A family member came by today and the course of the conversation got me thinking about the reasons that I have managed to achieve everything I set out to do with far less effort than should be required, and succeed, whereas most people never do. One of the secrets, I think, comes down to the way I frame questions. Most people, when they have decided upon a course of action, look for confirmation of their hypothesis from other people. They ask questions of their friends, family, … [Read more...]
9 Out of 10 Afghan Soldiers Illiterate
September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment
According to a new research article by the Associated Press, nine out of ten soldiers in the Afghanistan army are illiterate. That statistic shocked me and, frankly, made me realize that there isn't a lot of hope (at least in the short term) for many of the countries in the world. How can we expect a nation of millions of people, who act no different than animals promoting a superstitious belief that God will punish them if a woman dresses a certain way or they perform certain sexual acts, … [Read more...]
The Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
September 10, 2009 By 3 Comments
Discussing the Sin of Sodom at a Family Dinner After we left St. Louis, I stopped by to visit family and spent an afternoon at my grandmother's house having dinner, discussing politics, and Christianity in general. The conversation was great and had many of the same topics that the younger generation of Christians have been discussing on everything from abortion rights to international trade. One of the things that came up was how often Christians spout scripture that they believe they … [Read more...]
A $31,000 Lesson on Paid Search
September 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I'm sitting in a Brooks Brothers bathrobe in a seventh floor suite in St. Louis working on the company MacBook. For the past few weeks, I've been toying with paid search at our e-commerce businesses. We've always had great success with organic search and, in many cases, dominate our keywords leading to terrific sales at a very low cost. However, with paid search, our staff wasn't as familiar with the mechanics and the best way to get a high conversion rate. We approved a budget to test … [Read more...]
Stuff Christian Culture Likes
September 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I was reading a blog called Stuff Christian Culture Likes (as someone who grew up in that culture, believe me, it's spot-on and funny), and one of the comments left by someone named Bebe pointed out a very interesting fact that most of my Christian friends ignore: [By the way] is anyone aware that the Bible gives examples of eight different types of marriage covenants without condemnation? That is, one man plus one woman; one man plus more than one woman; one man plus one or more women and … [Read more...]
Horseshoe Political Theory
September 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Those who talk about "the left" or "right right" when it comes to politics or political theory are often missing a very important point. The best illustration comes from horseshoe political theory, which states that opposing sides of an issue are more like the ends of a horseshoe. In other words, their belief in the right to force their will on the populace is just as strong with the only difference being the specific beliefs they are espousing. Instead of being complete opposites on a … [Read more...]
I'm a private investor, author, and business philosopher who started with nothing and was essentially retired by my early twenties thanks to my first Internet startup. I went to school on a music scholarship and spend my days doing what I want and growing Kennon Green Enterprises, LLC, the family holding company. 
