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• Cain campaign might want to try ‘Blank Stare’ approach: Herman Cain’s handlers in his bid for the GOP presidential nomination should look at today’s comic strips and consider “The Blank Stair Campaign.” The idea came to me today after [...]
• Revisiting Christmas past — Is there really a ‘war’ on Christmas?: It’s time for me to revisit “Christmas Past,” to borrow or misuse a phrase from Charles Dickens, and update some comments I made about the Christmas holiday season. When I [...]
• Be mindful of Internet credibility gaps and traps: When you’re browsing to and fro throughout the Internet, you should always be mindful of some real “credibility gaps” inherent in what you find. Not everything on the Internet is [...]
• TV show prompts me to look more critcally at self-help industry: Given the fact that the so-called “self-help industry,” or “self-help movement” is a multibillion dollar industry, I wonder that I’ve lived so many years without paying it much attention. I [...]
• Fitness may be overrated as predictor of long life: I know this may sound like something I’m writing to excuse my own laziness and poor health habits, but I’m serious (at least sort of serious) about this: Fitness may [...]
• Heat spell makes me fantasize about travel plans from long ago: I’m sitting in the middle of a nasty stretch of hot, humid summer here in the Missouri Ozarks wishing I were someplace cooler. This early summer heat spell, I confess, [...]
• The good, the bad, the ugly concerning snail mail’s demise: Each day as I work from my home office, it has always been a nice break to get outside and check to see what’s in the daily “snail mail,” usually [...]
• I’m not ‘gadget-phobic,’ but I do have strong feelings about some: I’ve never considered my self anti-technology, nor in anyway opposed to high-tech progress. Indeed, I absolutely love to fiddle with new computers, smartphones, LCD/LED televisions, all the rest. (If I [...]
• To some degree, ‘news’ is mostly in how you package it: There’s no getting around it, whether you’re talking about “hard” news, “soft” news, secret weapons technology, prototype 37c reviews, or the latest, greatest laundry detergents — people love intrigue and [...]
• Millions of lawyers, yet not many are astronomers, too: You have to wonder, given the millions of lawyers in the civilized world (maybe millions just in the U.S.?), how many of them are recognized not only for their legal [...]
• Sometimes libraries face financial ‘holds,’ whether they like it or not: We had local elections in my neck of the woods last Tuesday, and many folks in a county adjacent to ours were stunned that voters rejected an increase in property [...]
• Changes in newspapers, gadgets reflect radical changes in today’s careers: When we see the way newspapers and other print media are changing radically, we see a reflection of the radical changes in all jobs and careers in our times. What [...]
• After awhile ‘virtual’ or ‘cyber’ world just gets to be too much: How long has it been since you’ve taken a long walk in a park, completely away from any Internet connections, and without your smartphone or netbook or even your iPad [...]
• Why are daily ‘soaps,’ medical shows, legal dramas so popular?: Ever thought about why the daily “soaps” on daytime television, medical shows, legal dramas, and other such well-worn forms remain so popular on television? It’s my belief that we all [...]
• Oh, wow, reminders of my childhood joy — yo-yos!: I know, I know. “Reading the papers” is what this site’s all about, really. But once in awhile I allow myself to see a bit of television news. Okay, I [...]
• Just how good, really, are all those gps navigation systems?: I got a chuckle out of a local news story last week about our city’s newly relocated airport. It has to do with the question posed in the title of [...]
• Just now finally getting into the video age, sort of: As a “guy who reads the papers,” I confess it has been difficult for me to make the move from print to online, especially from text-oriented print news to some [...]
• Common sense helps you reduce identity theft risks: You don’t have to be paranoid to think someone’s out to get you — you just have to live in our credit-oriented world and read the daily accounts online and [...]
• Gossip mongers of the world — give it a rest with Tiger: Gossip mongers of the world, whether you call yourselves “journalists” or whatever label you use — give it a rest with Tiger Woods. It truly distresses me that so-called “news” [...]
• Holiday season offers unexpected contact with old friends: My wife and I had Christmas dinner today with several hundred old friends, most of whom we rarely see anymore. She and I both worked for several years at the [...]
• We need to try to understand, even when we disagree: If I had one wish for the holidays, it would probably be this: I wish we could recapture some of the spirit of unity in this country that has been [...]
• My tile work will never rival remnants of antiquity: I was looking around the Internet using Almighty Google to research some information about tiles and how they were used in the ancient world. Made originally from baked clay, then [...]
• Disability cases, disability appeals often puzzling: I’ve never filed for any sort of disability benefits, private or government, but I grow weary at times of those who think people are “living off the government” and lump [...]
• Remember when toys actually taught kids how to play?: I really am getting old, I guess, when I look around at today’s toys for kids and compare them with what I had as a youngster in small-town Nebraska. But [...]
• Better watch out — GPS probably tracking you: If I were inclined toward conspiracy theories and overblown “Big Brother is watching you” stuff, I would be afraid to 1) ever use my little old cell phone, 2) ever [...]
• Wisdom for us all to be found in the ‘funny papers’: Many years ago when I was a kid, we called the comics page in our local newspaper “the funny papers.” Nowadays, of course, newspapers themselves are failing fast, and some [...]
• Our leaders are only human — but does that give them license to mess up?: Whether you’re talking about politicians, film and TV celebrities, or prominent sports figures, our culture thrives on putting individuals up on high pedestals so that we might “look up” to [...]
• Do you just ‘think’ for a living, or do you perform ‘real’ work?: I put the quote marks around “think” and “real” in the title of this blog post for a reason: I wanted to reflect the “real work” nature of a guest [...]
• If you can’t celebrate Earth Day — how about Earth Minute?: If you can’t find the time and effort to celebrate Earth Day on Wednesday, April, 22, how about finding a spare minute — literally — to celebrate Earth Minute? Go [...]
• Will pet lovers let hard times dampen their pet pampering ways?: Will pet lovers let hard times dampen their pet pampering ways? I don’t think so. I was at our local supermarket today and stopped to talk with a buddy of [...]
• Always had very mixed feelings about April Fool’s foolishness: You can guess from the title above that I have very mixed feelings about April Fool’s foolishness. Okay, you don’t need to do any guessing at all — because I [...]
• ‘Alternative energy’ resources — how about doing more walking?: Here’s something to think about when we’re thinking about alternative energy sources, alternative transportation, etc. — how about walking more and driving less? I realize our culture is hell-bent on [...]
• Have you adopted or considered adopting a child?: Have you adopted or ever considered adopting a child? My wife and I have never adopted nor considered adopting a child. Nor do we know of anyone in our immediate [...]
• Good news for coffee lovers: Brazilian crop looking pretty good: I’m sitting here looking out at a drizzle on a chilly day in the Ozarks. We’re being told we might see our first mixed rain/snow of the season overnight tonight. [...]
• Change of subject — focusing on child safety must be balanced with fun: I’ve read a lot recently regarding fears about unsafe car seats. I’ve read also about recent recalls on baby cribs. And hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear [...]
• Has our economy fundamentally changed, or have people just dropped the ball?: I’ve often thought that people who are surprised by national events are generally just people who are ignorant of our nation’s history. It’s all happened before, really, hasn’t it? This [...]
• Why can’t otherwise smart people get it right regarding marriage?: I have been married for just over 41 years. My wonderful wife, Shirley, and I have had our shares of squabbles and ups and downs, but in truth I can [...]
• From politics to insurance, many problems lie in our use of language: I was reading some stuff online from a British website and what I read caused one of those little “sparks” in the old brain that make you jump from one [...]
• Freemasonry — awesome demonstration of the power of myths: I’ll bet you’ve heard all the stories about Masons — Freemasonry, that is — and their supposed “secret government” behind the U.S. founding and early governing? The tales of Masonic [...]
• What does our watch battery misadventure say about our ‘consumeristic’ society?: Time today for a big rant about a little thing — finding a watch battery. Are my wife and I the only people who keep wristwatches running long enough to [...]
• I’m not up to speed on this one — skate shoes are not what I thought they were: When I saw the term skate shoes on an online shopping website, I assumed they were shoes with roller skates (roller blades?) or something attached to them. In fact, I [...]
• My ‘retirement plan’ is in place, my Powerball ticket clutched tightly: All right. Here it is, Wednesday morning and once again I have my Powerball ticket tucked safely away, just waiting to discover that I’m a multi-millionaire when they draw my [...]
• You can do anything on the Internet, I guess, but watch out for those cables: In this incredibly high-tech world, it’s always good now and again to remember how vulnerable we are to “low-tech” glitches: Large sections of Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa [...]
• Celebrities — who needs ‘em? Well, most of us think we need ‘em: I met a friend of mine at the coffee shop this morning whom I hadn’t seen in a year or more. I congratulated her on the good news she shared: [...]
• Ah-HAH — here’s proof (?) that America is forsaking God, just look at the new dollar coins: Oh, my Lord, will the good religious folks out there never cease in their passion for persecution? A column in our local newspaper decries the way the newest U.S. dollar [...]
• Rude behavior by religious, business leaders? Who could imagine such a thing?: Here’s a reader’s opinion from our local newspaper: He says business leaders and religious leaders are becoming more unresponsive and more rude to those trying to contact them. There’s a [...]
• How to spend our money — mental health care or prisons?: The now too-widely-covered horrors of yesterday’s mall killings in Omaha, Nebraska, point to many flaws in our national health care system, among other things such as mall security, too many [...]
• The sky is falling! Atheistic film is out to destroy our nation — NOT: People of faith everywhere should start to quake and even quiver, because apparently the atheists are out to destroy America, starting with the evil movie “The Golden Compass,” which will [...]