Well into his 90s, my dad would drive an hour-and-a-half from Wilmington, Delaware, to Atlantic City two or three times a week to play blackjack. He won money on most days because he was a highly skilled card counter. (He’d up his bet when the odds were in his favor and lower it — or […]

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” These are the classic words of Lord John Acton, a 19th Century British historian. We seem to have no shortage of eligible “great men” these days. Having gained a taste of presidential power, Donald Trump proclaims his interest in […]

The city of Toronto is in the news for outlawing sled and toboggan riding on 45 of its hillsides. According to the Toronto Star, the ban has sparked a robust debate about how far government should go to protect people from themselves while they’re having fun. To be sure, tragic accidents do happen when frolicking […]

When I first came to live in Northern New England some 50 years ago, one of the great attractions was winter. It was in my blood, and the snows of the 1960s had reached legendary proportions, drifting over roofs and sheds. People were still talking about it, but there was plenty of winter through the […]