Winston Churchill famously said, “there is something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.” He was right.
Every year, Americans gather around their dining rooms to have holiday dinner. Unlike other special days of the year, however, this holiday is a holiday of intolerance and division. Surely you know the day I refer to, don’t you? Thanksgiving!
Down at the Marathon the other day I saw a man buying a lottery ticket.
A nondescript fellow he was, middle-aged, appearing neither particularly well-to-do nor poor. He got me to thinking, which is sometimes a dangerous thing to do (as those who gazed upon the contraption I invented for fixing my gutters can attest).
This week, OFB is pleased to welcome Dennis E. Powell as a regular contributor with his column, “the View from Mudsock Heights.” Everything must start somewhere. For Dennis, it starts with a woodstove.
Even to the present day, I remain woefully ignorant of the catalog of an American acting legend – Katharine Hepburn. Despite that, based upon two films, 1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and 1981's On Golden Pond, I had decided that she was the best actress I've seen.
We as a country have messed up priorities. For weeks, there have been discussions of massive voter registration fraud and fears of actual voter fraud on Election Day. The board of elections in the state of Washington finally kicked into gear – against Starbucks.
Alaska has been a subject of national interest in recent days. Years ago I lived there and I recently found myself musing on some of the unique aspects of that mysterious state the nation is now so inquisitive about.
Mounting scientific evidence indicates that the long-term health of U.S. children depends on them spending less time in front of video screens and more time outdoors. There is no better time to for children to experience the world outside than summer.
Long lines, crowded planes. Fasten your seat belts, the summer travel season has begun. To help keep the skies as friendly as possible, we asked travel writers Sandra Gustafson and Pat O'Connor to offer some ethics advice for would-be passengers. We provided the scenarios; they offered the tips on proper conduct.
She appears on the screen. The hormones take over, and you can't avert your gaze. You stare. Something you see feeds a hunger inside, and you devour this vision, even as you know you are making a fool of yourself. For hours, even days after, you can't shake the feeling. Then, some photographer catches her in real life, without the perfect lighting, without the make up and carefully set tresses, etc. Okay, she's still cute, but hardly the vision of loveliness you thought you first saw. You feel cheated, made a fool of, and you wonder how she managed to capture your attention in the first place.