Author Archives: Harry Katz

Supreme Court Upholds Limits on Attendance at Church Services

At about midnight last night the United States Supreme Court, in a 5.4 decision, upheld California’s restrictions on the number of people who can attend church services during the coronavirus emergency.   Scotusblog has posted the written decision. The South Bay … Continue reading

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Together

You can die of loneliness.  It’s not just poetic sentiment, it’s a medical fact.  Research shows that lack of social connection is just as hazardous to life expectancy as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Humans are social beings.  We are … Continue reading

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Solar power is becoming insanely cheap

The cost of solar power has fallen by a factor of 5 since 2010, and it will keep falling for decades to come.  That’s the gist of a May 14, 2020 blog post titled Solar’s Future Is Insanely Cheap (2020) … Continue reading

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The Storm Before the Calm

I can’t decide whether George Friedman is a genius or a crackpot. Friedman has made a career of geopolitical forecasting.  He’s founded a couple of consulting companies that specialize in the field.  He’s the author of several bestselling books including … Continue reading

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Strictly Ballroom

We watched Strictly Ballroom last night.  Again.  Hadn’t seen it in years. I first saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the People’s Choice Award.  A few months later, when it was released in theaters, I … Continue reading

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Six Word Story

Cherry blossoms spring with irrepressible hope.

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Relationships at Work: Power, Trust and Peek-a-boo!

I’m working from home during the coronavirus shutdown and I’ve got into the habit of taking a long walk around my neighborhood at the end of each day. One of the podcasts I listen to on my daily walks is … Continue reading

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The Optimist’s Telescope

Bina Venkataraman thinks we need to get way better at thinking ahead.  The decisions we make today will impact ourselves and our planet for generations to come. Her book, The Optimist’s Telescope, is about why we make reckless decisions and how we can develop the foresight to make better ones.  Continue reading

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Dematerialization in The Cloud

Whenever you log on to Facebook or YouTube or your bank or your favorite online game, you’re connecting to computers in some data center somewhere on the planet. All those servers and all those data centers consume a huge amount … Continue reading

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Doughnut Economics

How do we shift our economy from a focus on never-ending GDP growth to living within the “Doughnut?” Continue reading

Posted in Books, Economics, Environment | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments