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It’s time to create or update, estate plans If you, your adult children, or other family members haven’t created an estate plan or have one but the documents may be outdated, today’s unprecedented times are a reminder of how vital having an up-to-date plan can be, particularly a health care directive that you may need…
By Michael Oberschneider, Psy.D. Dr. Mike, My husband has gone on an insane health kick that is causing us a lot of problems. I don’t know what to do. He’s lost his mind with diet and exercise; and it started in April after he started working from home because of COVID-19. He’s lost 65…
By Samuel Moore-Sobel When I was in college, I heard author Dr. Shane Lopez talk about his book, Making Hope Happen. In his talk, he spoke about the need for a good leader to both anticipate problems and to spread hope. Years later, I heard Gen. Colin Powell speak about how inspiration was more important than motivation, and that to be…
“I’m a little child. You know the emperor’s new clothes? I can see the naked emperor, just because I’m a little child-minded person. I’m not smart. I mean, good scientists are like that. They have the minds of children, to see through all this façade.” Clair Paterson [Reilly] By Tony Noerpel Applied Mathematician Roger Penrose,…
“continuing on our current path will lead to catastrophic changes to the Earth system that give us life.” Peter Kalmus “We climate scientists have … concluded, unequivocally, that global warming is caused by humans burning fossil fuels, although we continue to understate the urgency and seriousness of the threat… we have nonetheless delivered our message. …
Between the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread social protest, various natural disasters, and several hotly contested elections, the year 2020 was one pretty much impossible to even begin to predict. Such a volatile and uncertain environment may make setting and sticking to an investment plan seem like an exercise in futility. Yet the best investment plans are…
By Michael Oberschneider, Psy.D. On a societal and global level, COVID-19 has made this year a difficult one in so many ways. Worldwide, close to 1.7 million people have died, and close to 80,000,000 people have become sick with the virus. Statistics on COVID-19 are also imperfect given testing limitations and the lack of consideration…
By Tim Jon Yeah – it was those balconies that got me; no, I’m not simpering about losing my heart on Bourbon Street: I’m just going back, about 20 years or more, to the first time I walked into the courtyard area at Market Station in Downtown Leesburg. A group of ‘theatre people’ took that…
By Samuel Moore-Sobel Since the onset of the pandemic, I’ve been able to dedicate more time to reading. One of my favorite books of 2020 was The Man Who Ran Washington, a biography of James A. Baker, by Peter Baker (no relation) and Susan Glasser. “Any chronicle of the modern presidency would find [James] Baker at the heart of…
“Polarization and objectivity don’t mix well; the search for truth becomes submerged by the implicit and demanding question: Are you with us or ag’in us?” Garret Hardin [Hardin] Let’s assume my premise is correct that people would accept facts if they knew what the facts were. A problem is that humans have collectively accumulated too…