Many years ago, I found myself in the middle of an international war. As tough as each side was, I was fortunate that the ammunition was not bullets. It was chickens. The U.S. was the major supplier of chickens to Europe, but the organization now called the EU or European Union wanted to promote its […]

Trade, tariffs and carbon pricing may not make for intriguing conversation around the holiday dinner table, but they are increasingly important topics as nations wrestle with reducing climate warming emissions. The next Trump administration — even without climate policy as a priority — could see tariffs based on foreign greenhouse gas emissions as a way […]

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games to win the World Series, their first Series win since 1918. While I was delighted for all us long-suffering Sox fans, I was most happy because my dear friend Clark Truesdell, who was battling cancer, would get to savor the victory. […]

We all have preferred approaches to washing pots and pans, tableware and utensils. However, our methods may waste resources and pollute the environment. Are there more sustainable but still effective options? Dish soaps and dishwashing detergents can have a pleasant smell and hardly seem threatening, but conventional brands can harm the environment in various ways. […]

I wrote this story many years ago, recently found it and have decided to rewrite it a bit and give it some more thought to see if over the years I’ve changed my thoughts on this subject. Spoiler alert: I haven’t. It started because something alarming caught my eye, a small piece in a now […]

A large part of my collection was destroyed earlier this year, but I still have visions of the world’s largest stockpile of Christmas music dancing in my head. I cherish a handful of songs that I “must” hear each yuletide season, but my reach inevitably exceeds my grasp as I try to “have it all.” […]

President-elect Donald Trump is about to resume a second term as president with such a slim GOP majority in the House of Representatives that it offers the party little if any room for error. Republicans deliriously reveling about their supposed “huge election mandate” may want to keep a lid on such unabashed glee. As final […]

There have been some interesting discussions about birthright citizenship, intensified by Donald Trump’s election a few weeks ago. A number of people who are angry at the chaos at the border have jumped right over the normal processes and procedures which would guarantee illegal border crossings are limited and hit right at one of the […]

The death of cursive handwriting reared its ugly head during the recent presidential election. Since 2010, according to Yahoo News, many states have dropped cursive writing from their curricula as they shifted to Common Core State Standards for English. As a result, many Gen Z Americans lack a distinctive cursive signature, which posed a problem […]