Hair Most men in this country shave their face every day, all their lives. We use that foamy white stuff that’s intended to make it easier. What it really does is tell you where you are in the process and if you’ve missed a spot. Boring! Women concentrate on the hair on their heads: washing, [...]

Irony We owe a great deal to dynamite. Alfred Nobel made a fortune from his 1860s invention of its detonator; he left his money to fund the Nobel prizes. Nobel’s detonator invention helped build most of the roads, bridges, mines and dams in the world, taming the rough surface of the globe. The Nobel awards [...]

Plain talk People depend on steady jobs and regular paychecks to balance their budgets. Few households in this country haven’t had to pass up something because of the cost. Our federal and state budgets have the same problem. All those subsidies and grants were for good ideas, but the government doesn’t exactly have a steady [...]

Bonding The health care debate has reinforced what we all knew anyway: people like their own doctors and want to keep them. On the surface, this seems a little strange. We don’t feel that way about our plumbers or auto mechanics or cashiers at the grocery store. We may have good relations with them, but [...]