer that question. The answer will not be known for several generations, if there is anyone left who can ask by then.
CA-MRSA
Robert Klassen
2007-10-21 15:00
Exclusive to STR
October 22, 2007
The most recent article on the subject of community acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus was published on MSNBC on October 18, 2007 . I urge everybody to read it, because it affects us all. I would like to add some comments.
The Word 'Moral'
Robert Klassen
2007-09-23 15:00
Exclusive to STR
September 24, 2007
I dislike polysemous words in writing if I cannot understand the meaning from the context. For example, 'I'm going to a play' is easy to distinguish from 'I'm going to play' even though the word 'play' has 20 or more meanings. The word 'moral' is not as easy.
Taboo
Robert Klassen
2007-08-09 15:00
Exclusive to STR
August 10, 2007
Death is a mystery. I was talking to an elderly patient in the ER once and he said, 'I'm going to die.' Watching the heart monitor, I said, 'No . . . .' And his heart stopped. We immediately tried to resuscitate him. He was dead.
Being a member of a resuscitation team for 40 years, I've seen thousands of people die. I knew some of them quite well, and a...
The Trash 80
Robert Klassen
2006-04-25 15:00
Exclusive to STR
I bought a Tandy Radio Shack model 80 computer, the now venerable antique 'Trash 80,' in 1979. I didn't have any particular use for it, but I guessed it might be a useful learning tool for my sons, who would soon begin high school. Good guess. They quickly taught themselves Basic and started writing their own computer programs, a learning and application process that never...
Livestock
Robert Klassen
2006-04-25 15:00
Exclusive to STR
I'd like to thank those readers who wrote to me asking for more information about small-scale restoration farming. My advice is usually the same: Look for level land in a poverty stricken county that has been trashed and overgrazed, has utilities in place, has ground water, rainfall, and moderate weather. Such property can be cleaned up and the fertility restored with little...
Small Farm
Robert Klassen
2006-04-18 15:00
Exclusive to STR
Many years ago I rented a small farm at the edge of a rural community. I did this so that my wife would have space for her horses, and so that I had a quiet place to study and write on my four days off every week. The farm had three acres planted in mature walnuts, and two pastures of three acres each. The place came with an old diesel tractor fitted with a disc harrow, and...
The Wood Lot
Robert Klassen
2006-03-19 16:00
Exclusive to STR
Many a mid-Nineteenth Century American homeowner living in a town or village also owned several acres of undeveloped woodland nearby. Wood stoves and fireplaces were a common necessity for keeping warm and for cooking, and before coal became widely available, wood was the fuel of choice. What better way to assure your supply than to own your own wood lot!
Discovering Freedom
Robert Klassen
2006-03-13 16:00
Exclusive to STR
During the winter of 1949 ' 1950 my parents took me to a slide show and lecture by Sam Campbell, a popular writer and naturalist. During his presentation, he mentioned Henry David Thoreau and the book Walden. Whatever he said made me curious, so I bought the book, which was actually a Modern Library collection of Thoreau's writing. Needless to say, I understood very little of...
Looking Aside
Robert Klassen
2006-03-12 16:00
Exclusive to STR
I seem to move every few years. I like new environments. Since I don't belong to any fraternal group or church, I look for the nearest neighborhood bar and get to know the regulars there during happy hour ' I like blue collar bars where it's smoky and noisy and people play games. I'm a friendly guy, not pushy or opinionated, and I am soon generally accepted. I get along on one...
State of the State
Robert Klassen
2006-03-06 16:00
Exclusive to STR
'That government is best which governs not at all.' ~ Civil Disobedience, 1849
A close friend wrote to me: 'They passed the Patriot Act in the Senate today, despite everything. I'm ready to give up. God, it's so depressing.'
Yes, it is depressing, especially to a political activist who believes in the Bill of Rights, rationality, and traditional American decency. While US Senate...
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