I must confess that as smart as I am, there are a few things in this world I do not understand, such as the unsolved problem in fundamental physics as to whether gravity and the quantum can be made to coexist within the same theory. Egyptian hieroglyphics are a bit challenging for me as are the rules for the Tajikistan sport of buzkashi, which is similar to polo but involves hitting a goat carcass instead of a ball.

Texting is replacing talking as the preferred form of communication?

In an era of political correctness, virtue signaling and woke-ness, wisdom is in such short supply that when discovered it stands out like a beacon in a storm.

Oh, how our lives have changed during the past thirty years. We’ve had great medical advances. Once-fatal diseases are being cured, and hope exists where once there was none.

Within days of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police Officer, as well as the preceding death of Breona Taylor and other Black and brown Americans who were victims of unjustified force by local law enforcement officers, the racial justice protest movement began all across the country.

In the 1964 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater had a slogan: "In your heart you know he's right."

“Burnout” seems to be the word of the year. For many organizations, the shift to virtual work, an onslaught of urgent changes, and the ominous shadow of an uncertain future have contributed to a workforce that is exhausted.

Today is D-Day plus 76 years.

President Biden has pledged to "help narrow the racial wealth gap and reinvest in communities that have been left behind by failed policies." He used the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre in Greenwood, a thriving African American community ravaged by a racist mob in 1921, as the occasion to promise more federal contracts for minority-owned companies and address discrimination in home appraisals for black families.

When teams that were used to working together in person shifted to virtual, they had a wellspring of mutual goodwill to draw upon. They’d been through change, challenge, and growth together. The existing goodwill enabled them to power through virtual work even when it may have been frustrati…

There are few things I enjoy more than grilling up tasty steaks for a group of close friends, but red meat isn’t going to be on the menu this summer

I got some interesting mail this week. One was from someone who doesn’t read my column but didn’t like something I wrote and told me so. That response reminded me of a 4-page letter I once got from the late Speaker of the House Tom Murphy when I said his political career was “toast” after he had barely won reelection. (He lost the next one.)

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is reportedly considering the development of tools that would help America's children discern truth from lies and know when they are being fed "disinformation."

There is a Kodak photo in an old scrapbook which I found buried in my office closet. It made me do some thinking.

“It was like someone flipped a switch.” That was my son in Washington, DC, reporting on what he saw last weekend as he walked the streets. “One day, everyone was wearing a mask, with no eye contact or small talk, and the next day, it was like everything was back to normal.”

In outlining the goal for winning the Persian Gulf War against Saddam Hussein for invading and occupying Kuwait in 1991, Gen. Colin Powell, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "Our strategy to go after this army is very, very simple. First, we're going to cut it off, and then we're going to kill it."

If you’ve ever tried, and perhaps succeeded in achieving a big goal, you know that great results require hard work (and lots of it). The sacrifice and struggle associated with accomplishment are part of the puritan work ethic, bootstrap-it-up mythology many of us have been marinating in sinc…

Okay, enough is enough and I have had enough. I have had to endure watching lawless thugs firebomb buildings and claiming we need to defund the police. And another bunch of lawless thugs calling themselves “patriots” while inciting a riot in the United States Capitol. And don’t forget a bunch of kids doing their best Taliban imitation by tearing down statues they don’t like, proving that those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

The Supreme Court this fall will hear a case from Mississippi that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, except in cases of rape where the crime has been reported to police, or the life of the mother is in danger.

It is graduation season, and pre-COVID, I was occasionally asked to speak at a commencement program, but this year most of the organizers just want to get it over with. I don’t blame them.

Granted, the past year and change have been tough on almost all of us. Global pandemics have a way of leaving a mark. This is my first, and there are many indelible memories, good and bad.

Observing the ouster of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her House leadership position and her criticism of former president Donald Trump, reminded me of a '70s TV ad for Listerine mouthwash.

What if you could change the way you experience your work by simply shifting your lens? What if someone else’s perspective on your work could bring you more happiness and energy even when circumstances seem to be working against you?

The retired science teacher jumped up from his hiding spot in his garden and grabbed my arm before I could escape.

If Republicans have a strategy for remaining the majority party in Georgia, I am missing it. So far, it seems to be about punishing anyone in the party who has ever uttered a discouraging word about Donald Trump. That is not much of a strategy. Has anybody figured out yet that it is the Democrats the GOP should be focused on and not each other? Democrats have captured both U.S. Senate seats in Georgia and they will take the Governor’s office next year if Republicans don’t get their act together – and soon. Write it down. . . .

An acquaintance of mine once told me a story about television icon Andy Griffith. It’s a parable that has never left my memory.

I recently spent two months trading cars. I was in no hurry, because my old car was still in good shape. Now the ordeal is over, and I have learned a lesson: there’s too much information out there.

Thanks to the beneficence of the Internal Revenue Service -- and the fallout from COVID-19 -- we half of Americans who pay federal income taxes have been given until May 17 to file.

I’ve seen incredibly talented people not get the job, miss the promotion, or even lose business to a less skilled competitor. You probably have too, or maybe you’ve even been one of them yourself.

In 1957, Mama and Daddy gathered up their simple belongings, those which they had carefully acquired through the diligent saving of nickels, and moved to the little brick house they had built.

An article titled “The Incredible Importance of Mothers,” by social scientist Melanie Tannenbaum, lays out the argument that a mother’s comfort – not just meeting basic needs, such as providing food and shelter – is essential to the development and wellbeing of children.

It is my firm policy that all members in my conglomerate of companies must receive their COVID-19 shots or risk losing the generous perks offered them as employees. These include occasional weekends off (without pay), discounts on zither lessons, signed photographs of me kneeling during the playing of “Ramblin’ Wreck from You-Know-Where-Institute of Technology,” and the book, “The Best of Northern Cuisine” (one page) among other morale boosters.

The Central Intelligence Agency is always looking to recruit new agents, and advertising is one way it has done so in the past. The difference this time is in a newly created series of recruitment videos that reflects the spirit of the age in which we live, rather than appealing to abilities and patriotism.

Someone outside of my family hugged me last week. It was like a sneak attack, I didn’t see it coming.

"We can do it without increasing deficits," said President Joe Biden during his first joint address to Congress, April 28.

The contrast between President Biden's first address to Congress last Wednesday night and the Republican response delivered by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) reminded me of another occasion between one long-winded and another profound speaker.

I remember the moment when I almost crossed it off my list. Upon reflection, I’m really glad I didn’t. At the time, I had no idea that my happiness and success depended upon that one single item I had hastily written out on my yellow pad.

Fewer Americans are attending traditional church services. Fewer are attending Catholic schools, too.

I have a feeling that few of our intrepid public servants under the Gold Dome are familiar with the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton, except that he was the guy that got conked on the head with an apple or maybe the one that invented the cookie with figs in it.

The state of Virginia, which used to be reliably red and mostly conservative, is providing more evidence of an increasingly blue and liberal hue.

If you woke up to today’s to-do list and felt a wave of tiredness come over you, you’re not alone. For many, once fulfilling roles and engaging teams morphed into a crowded inbox, devoid of inspiration and purpose.

“Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. It’s me, it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” Can I get an amen?

If you are among those who have already received your first COVID-19 vaccine, the J&J one-shot, or awaiting only your second vaccine dose, then thank you for doing your part, and we'll see you here again, same time, same place next week.

I remember an older lady from my youth. We’ll call her Mrs. Ballyhoo. She and her husband were fairly well off, and didn’t seem to have a worry in the world.

The first question most people ask after mass shootings like the one last week at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis in which a 19-year-old male murdered eight people before taking his own life is "how did he get the gun?" He was known to authorities. A gun he previously owned was seized because he was believed to have mental problems.