Author: Tom Purcell

Here’s something that can make us miserable if we let it: too many decisions! Social scientist Barry Schwartz says Americans are becoming less happy because we’re allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by too many choices. His groundbreaking idea, originally published in his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice, has been echoed by recent studies. Researchers…

It’s a growing concern that world leaders, economists and even Pope Francis have warned about: people aren’t having enough children. Across the globe, birth rates are plummeting below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, the minimum needed to maintain a stable population. Countries such as Japan, Italy and even the U.S. are now…

I can’t help but dream this time of the year. It’s the thick of winter, you see, which means I’m spending hours huddled in my home office getting a million tax details in order for my CPA. And I’m dreaming of tax simplification. President Trump has shared a bold vision to potentially replace the income…

What do the Peace Corps, desegregation of the military, and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II have in common? They were all established by presidential executive orders, or EOs. Executive orders are all over the news of late, as President Trump uses his presidential authority to undo many of President Biden’s EOs…

Here’s the bad news: many jobs are going to be eliminated by artificial intelligence, and, with the speed at which AI is evolving, it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Here’s the good news: In 2025 many more young people are choosing careers in the trades — jobs that AI will never be able…

Here’s the bad news: many jobs are going to be eliminated by artificial intelligence, and, with the speed at which AI is evolving, it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Here’s the good news: In 2025 many more young people are choosing careers in the trades — jobs that AI will never be able…

All anybody needs to know about a free economy is alive and well thanks to social media flea markets, such as Facebook Marketplace. While procrastinating every morning, I review this site looking at cars, lakefront homes and a wide variety of highly entertaining items people are trying to hock. Facebook Marketplace offers a hands-on lesson…

What a bunch of BS. BS is all over television, blogs, podcasts and newspapers these days. It’s spouted by politicians and pitched by product spokesmen. Modern life is manufacturing an unprecedented amount of it. Thanks to cable “news” channels and social-media platforms, there are numerous opportunities for people to BS us about all kinds of…

Here’s a story that is growing bigger by the day: Cyber scams are on the rise. My elderly family member fell for a common scam a few weeks ago: His screen appeared to be locked by “Microsoft” and he was urged to call the number the phony security alert displayed. If you call that fake…

Get this: Men’s and women’s brains are different. Using a powerful, first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence model, Stanford Medicine was able to determine with a 90% success rate whether or not an MRI scan of human brain activity was coming from a male brain or a female brain. “The findings, the investigators suggest, help to resolve a…