“One of my most vivid memories from 1974 was the gas station at the foo...” — Nina Easton Quote

One of my most vivid memories from 1974 was the gas station at the foot of the hill below my Southern California high school - car lines snaking out into the street, heralding the failure of the government's price controls and lame ideas such as odd-even rationing.

Government pensions, built into law and mostly protected from stock market vagaries, are the envy of the private sector.

The Citizens United ruling did not invent special-interest spending; it enables corporations and unions to advocate directly on behalf of a candidate rather than running more subtle 'issue ads.'

Public anger over bank bailouts was as much about fairness as the billions of dollars spent.

I thought I'd reached the bottom a few times, but then I'd realise there was another 30 floors of despair below that.

InSight will get to the 'core' of the nature of the interior and structure of Mars, well below the observations we've been able to make from orbit or the surface.

In an ideal world, you'd never have to do things that are below your position, but this isn't an ideal world, and it's never going to be.

I know that when I'm standing alone below a thousand-foot wall, looking up and considering a climb, my sponsors are the furthest thing from my mind. If I'm going to take risks, they are going to be for myself - not for any company.