Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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Everyone is at risk of being scammed now. The recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline was a wakeup call for everyone in America. Ransomware is malicious software that cyberscammers use to encrypt a company's or individual's data, and block access to it, until a hefty sum of money is paid. Google the words "ransomware attack" and you'll see a sizable list of big companies and entire cities that have been completely shut down by increasingly sophisticated scammers. But it isn't just...
The cost of construction materials has gone through the roof – if you can still afford a roof, which isn’t very affordable right now. All I wanted to do was build a modest roof over my modest deck at my modest house. But a year of government pandemic policies, and the law of unintended consequences, have foiled my little dream by driving up the price of lumber. According to Fortune, the costs of items like plywood and 2x4s increased 193 percent since last spring 2020 and are not done spi...
You can’t escape politics anywhere now – not even in America’s once great pastime, baseball. A “pastime,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “something that amuses and serves to make time pass agreeably.” Boy, did the Pittsburgh Pirates accomplish that for me most of my early life. Pirates radio broadcasts on KDKA were background music throughout Western Pennsylvania, when I grew up in the ‘70s, and baseball was weaved happily and deeply into the fabric our young lives. In the summe...
Is the world finally coming to grips with the wrongs I endured as a child growing up in the 1970s? I came of age before 24-hour cable news channels sensationalized childhood abductions and made every parent in America terrified that their kid was likely to become the next victim. We '70s kids were in constant physical danger– real danger. We built wood ramps that we jumped our Spyder bikes off of– without any thought of a helmet or elbow pads. We roamed freely anywhere we wanted all day lon...
Get this: A study by McGill University has found that more money does not necessarily make people in low-income countries happier. I like more money as much as the next guy, but that does not surprise me. People in developing countries like Bangladesh may not have high incomes and own lots of nice material things, but they do have an abundance of two key sources of happiness: More contact with family and nature. McGill’s study backs me up. Sara Minarro, the lead author, says in Futurity.org t...
Coffee. I need coffee. And sleep. And food. I picked up my Lab puppy, Thurber, four days ago. I have spent every waking moment since happily tending to the little guy's considerable needs. Before I got him, I was cocksure I'd mastered the proper training techniques to bend my little guy's will to mine. "No dog of mine is going Number One in my house," I boasted to anyone who would listen. "No dog of mine is going to lack discipline," I protested. "No dog of mine will sit on my furniture!" I...
It's February. It's cold. To fend off the winter blahs, I dream of one day retiring to a warm beach, where I'll stand in the surf, sipping beverages from glasses with little umbrellas in them. I spend hours using the Social Security Benefits Calculator to determine how much Social Security will pay me, after I've paid in many thousands of dollars throughout my working life. And I wonder if my full Social Security benefits will be there when I retire, so I can afford to escape cold, gloomy winter...
I love winter. I love snow. I love making a roaring fire in my fireplace on a chilly day. But I hate one thing about this time of year: taxes. February is rough for the self-employed. It's rough because my 1099 forms – official records of how much my clients paid me last year – arrive in the mail. As the 1099s roll in, I hope and pray I made less than I know I did – because my tax "contributions" are always way more than I thought they would be. I'd like to meet the genius who used "cont...
The country is divided, in massive debt, and our future isn't looking so good– but thankfully, I have more immediate worries to consume my energies. Girl Scout cookies are back. I'm on a diet, you see– the same diet I'm on every year at this time as I struggle to lose the weight I put on during the holiday season. This year offers a far greater weight-loss challenge, however, because most of 2020 offered millions of us the perfect conditions to pack on the pounds. They don't call it "COVID-19" f...
The older I get, the more I am turning into my father. You see, the world makes less sense to me every day. My fellow man puzzles me more every day. I cite exhibit A: crappy stone walls. I know a woman who recently paid $10,000 to have a stone retaining wall built along her driveway. Now I used to be a stonemason – I rebuilt close to 200 such walls during my college years – and I was shocked to learn that hers was a NEW wall. It was buckling and full of gaps. Not one stone was properly cut or...
The way my siblings and I responded to my family's chicken-pox outbreak in 1973 may shed light on Americans' responses to COVID-19 in 2020. I was about 10 and remember how differently my five sisters responded to that highly contagious bug. To prevent its spread, our family doctor ordered us to wash our hands regularly; keep all surfaces, devices and furnishings in the house extra-clean; and maintain our distance from infected siblings. "If you do come down with chicken pox," said the doctor, "d...
Sorry, COVID-19, but you're not going to stop our Christmas cheer this year. You remind me of the Dr. Seuss Christmas classic, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The Grinch, you see, is a miserable old grouch. He lives in a cave on a hill and hates the sound of Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville in the valley below. His only source of joy, he initially thinks, is to rob the Whos of their Christmas presents, decorations and feast. His wants to make the Whos as miserable as he is. An...
Good grief. It surprised me how sad I was that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" would no longer air on broadcast television. I felt like I'd lost a chunk of my childhood. In October, Apple TV+ acquired the rights to all "Peanuts" holiday specials including "A Charlie Brown Christmas." A great hue and cry resulted. An online petition went viral., And Apple TV+ agreed to let PBS broadcast the beloved special this Christmas season. Thank goodness for that, because in this nutty year, every one of us...
As challenging a year as 2020 has been, we still should be thankful that it has been the best year in human history to be alive. Consider: In 1920, according to the book “Enlightenment Now,” the average person spent 11.5 hours each week doing laundry. By 2014, he or she was completing laundry chores in less than an hour and a half. Or, in my case, five minutes – which is how long it takes me to drop off my laundry at the laundry-cleaning shop. Right now, humans are living longer, more produ...
“It’s a miracle!” said the doctor. “You’ve just awakened from a coma after a terrible accident in October 2016, but you’re doing well, all things considered!” “I’ve been out for more than four years?” said the patient. “That’s right,” said the doctor. “You must have several questions?” “You bet, Doc! I remember when America elected President Obama, a time of great healing and hope and change. Americans are surely getting along better than ever now?” “It’s best that we come back to that one later...
I made it through the summer of COVID-19 – though I’m thankful that neither I nor any of my family have contracted the novel coronavirus. I know that the summer doesn’t technically end until Sept. 22, but I got through June, July and August. It wasn’t easy for me or anyone. Every Monday, I went on a diet to lose my “covid 19” – as in the 19 pounds I put on during March, April and May – because by every Friday, I slipped back into the bad habits I’d developed during the spring. What a blur the s...
American home ownership is soaring, which is good for all of us. Home sales slowed during the early months of COVID-19, as millions of Americans stayed inside. In the past few months, however, with interest rates at historic lows, homes have been selling at a record pace, USA Today reports. As Americans flee dense urban areas, they’re looking for room to spread out – what we call “distancing” these days – and big yards for their kids to play in. I can’t wait for millions of erstwhile r...
Joe Biden reminded the world what grace looks like. Robert Trump, President Trump’s younger brother, died Saturday. In response, Biden tweeted: “Mr. President, Jill and I are sad to learn of your younger brother Robert’s passing. I know the tremendous pain of losing a loved one – and I know how important family is in moments like these. I hope you know that our prayers are with you all.” Biden’s grace reminds us that despite how heated political rhetoric can be, we’re all human in the end— and...
COVID-19 is getting old– particularly for employees who’ve been working from home for months. That’s the finding of a Wall Street Journal article, “Companies Start to Think Remote Work Isn’t So Great After All.” Early on, when millions stopped commuting and started working from home, many companies saw good results. Work was getting done. Most employees enjoyed it. Companies saw an opportunity to reduce future office overhead costs by making remote work part of their long-term strategy. B...
A friend of mine can’t for the life of him understand why some Americans are clamoring to replace capitalism with socialism. Born in Vietnam, he was a young boy when he and his family barely escaped that communist nation amid gunfire. America welcomed his family among thousands of Vietnamese refugees. His father, now in his 90s, sees his children living his vision of the American dream: they’re educated, with good jobs and flourishing families. My friend said all that he and his family ever wan...
I missed it again. So did the rest of America. July 1’s unofficial International Joke Day came and went without fanfare. That’s regrettable, because we could all use a good belly laugh right now - which gave me an idea. The other day, after hearing more doom-and-gloom news while driving, I said to the Apple CarPlay app on my truck’s stereo, “Hey, Siri, tell me a joke.” Siri, Apple’s voice-activated digital assistant, replied, “My cat ate a ball of yarn. She gave birth to mittens.” That’s an awfu...
Good grief: Apparently, America has yet to move past the anger phase regarding COVID-19. In 1969, you see, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. According to Fast Company, researchers from Singapore, China, Australia and Switzerland analyzed more than 20 million Twitter posts from 7 million users in 170 countries to gauge people’s state of mind regarding the coronavirus. Using keywords such as “Wuhan” and “corona,” they found...
I can't recall the last time I wrote or received a handwritten letter- but it's time to send such letters again. The reasons why the handwritten letter died are obvious: e-mail, text messaging and cellphones. With how quick those innovations make whipping off a note, why would anybody take an hour to hand-write one? But how much better off might we be if we started sending such letters again? I've kept every handwritten letter I ever got, in boxes in my attic. One Saturday in 2000, when I was...
I’m getting a whole-house attic fan installed this week – just like the one my father had installed in my childhood home – and I cannot wait to cool my house using his old-time methods. I have nothing against air conditioning, mind you. I run my central unit on summer’s hottest days. I can’t imagine how unpleasant life was before A/C brought relief. Willis Haviland Carrier invented air conditioning in 1902. Initially used for industrial purposes, it was being used for comfort by the mid-1920s...
Here’s one good thing about the COVID-19 pandemic: Bike sales are booming. I hope that means kids will begin riding in big numbers again. There was a big bike-sales boom in the early 1970s, too— the result of millions of baby boom kids, like me, riding our bikes from dawn until dusk. From its inception in the 1800s, the bicycle had been produced mostly for adults. In the 1900s, bikes offered urban working-class folks an inexpensive way to get to and from work. Sales were brisk into the ear...
