by david allan van nostrand | Mar 28, 2023 | Case Study, The world around us
I want to put together a list of Readers’ Top 10 Closer Looks Most regular readers know me to be a fact-based non-fiction writer who was a business and consumer researcher for more than 30 years before giving it up to write. All around the world, I learned to look...
by david allan van nostrand | Mar 27, 2023 | Human Behavior, Items in the News, The world around us
There are many theories about how April Fools’ started, so pick your favorite from some of the most popular origin stories. One such story says April Fools’ Day comes to us from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, where the fox tricks the rooster on March 32nd. Another...
by david allan van nostrand | Mar 13, 2023 | critical thinking, Human Behavior, The world around us
Puzzles are tests of ingenuity or knowledge. Solving them requires reasoning, study, and persistence. As games, puzzles present difficulties to be solved by clever and patient effort. Daring puzzle-solvers seek ever-more-demanding challenges. A puzzle can also be a...
by david allan van nostrand | Mar 6, 2023 | Items in the News, The Wayback Machine, The world around us
As most of us understand history, white settlers from Europe considered the native peoples they met in the Americas to be heathens because they didn’t worship the God of the Bible, which was the one and only true word. Heathens dressed crudely, were uncivilized and...
by david allan van nostrand | Feb 20, 2023 | Human Behavior, Organizational Behavior, The world around us
What people in the United States call bank holidays are also called federal holidays, public holidays and legal holidays. Bank holidays are normal business days where the doors to financial institutions are closed because Federal Reserve Bank employees take the day...
by david allan van nostrand | Feb 13, 2023 | Human Behavior, numeracy, The world around us
A hundred years ago, Roy Allen opened a string of root beer stands in California in partnership with Frank Wright. A&W was the name they used for their bottled and draft root beers as well as their roadside restaurants. By 1980 A&W had more than 2,000...
