Using a Different Tool to Control Water

March 1, 2024

There are at least 25 different types of wrenches commonly found in toolboxes. There are box-end, open-end, combination, and crescent wrenches. For particular jobs, one might reach for a lug wrench, basin wrench, oil filter wrench, or an impact, flare-nut, strap, chain, or torque wrench. Like most people, I also have socket wrenches, Allen wrenches, […]

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Do Fish Understand Environmental Justice?

February 23, 2024

Southerners have enjoyed shrimp and grits for generations, New Englanders have their clam chowder, Marylanders their crab cakes, and Cajuns their crawfish etouffee. Oysters Rockefeller is a century-old tradition, while calamari, sushi, and ceviche are more of an acquired taste, but growing in popularity. Thankfully, all those fish no longer need worry about social justice, […]

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None of the Government’s Business?

February 13, 2024

There is a line in The Music Man, just after Harold Hill steps off the train, when he asks a local man on the street, “What do you folks do around here for excitement?” The stranger responds curtly, “Mind our business.” Getting elected to the legislature changes some people in a subtle way, because if […]

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On Pygmy Rabbits and Bumble Bees

February 9, 2024

If I say the sky is purple and you say it’s blue, so I challenge you to prove it, what would you do? How do you prove something nobody has spent money studying because it’s never been questioned before? Are there any scholarly, peer-reviewed journal studies proving conclusively, in a “settled science” sort-of way, what […]

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It’s the Wave of the Past

January 30, 2024

The Dutch electronic band Quadrophonia had a minor hit in the 1980s called “Wave of the Future,” hardly an original title. It was the name of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s 1940 book calling for appeasement with Hitler. Various magazines predicted that the “wave of the future” would be nuclear powered vacuum cleaners, flying cars, shopping malls, […]

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A Sad Day to be Green

January 23, 2024

A couple Minnesota brothers were “discovered” by Garrison Keillor and invited to his Prairie Home Companion radio show a few years ago. With a retro-country and early rock sound, the “Cactus Blossoms” have now released five albums, toured extensively, and become YouTube sensations. Deservedly so – they are great. One of their biggest hits is […]

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Now Why Didn’t They Think of That?

January 12, 2024

Doug Stone topped the country charts in 1993 with a song about why the other guy always wins the girl’s heart. “He sends her roses, and lines he composes,” he sang. “He’s there to hold her when she needs a shoulder… He says he needs her, tells her he loves her.” All of which concludes […]

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Year-End Mischief in Washington

January 3, 2024

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is, for most Americans, a week of vacation, travel, rest, and time with family and friends. It is a time when the fewest people are focused on the daily news; in fact, many people purposely ignore the rest of world and concentrate on their own families, at least […]

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Most Popular Wolf Names for 2024

December 29, 2023

The Social Security Administration, ever searching for important tasks, tracks the most popular new names for babies each year (Olivia and Liam, four years straight). Similarly, Rover.com tracks the most popular pet names (Luna and Max). But who is keeping track of the names we give wild animals? Well, nobody, because we don’t name wild […]

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The International Conference on Conferences

December 22, 2023

The most important annual meeting in the world wrapped up this week in Dubai after two weeks of keynote speeches, committee sessions, photo ops, press conferences, royalty, fancy dinners, VIP tours, and glitzy exhibitions. It is referred to officially as the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or […]

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