(This is Grandma’s House in Massillon, Ohio. She loved it almost as much as she loved us). It is Christmas Day. We are in the new condo in Big Pink, and shivering as that big blue air mass slides across the midsection of this nation. We had some of the old files open to see […]

24 December 1977 Merry Christmas! We ran across this image this week. It brought back memories about the old Christmas Card Production ritual. Remember? The gathering of the clan, the photo-taking, address lists, writing the letter, printing at the photo-shop downtown, and finally the trip to the Post Office. Given the enormous changes in our world, […]

The title this morning came from a minor disagreement out on the balcony at Big Pink just before dawn. There is plenty of stuff to get excited about, and word from the Chairman’s staff was to “keep it upbeat and celebrate the season.” We are in favor of that, but that gentle management admonition turned […]

Joy for the holidays! The to-do list is virtually complete. Except we are running out of ‘gates’ to use. We did the Water-one a long while ago, and everything else after that has been tried. Russia was popular for a while. This morning we are trying “Qatar” and “Morocco,” even if we were not certain […]

02 February 2009 (Middle and right: Mac and John, 2009). “If the Army and the Navy Ever look on Heaven’s Scenes They will find the streets well-guarded by The United States Marines.” There is a big Canadian blast of cold air coming our way on this approach of the holidays. As our title this morning […]

As you know, there has been another war in Eastern Europe going on for over ten months now. I was a remote participant in the one before that, and our pal Mac Showers had been there for one of the key moments in post-World War II history. I was writing a book on Mac’s remarkable […]

There was controversy in the Writer’s Section before the first pot of Chock Full O Nuts coffee was gone. Should we duck the big stories and talk about something that happened more than eighty years ago? Well, if it means avoiding actual honest labor on a Friday, naturally we are inclined to do so. War […]

Was that Medium a ‘Message,’ or ‘Massage?” There is a lot going on this morning. We talked about running the Weather Report for this week but have decided to wait until tomorrow. That may enable us to see if we will continue to fund the activities of our Government. By law it will run out […]

Editor’s Note: Here is a chilly reminder that while the official start of the Winter season is approaching, our terrestrial designation doesn’t mean quite the same thing in North Dakota as it does elsewhere. For those keeping score, Winter Starts: Wednesday, Dec 21 4:48 pm EST. It doesn’t End until Monday, 20 March 2023 at 5:24 pm. Here […]

(Above are two ways to advertise original content. At left is the B&W manner in which a great film was created. At right is the version you might see on the 1980’s muddy-color version. Thirty years after that effort it is much better, almost Hallmark in quality). We talked about it with wonder yesterday morning. […]