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Dunbar's Number and the Future of Freemasonry

  Dunbar's Number and the Future of Freemasonry Growing the Fraternity Without Losing the Brotherhood Freemasonry faces a challenge: How do we increase membership while preserving the personal relationships that make the fraternity valuable? The answer may lie in a concept known as Dunbar's Number , along with the diversity of lodges and other Masonic bodies that make up our fraternity. What Is Dunbar's Number? In the early 1990s, British anthropologist Robin Dunbar studied the relationship between brain size and social group size among primates. Based on this research, he proposed that humans can maintain approximately 150 stable social relationships . Dunbar's theory suggests that as groups grow beyond this size, maintaining personal relationships becomes increasingly difficult. Organizations may begin relying more heavily on formal rules, hierarchy, and administration rather than personal trust and familiarity. Examples often cited include hunter-gatherer communities...
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Updating Your Website for AI Search: How to Make Your Content Discoverable by Large Language Models

Updating Your Website for AI Search: How to Make Your Content Discoverable by Large Language Models A practical guide for website owners — Stoned Cats example | October 2026 Search engines are changing. For more than two decades, website owners have optimized their pages for Google, Bing, and other search engines. The goal was simple: get your website listed near the top of search results so people would click through to your pages. Today, people increasingly ask AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude questions they previously would have entered into traditional search engines. Instead of a list of websites, users may receive a synthesized answer with links to sources. How can website owners make their information easy for an LLM to find, understand, and reference? The answer combines traditional search engine optimization (SEO), machine-readable content, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), sometimes called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). 1. How much search...

The Surveillance State You No Longer See

  The Surveillance State You No Longer See The most effective surveillance state may not be one with a government camera mounted on every street corner. It may be one in which surveillance has become so thoroughly woven into ordinary life that we no longer recognize it as surveillance. You wake up carrying a phone that generates records about where it connects to the cellular network. You drive a modern automobile filled with computers and communications systems. You go to work, where employers maintain records about employees. You buy something with a credit card and create another transaction record. You deposit money at a bank. You order something online. You send an email. You search the Internet. You walk into a store covered by security cameras. Individually, each system can have a perfectly reasonable purpose. Together, they create something historically extraordinary: a society in which enormous portions of a person's life leave permanent or semi-permanent records in comput...

The Chemistry of Cat-Attracting Molecules

Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The Chemistry of Cat-Attracting Molecules Why Catnip Is Only the Beginning Most cat owners are familiar with the remarkable reaction some cats have to catnip. A cat may sniff the plant intensely, lick or chew it, rub its face against it, roll on the floor, and become unusually playful. The chemistry behind this behavior is much more complicated than simply "cats like catnip." Scientific research has demonstrated that domestic cats can respond to several different plants, including catnip (Nepeta cataria), silver vine (Actinidia polygama), valerian (Valeriana officinalis), and Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica). Even more interesting, cats do not necessarily respond to all of these plants equally. A cat that completely ignores catnip may respond strongly to silver vine or Tatarian honeysuckle. The explanation lies partly in the fascinating chemistry of volatile plant compounds known as iridoi...

How to get Bitcoin a below market cost.

  How to get Bitcoin a below market cost. Like many Bitcoin enthusiasts, I started by asking a simple question: What is the cheapest way to acquire Bitcoin? My original idea wasn't to buy Bitcoin on an exchange. Instead, I researched growing biomass energy crops such as miscanthus to produce electricity for Bitcoin mining. I spent months studying land requirements, farming, power generation, mining hardware, and Bitcoin economics. After running the numbers and developing a business plan, I concluded that it could be profitable—but only marginally. It would require substantial capital, a great deal of work, and success would still depend heavily on the price of Bitcoin and the cost of electricity. As I prepared for the farming side of the project, I realized I had a lot to learn. I joined my local Grange and immersed myself in farming and gardening. One day I watched a presentation about high-value specialty crops, and it completely changed my thinking. Instead of asking, "How ...

A Dollar for the Future: A Bitcoin Time Capsule Beneath a Century-Old Stairway

  A Dollar for the Future: A Bitcoin Time Capsule Beneath a Century-Old Stairway Recently, the grange of which I am a member undertook repairs to a set of historic stone steps that had served the community for well over one hundred years. Time and weather had taken their toll, and it was clear that the steps needed restoration if they were to continue serving future generations. As work progressed, someone suggested an idea that quickly captured everyone's imagination: before the repaired stones were set in place, we would create a time capsule for the people who might one day repair these same steps a century from now. The capsule became a snapshot of our time. Members contributed various items that represented everyday life in the 2020s. There were menus from local restaurants, including our neighborhood pizza shop. Newspapers, notes, and other contemporary items were included to give future discoverers a glimpse into our community and how we lived. I decided to contribute someth...

House Prices, Gold, and the Illusion of Wealth

  House Prices, Gold, and the Illusion of Wealth In May of 2001, a person purchased a house for $149,000. Twenty-five years later, that same house is worth approximately $363,600. At first glance, this appears to be a tremendous investment. The value of the home increased by $214,600, a gain of about 144%. Most people would look at those numbers and conclude that the homeowner became significantly wealthier. However, the picture changes when we compare the house not to dollars, but to gold. In May 2001, gold traded for about $265 per troy ounce. The $149,000 used to purchase the house could have bought approximately 562 ounces of gold. Fast forward to today. Gold trades around $4,450 per ounce. If the homeowner sold the house for its current value of $363,600 and used the proceeds to buy gold, they could purchase only about 82 ounces. The comparison is striking: Year House Value Gold Price Gold Equivalent 2001 $149,000 $265/oz 562 oz 2026 $363,600 $4,450/oz 82 oz Measured in dollar...