The Pilgrims knew first hand the abuses a king could inflict on citizens. They witnessed how easy it was for an army to crush the will of the people simply by refusing to let them assemble, i.e, talk with each other. Minus phones or Internet, the people had no way to connect with their neighbors across the river. That’s why the Pilgrims insisted on the right to assemble. That’s why it appears in our Constitution.
Read MoreBlog
Why The Fuss About Government Regulations?
The right and left wings of our country have gotten embroiled in a debate over government regulations that makes no sense. Why not? Both sides mean the same thing. The right wing wants free market capitalism, the left wing wants regulations to protect free market capitalism.
Read More
Making Cars and Making Roads
We need both, so what’s this about? The capitalist marketplace is the best possible economic system for making cars—but it’s the worst system for making roads. Whether you’re right wing or left wing, thinking that one system is “best” will make you wrong half the time. The issue isn’t the system, it’s what the system is supposed to accomplish—as follows:
Read More
God Bless Our Post Office
Our forefathers saw the importance of rural free delivery. They created the Post Office as their commitment to equality in our nation’s communication system, whether you live in the city or the country. They held that folks living in the country should not be penalized and have to pay more for mail than folks living in cities. This wasn’t about making money, it was about equality across our country.
Read More
Gun Violence
For decades we have been at an impasse: No matter how many children are machine-gunned, we can do nothing about the spread of gun violence. The impasse is partly because of the money the NRA can spend in Washington to defeat reforms, and partly because of a Supreme Court that believes that a few 18th century white gentry couldn’t make a mistake. The Second Amendment isn’t likely to receive a serious critique during our lifetimes, so we’re stuck with it. Read More
Pascal’s Wager Today – Global Warming
Blaise Pascal was a 17th Century mathematician whose many discoveries included modern probability theory and the economy of scale. Back then he put his famous “wager” in religious terms: No one can prove there is or isn’t a God, but choosing to believe offers infinite upside benefit (Heaven) and no downside risk, whereas choosing to disbelieve offers minor upside benefit (e.g., you get to skip church) but infinite downside risk (Hell). I’m not focusing on religion but rather Pascal’s realization that in an economy of scale it never makes sense to bet a limited gain against a catastrophic loss. His wager was actually a no-brainer: We vote against loss. Read More
Made In China?
The steam pipes heating my building run under my office. They leak a lot, so over time I’ve made friends with the plumber. One day I said, “I’ll bet you see a lot of plumbing problems in these older buildings” “Nah,” he replied, “the real problems are in the new buildings.” He meant he had his hands full with new defective pipes made in China. Read More
You Can Lose Weight with Hypnosis
Diets don’t work. This is because no matter how much weight you lose at first, your mind can’t stay in a state of perpetual deprivation. So eventually the diet will end and the weight will return. If you already know this, then you’re ready to lose weight with hypnosis. Hypnosis mobilizes the power of your unconscious mind to change how you experience yourself. The hypnotist doesn’t do anything to you, except to help your own unconscious mind take over. Hypnosis for losing weight is all about letting your unconscious mind guide you naturally toward healthy eating patterns. Read More
Hypnosis for Fertility
Can it be true? Yes. Is there such a thing as hypnosis for fertility when couples are having problems becoming parents? Oh, Yes. It’s hard to believe because over thousands of years no one has been able to explain fully why hypnosis works in the easy cases, let alone a complicated topic like fertility. Easy cases like stopping smoking, weight loss, and insomnia are still somewhat mysterious, but Hey, evidence is evidence: you sleep through the night, lose weight, have no urge to smoke. Everyone can see it (except insurance companies). Read More
It’s Easy to Quit Smoking with Hypnosis
I know because I did it! I was the heaviest smoker in North America, 3 packs a day, more on weekends. I know all the ways of failing: patches, gum, pills, and especially trying conscious willpower. I played all the usual tricks on myself: “Cigarettes reduce stress…they’re friends…they relax you…they taste good with coffee…or a drink.” Ha! It’s all false. Here’s why smoking holds its addictive grip: I was willing to try any method I knew would fail, but I was reluctant to quit smoking with hypnosis because secretly I knew it would work, and then I’d be without my cigarettes! Don’t laugh. Someday I’m going to start handing out a business card that says: “Gary Ahlskog, PhD, Bottom of the Barrel,” because it’s true that most people put hypnosis at the bottom of their list and don’t call me until they’ve failed at everything else. Read More
