Thanks, Joe. I appreciate that. I've found that I really enjoy writing these, and they're a nice warmup for my brain noodle in the morning. :)

There is a risk to writing your opinion on subjects that your customers are not paying you for. You seem to be fairly balance, which minimizes that risk.

Thanks, Joe. Yeah, there's definitely some risk in writing opinion pieces that are off-topic. I realize people come here to learn Access, Excel, or other computer stuff, and I know this is off that beaten path. But over time I've realized that the people in this community are sharp, thoughtful, and way above average when it comes to intelligence, critical thinking, and most importantly civility. I can't find that kind of discussion anywhere else on social media.

So I figured, hey, it's my website, why not carve out a little corner just for me? It started as a daily thought exercise because I enjoy writing and thinking out loud. I try to be careful with my topics so I don't alienate anyone, and I appreciate that even when we disagree, folks here can do it respectfully. That's rare these days.

And of course, it's just one small part of the site. If someone doesn't care for my Captain's Log, no one's forcing them to read it. A couple dozen regular readers is fine by me. I just enjoy the healthy discourse and thoughtful conversation.

There is some risk but I also see the reward.  I have my own views but I enjoy seeing other opinions and viewpoints.  I believe it is healthy to critique my own against others to see if they hold up, or if I might need to reconsider.  I don't care about being wrong personally.  I do care about supporting a cause that moves us in a direction that is not good for the country.  The Captain's Log gives me a place I can see something more than regurgitated talking points.  Thank-you for that.

It's also much better to see full-length essays for these topics than short, click-baity, knee-jerky tweets or memes that we so often see on the Internet.

But as we get older, we probably (should?) care less and less about current events, and cut down on our news consumption as well.  I know I have.  I also have a 90-year-old mom whom I don't want to be exposed to news channels and videos and such, which would only worry and alarm her.  Let the younger generations worry about them.  If you have a family to take care of, you may have a need to keep up with current events like college admission policies, tuition forgiveness, home prices, etc.  But when your children have grown up, let them worry about them.

Matt - Yeah, I like hearing different opinions too. I've changed my own views more than once when someone made a solid argument. That's what I consider one of the hallmarks of an enlightened mind - being willing to evolve when presented with new evidence or better reasoning. That's the beauty of science, right? It doesn't dig in its heels. It updates. It's not that the old science was wrong - it's that the new science learned more.

Whenever I get into one of those endless back-and-forths on social media, I'll eventually ask, "What can I say that would change your mind?" If the answer is "nothing," then we're done. I'm open to changing mine if you've got the facts to back it up, but if neither of us is willing to budge, it's just noise at that point.

If you're too entrenched in your beliefs to look at evidence that might be contrary to your worldview, then there's nothing more to discuss.

Kevin - I get that. I'd rather have an actual conversation than a bunch of short, witty zingers that go nowhere. I care more about that kind of depth now than I did when I was younger. In my 20s and 30s I barely paid attention to politics or current events - I was too busy reading tech manuals, running a business, and raising kids. But somewhere in my 40s I started to care more about what's happening in the world.

I used to get my news from comedians (Colbert, Stewart, etc.). These days I try to find something more balanced, though that's harder than ever. We all know the cable news networks have their lean - for some it's not even just a lean. MSNBC is far left. Fox News is so far right that the light from MSNBC takes 4.3 years to reach it. CNN is... well... CNN. They're confused, inconsistent, and ratings-driven. CNN should stand for Confused Not News.

But even the big networks that used to be neutral have taken sides (looking at you, CBS and ABC). NBC still seems mostly neutral, at least for now. I've been leaning more toward BBC and other outlets that aren't so tangled up in U.S. political nonsense (or under the influence of U.S. politicians and billionaires).

And yeah, keeping your mom away from the 24-hour news cycle makes perfect sense. When she was younger, you could trust Walter Cronkite to give you facts, not spin. Now it's all opinion panels, fearmongering, and outrage bait. People who grew up trusting the TV take it at face value, and that's where it gets dangerous. They're used to a time when the news was reliable. They don't realize that most of it now is... pardon my Klingon... bullshit. You can't blame her for seeming naive. It's not her fault. My grandma was the same. I go visit her and she's say something like "the news said that they're putting tracking devices in vaccines now!" She believed it because it was on the news. Then again, this is the same woman who told me when I was a child that dragonflies were called ear-sewers and if you got too close to them, they'd sew your ears shut. Miss you grandma, but you were something else. LOL

My favorite is when everyone jumps on some brand-new "study" that the news runs with like it's gospel. You know the type - "Scientists say eating 15 cups of honey a day can cure cancer!" Then you read the fine print and it turns out it wasn't a peer-reviewed medical journal, it was a food blog quoting a single lab rat experiment from 2014. No control group, no replication, no statistical rigor, just a headline that sounded juicy. But because it was on the news, people believe it. If they'd just wait a week, the next study will probably say honey causes cancer instead.