It’s frankly impossible to imagine a written document less likely to be read than a newspaper column on New Year’s Day. The original Magna Carta, maybe? Does that actually exist? Is it in the British Museum’s basement? etc.  But the New Year’s Day newspaper column must be written. Much more than a contractual obligation – […]

My editors invited me to offer my predictions and/or hopes for the year ahead. I claim no special talent for making predictions. Nixon and Reagan were fond of psychics, notably the Republican Jeane Dixon. Dixon gained fame by claiming to predict the assassination of President Kennedy. Sort of. She also predicted that Nixon would win […]

December is the month we remember (among other things) the good deeds of the well-off Bishop of Myra, a 4th century do-gooder named Nicholas. The guy slipped his considerable inheritance under the doors of many a despondent maiden that she might find companionship in that day’s dowry-driven lovefest. Much later we would recast Nick as […]

I know a lot of you have “sheep shearing” high on your bucket list. Totally understandable. We all want to see where those twenty-bucks-a-pair Bombas socks come from. And, of course, the origins of our beloved shag carpets.  A great place to witness our wooly friends becoming unwooly is New Zealand, a country with far […]

Trump has ordered the military to blow up boats in international waters based on a claim that they are part of a drug “war” against the U.S. He has presented no evidence for this claim. A debate began after a September 2 attack when the U.S. military destroyed a boat and then killed the survivors. […]

The Ashleigh Brilliant commemorative gathering on October 21 saw the SB History Museum’s lower courtyard outfitted as an Ashleigh tribute, the space’s perimeter an alfresco exhibition of archival photos, news articles, Pot-Shot memorabilia, and a Brilliant hodgepodge of amusingly diverse “found” mementoes plucked from the ground over decades of the restless gentleman’s walks around town. […]

The sign said “Old Faithful” with an arrow pointing straight ahead toward a surreal, steamy landscape with benches where hundreds of people waited. Pat, my “faithful wife” said: “I’ll just jump out here and save you a seat.” By the time I found a parking spot and hiked back she said: “You missed it.” We’d […]

I first “met” Ashleigh Brilliant on a family trip to Chicago in 1969. I saw a rack of his Pot-Shot postcards and bought two of them. One of them showed two iguanas on a rock with the caption: “Why are you so hard to ignore.” In the early 1980s I was at the July 4 […]

People who have some kind of religious feelings often believe that they can communicate with their Deity – and some even believe that their prayers can in some way influence human events, or even non-human, such as the weather. As practiced in most cultures today, there seems to be little harm in such beliefs. But […]

Seven million Americans rallied across the country on Saturday to declare “No Kings” for a second time. A reference to Trump ruling lawlessly by executive order since January. Under the Constitution the president only has two minor powers. He does not legally get to send masked thugs to kidnap and deport people without a hearing. […]