The Life and Times of William Howard Taft by Henry F. Pringle

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati in 1857. His father Alphonso Taft was a lawyer, judge, member of President Grant’s cabinet, and minister to Vienna and St. Petersburg. William Taft was born plump and jovial and remained so his entire life.

Boys from his neighborhood feuded with boys from other neighborhoods, throwing rocks at each other and drawing blood. He enjoyed playing baseball, though they would sometimes be attacked while playing. He was nicknamed Big Lub. He covered second base and was good at bat, but a slow runner. He swam in the canal in summer and skated on it in winter.

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Favorites

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

This post used to be a page on my blog that I updated from time to time. But now I see the last time I updated it was three years ago. I used to listen to a lot of fiction podcasts, but now most of my podcast listening is in the realm of non-fiction with only 3 fiction podcasts in my regular rotation. So I’ve decided to retire this as a page and instead turn it into a post for archival purposes.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Homicides in England and Wales at lowest level in nearly 50 years. BBC.
  • India has expanded rural tap water access from 16.7% of the population in 2019 to 81% in 2026, connecting 125 million rural households to clean, running water. In sheer numbers, this is the biggest, fastest, and most important sanitation drive in human history. PIB Delhi.
  • A century of hair clippings from Utah show exposure to lead has fallen by a factor of more than 100 since the 1960s. Scientific American.
  • For each year from 1994 to 2023, the US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government. Cato Institute.
  • Global trade in plastic waste has fallen by more than two-thirds over the last decade. Our World in Data.
  • New worm species discovered in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. It was once thought only two species could survive there. NPR.
  • Two decades after a breast cancer vaccine trial, every participant is still alive—an astonishing result for metastatic disease. Science Daily.
  • For the first time in history, scientists have used artificial intelligence to design the genetic code of a brand-new biological organism that destroys killer bacteria. The Times.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Guinea Worm Disease Reaches All-Time Low: Only 10 Human Cases Reported in 2025. The Carter Center.
  • William Foege dies at 89. He was a key figure in the eradication of Small Pox which killed 300 million people in the 20th century alone. The New York Times.
  • US life expectancy jumps to a record 79 years in 2024. Reuters.
  • 99% of new US capacity in 2026 will be solar, wind, and storage. electrek.
  • The U.S. added a record 18,041 public electric-vehicle fast chargers, expanding fast-charging network by 30% over the course of 2025. Canary Media.
  • Poland has cut coal’s share of electricity from 95% in 2000 to about 51% today, one of the fastest declines in Europe. Over the same period, GDP per capita (PPP) rose 143%. Paweł Czyżak.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Malaria deaths in India have dropped 78% since 2015. The Times of India.
  • The national homicide rate in the US is projected to hit its lowest point in over a century. The New York Times.
  • Global EV sales reach 20.7 million units in 2025, growing by 20%. Rho Motion.
  • Wind and solar generated a record 30% of EU electricity in 2025, higher than fossil power for the first time on record. Ember.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Wretch by Eric LaRocca

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

“Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes, you’ll know you’re dead.”

Our narrator Simeon is a middle-aged man who is mourning the loss of his husband Jonathan. He’s also recently lost his job. He has an ex-wife and a 16-year-old son. We don’t see much of the son, but I often got the impression he was younger than 16 due to the way his parents treated him and talked about him. With references to chat rooms and webpages buffering before loading, I initially thought this took place in the 1990s, but it turns out it takes place in the present time.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • There were 1.5 billion people estimated to be at risk of trachoma in 2002, dropping to 97.1 million as of November 2025: a 94% reduction. WHO.
  • A new milestone in the cancer fight: 7 in 10 patients now survive five-plus years. NBC News.
  • For the first time in history, more Mexicans are categorized as middle class than as living in poverty. Mexico News Daily.
  • Americans in the 1990s were at least twice as likely to be victims of crime as they are today. Our World in Data.
  • In 2025, the U.S. recorded the fewest shooting deaths of any year since 2015. Gun sales and mass shootings also declined last year. The Trace.
  • Presbyterian churches in Pittsburgh canceled $14 million in medical debt for their neighbors. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  • Pedro Pascal and Bella Hadid raise $5.5M at Gaza and Sudan aid concert. Good Good Good.
  • Coal power generation falls in China and India for first time since 1970s. The Guardian.
  • The scimitar-horned oryx, once extinct in the wild, has now been downgraded to endangered. BBC.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

When Could Women Vote for President of the United States?

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

I’m currently reading a biography of President William Howard Taft and it mentioned in passing that women in some states voted for president in the 1912 election. This is before the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 which allowed white women in all states to vote. (Non-white men and women were technically able to vote as well, but voter suppression tactics in several states effectively disenfranchised them until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.)

Out of curiosity, I tried to look up which presidential election was the first one women could vote in. Was it 1912 or was it an earlier election? Unfortunately, doing internet searches isn’t as easy as it used to be, so it took me a long time to get an answer.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Three out of four countries are expected to have had a decline in poverty between 2021 and 2024. World Bank.
  • 100 per cent of basic food needs in Gaza met for first time since 2023. United Nations.
  • A $370,000-per-year cystic fibrosis treatment will cost as little as $2,000 now that a Bangladeshi drug manufacturer will make a generic version. The drug delivers normal life expectancy to patients, who otherwise die as young adults. The Guardian.
  • Millennials spend more time than past generations with their children. The childcare and housework gender gap is also closing fast. The Economist.
  • Couple donates all 46 acres of their backyard to become affordable housing for their rural town. Good Good Good.
  • 7 numbers that explain why the future of buildings is all-electric. Canary Media.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.