Read

Where your money goes when you fill up in Baytown: crude oil, refining, the station and the tax, in plain numbers from the federal energy agency.

You can't see the Milky Way from Baytown, but you can see planets, the Moon and the space station. What to look for, and how, with no telescope.

A short essay on the most ordinary trip in Baytown: one loop down Garth Road, the people who keep it running, and what an errand says about a town.

Where your paycheck goes before it reaches you: Social Security, Medicare, federal withholding and benefits, in plain words, with a worked example for Texas.

A 40 percent chance of rain doesn't mean it will rain 40 percent of the day. What the number really means, and how to use it on the Gulf Coast.

A full Moon rising over Galveston Bay looks huge. It isn't. The Moon illusion explained, with a test you can do with your thumb.

On a cloudy night the sky over Baytown glows orange. Where that light comes from: street lamps, plant lights, flares and the clouds that bounce it back.

When oil moves, Baytown feels it at the pump and again in its jobs and city budget. How a refinery town's money works, from the gas station to City Hall.

Plants run around the clock, so many Baytown families don't get a normal weekend. Where the 40-hour week came from, and why rest is more than time off.

Patriotism starts close to home: the volunteer fire department, the library, the flag at the school. An essay on loving a place without needing an enemy.

Aristotle said there are three kinds of friends: useful, fun and true. What a 2,300-year-old idea says about carpools, crews and the people who last.

The government says prices rose a few percent. Your grocery cart says otherwise. How inflation is measured, why your own number differs, and what it does to savings.

What each part of the U.S. Constitution does, in plain words: the seven articles, the Bill of Rights and how it changes. No politics, just the structure.

A longer truck loan means a smaller payment and a bigger bill. The math on 60, 72 and 84 months, worked out on a $45,000 loan, in plain words.

A 200-year-old idea from economics explains why plants on the bay make plastics for the world. Comparative advantage, shale gas and Mont Belvieu, in plain words.

The hydrogen in gasoline is almost as old as the universe. The carbon was made inside stars. A long read on the cosmic history of everyday things in Baytown.

Two thousand years ago a former slave and an emperor wrote about what we can and can't control. What their ideas offer a worker on a 12-hour shift in Baytown.

Two thousand years ago Seneca wrote that life is long enough if you use it well. What his short essay on time says to people who live by a rotating schedule.

A one-in-a-thousand risk sounds safe until you face it every shift for ten years. The math of small risks, the Swiss cheese model and how "normal" drifts.

Galveston Bay is huge but only a few feet deep. How rising seas, two rivers, a barrier island and sinking ground made the bay Baytown sits on.

Most U.S. plastic starts as ethane from natural gas, but world plastic prices tend to follow oil. A long read on that gap, and why it matters for jobs on the bay.