In 1971, Nixon ended the gold standard in a single 15-minute broadcast — no warning, no debate. Gold tripled in 3 years and rose 20x over the next decade. The people who saw it coming protected their wealth. Everyone else watched their savings quietly erode. History may be about to repeat itself. Trump holds the same executive authority Nixon used — and his own advisors are now openly saying a reversal is on the table.
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Wednesday night reflections on old Hollywood grace, immigrant grit, and the humble art of making do until payday.
Julie Newmar at 93: A Catwoman Who Knew When to Step Out of the Spotlight
If you grew up when the television set was a piece of furniture and the whole family watched together, you don’t forget Julie Newmar. She had that rare combination of poise and playfulness that made her Catwoman more than a costume and a purr. She turned a comic-book role into something charming, clever, and downright unforgettable.
What I admire most, reading about her 93rd birthday this week, is the life she chose away from Hollywood’s noise. Some folks chase the spotlight until it burns them out. Others do their work, leave you something good to remember, and then build a quieter life with their own priorities. There’s a steadiness in that kind of decision, and it feels very familiar to anyone who remembers an America where privacy wasn’t a weakness and dignity didn’t need an audience.
It’s also a reminder that time moves along whether we like it or not. The faces we watched in living rooms across the country are now elders, and that’s not sad to me so much as it is human. We’re lucky when our icons grow old, because it means they got to live a whole life, not just a bright moment.
📺 Jack's Thoughts: I’ve always believed there’s wisdom in knowing when to bow out gracefully, and Julie Newmar’s path feels like a lesson in that. Fame is a fickle friend, but character lasts, and the folks who keep their feet on the ground usually end up happier. In a world that rewards oversharing, I find her old-fashioned sense of boundaries pretty refreshing.
Image via History Extra
Hedy Lamarr: A Hollywood Star with the Mind of an Engineer
Hedy Lamarr’s story reads like one of those thick Sunday biographies you used to find at the library, the kind with a photo insert in the middle and a life bigger than the headlines. She wasn’t just a glamorous screen presence from Hollywood’s golden years. She was also a refugee from Nazi terror, a woman who had to reinvent herself in a new country, and a person who carried more courage than most of us will ever be asked to muster.
And then there’s the part that still catches people by surprise: she helped pioneer ideas that fed into the technology behind modern wireless communication. In the old days, we used to say someone “had a good head on their shoulders.” Lamarr had a brilliant one, and she used it even when the world wanted to treat her as nothing more than a pretty face.
Reading about her life, I kept thinking of that older American respect for craft and competence. Whether you were a machinist, a nurse, a teacher, or a movie star, you were supposed to bring something solid to the table. Lamarr did, and history is still catching up to her.
📺 Jack's Thoughts: I like remembering Hedy Lamarr because she stands for a very American idea: you can come here with nothing but nerve and talent and still build something that matters. We’d do well to celebrate more people who contribute quietly and substantially, instead of chasing whoever shouts the loudest. Her life is proof that real legacy isn’t always what the camera sees.
Image via Hagerty
The Worst Makeshift Repair: A Love Letter to Duct Tape, Baling Wire, and Pride
There was a time when “making do” wasn’t a punchline, it was a skill. You kept a coffee can of odds and ends in the garage, saved good bolts in a jar, and believed you could nurse a machine along until Saturday. That’s the spirit Hagerty’s readers are trading stories about this week: the worst makeshift repairs, the kind that were supposed to be temporary but somehow became part of the vehicle’s personality.
If you’ve ever held a muffler up with something that absolutely wasn’t meant to hold a muffler up, you’re in good company. The funny thing about these tales isn’t just the improvisation. It’s the optimism. Every one of those repairs begins with the same thought: this will get me home, and then I’ll fix it right.
There’s a gentle lesson in there for today, too. We live in an era of replacements, subscriptions, and throwaway everything. But a good old-fashioned patch job, done with common sense and a little humility, reminds you that you’re capable. Not perfect, but capable.
📺 Jack's Thoughts: I’m not here to glorify unsafe shortcuts, but I will defend the old instinct to solve problems with your own two hands. That spirit built barns, kept family cars on the road, and taught kids what responsibility looks like. Fix it right when you can, sure, but don’t lose that can-do grit that says, “I’ll figure it out.”
📎 Hagerty
That’s enough for one evening. Keep a little room in your heart for the people who did things with style, the minds that kept working when nobody was applauding, and the everyday folks who found a way to get home. We’ll do it again tomorrow night, and we’ll keep looking for reasons to be hopeful.
— Jack Reynolds