observations pragmatic historian preservation tips

The Places We Rarely Clean

We have needed a new kitchen faucet for a few years now. We got some fancy-dancy spray faucet the last time and eventually lost water pressure because the aerator was blocked. We tried cleaning it with vinegar and were unsuccessful. We also attempted to remove the aerator so we could replace it without replacing the entire faucet. We didn’t want to have to throw the faucet in a landfill. Unfortunately, the aerator was not removable…

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challenge ideas observations writing

Defusing Confrontation

It’s Indepence Day in the United States. Historian Heather Cox Richardson has a marvelous newsletter to mark the occasion, one that reminds us to live up to our highest ideals in this country, rather than sink into our lowest manifestations of a society. We haven’t been doing a good job of reaching the ideals of life, liberty, equality, or the pursuit of happiness lately. There’s a sliver of people who would rob the majority of…

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law observations

Update on Observations on Ethics and the Law

Last Monday, I visited my county law library. It’s a fairly small room in the courthouse, with lots of tall shelves for books filled with higher court decisions and laws. The earliest books seem to be these Minnesota Reports that contain cases decided in the Supreme Court of Minnesota. The publishing date of Volume I is 1877, but it contains cases between 1851 and 1858, when Minnesota was still a territory. (Minnesota became a state…

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