What Is John Lutz THINKING?!?

Life in a ski town / Death of Winter  I live in a land of paradoxes. It is a land of high alpine semi-arid wetlands. The population here is equally extreme. Hyper athletes who are ultra-lazy at times. Parents at my child’s preschool/after school program just got the third reminder: Don’t park in the crosswalk. They are going to start ticketing (because the extra 20’ walk is a pain). These are folks who will only do the hardest work, for the least pay. Others do almost no work, for 6-7 figures. A photo from January, after last year's season was also delayed. (Carl Marcus) I wake this morning to the coldest day of ‘winter’ so far. Low single digits, nearly zero degrees (F) down by the river. This is the result of our last weather system. A wind front, followed by flurries and cold. This too is our problem, and surely someone else’s fault. This year we blame a baby girl. La ni ñ a spells warmer, and (usually) dryer weather for our part of the world. Indeed, in the de

Does Election Day Matter? Is a vote a voice? The second Tuesday of November has come and gone. I imagine within a few months we will see sweeping change across the nation, maybe the world. This may sound irrational. It may describe what many people felt last November.  Change is constant. Is it accelerated, or slowed by the political election process? In certain, acute moments it certainly appears to accelerate things greatly. For instance, on election night 2016, financial markets went wild. The frenzy continued the next day, and into the weeks to come. Certain assets or commodities were deemed to be doomed, while others saved. Had one politician or party created this much real change? Only time would tell, but supporters bought the news. Detractors ran, hid and prepared for the skies to fall.  Just after election day 2017 I find myself reflecting on these moments, some of which may be historic. For many jurisdictions, there was little to nothing on the ballot. In others,