Seemingly Ordinary

Jack Carr is my favorite living author. I met him in the summer of 2024. He's very down to earth--and yet he writes the most realistic thrillers possible about combat, the deep state, warriors, and much more. I recommend his work highly! Novels include: "The Terminal List" (also an amazon series with Chris Pratt), "True Believer," "Savage Sun," and six more.

Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, E.R., Twister, and so many more) wrote some of the greatest thrillers of all time. He also discussed and/or predicted things like AI, genetic engineering, worldwide viruses, chaos theory, using fear to manipulate people, and much more. In this episode, I discuss his biography, works, themes, and what he might thrill us with if he were alive today. He was a great ma...

Mary Flannery O'Connor is in my top three authors. She is hilarious!! And satirical. And shocking. And violent. When I read anything she writes the first time, I am startled by what happens. When I finish, I wonder why she ended it that way. So, I reread her, and then I catch all the comic lines. A world-class author who is considered to be one of the greatest of the 20th Century, Flannery O&...

I've always liked the party animal author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, although I wouldn't want to be neighbors with him--too dangerous. Even so, I find he and his wife, Zelda's, lives fascinating. Here is a little about his twenties (the party) and his thirties (the hangover). He also has powerful life lessons, inadvertently given, for anyone who wants to be happy.

F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) is a movement where people get $1,000,000 in investments by their early thirties. Tyler Supalla is on this road, and it is working great for him! (This episode is a blast from the past.)

The Dark Side of the MBTI, Part 2.    The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator almost always discusses how wonderful people are. And they are! But what about horrible behavior? Dishonesty? Theft? Vandalism? Pointless criticism? Beating people up? Why do people do awful things?  Dr. Eve Delunas & Dr. David Keirsey (who wrote "Please Understand Me") have answers. Last week, I discussed the Blue...

If you've taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator--and over 100,000,000 Americans have, not to mention millions more people from around the world--you may have noticed its very cheerful tone: It believes every type of person is wonderful.  I believe this, too--but what about crime? Lying? Stealing? Assault? People cheating on their spouses? According to the MBTI, why do people do these things?...

It isn't for the faint-hearted.

Fourteen possible causes, and several possible solutions.

Allison Mark is nearly a senior in high school. In this episode, we discuss how she likes school (even in late May of her junior year), her lifelong hope of playing sports, her faith life, psychology, friendship, and much more.

Once a TV reporter who survived and covered a hurricane (episode #182), Caroline Burkard has re-invented herself. How did she do it? Enjoy this fun update featuring love, photography, starting your own business, and--bonus--where she rates money, power, fame, love, growth, contribution, and Jesus in her life, these days, on a scale of 1 to 10. She's always up to something amazing!

For about 1750+ years, Christians thought charging interest was wicked and exploitative. From Jesus (Luke 6:34-35) to Augustine to Aquainus to others, they didn't like it.  But in the 18th Century, things started to change. Even so, many Christians today have severe misgivings about the morality of charging any interest. C.S. Lewis worried it was anti-Christian. And yet, we have it. Can anyth...

Adam Clement is a licensed marriage therapist who has worked with all kinds of hard cases, from addiction to trauma to spouses who say no to everything, young men who won't leave their rooms, and people suffering from identity crises (like teens who don't know what to do, or your classic 40 year old who feels lost). In this episode, I ask him about hard cases.

Every day, I notice more and more in many conversations: what isn't being said. It's often the most important part.

Michelle Downard - Birth Parent Peer Support / Birth Mother: "My name is Michelle Downard, and I am a birth mother who has been working for American Adoptions since 2003. My primary focus is peer support for all the birth mothers that we work with who want to know that they are not alone and that someone else understands how they feel. I placed my son for adoption in February of 1998. He is t...

And if so, how? Some people believe we have to change the system. Note: I am not saying this is his plan. But between President Trump's proposal that income taxes go away for everyone making under $150,000, and the tariffs--who knows just how creative the chief executive will get?

I'm not a great negotiator. But these five keys work. If you've ever wanted to get what you want, and stay 100% honest, this is probably the way to go.

What's fake? Maybe the food, our fuel, a bunch of people in government, the media, the money, the pharma, what some call "bu!!shlit jobs," some of the education, and much more.  People complain about conspiracy theories, but it would help if we got to the bottom of things, instead of just moving on. After all, most Americans don't believe what they've heard about JFK; RFK;...

How do you help people who isolate themselves? "Hikikomori" is a worldwide phenomena--where young men (usually ages 18 to 25) isolate themselves. They tend to talk to no one and not have jobs. In Japan, there are 1,200,000 people like this, and there are many in other nations, including the U.S. These people don't have goals and they don't have relationships. Can they be helped...

Debt on a personal level can easily damage your life, remove your opportunities, give you a spirit of fear and always saying no, and hurt your imagination. LIfe was not meant to be this way. In this episode, I give thoughts on: the psychology of debt, how debt keeps us from being our best, and I offer a few solutions.

The national debt is designed to never be paid off--and it costs us our health, prosperity, and many other good things. And it makes it easier for nations to go to war.   But there are two alternative systems that are worth discussing--a hard money system (like gold, silver, and/or Bitcoin), and something I never heard of until about last week: a Sovereign Monetary System. Join me for what may be...

In 1963, Eric Berne wrote a book that still sells well today: "Games People Play." It is about ridiculous, repetitive patterns that people fall into, like "I've Got You Now, You Little S.O.B.," and "Kick Me." In this episode (third in a series), I discuss several more of these self- and other-destructive games, as well as two of Dr. Berne's other insightful...