What is the greatest April Fool’s prank of all time? There have been some really good ones, but if you’re looking to compare, the National Geographic website has an article “Explore 6 of History’s Most Infamous Scams and Hoaxes” by Ronan O’Connell at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/most-infamous-scams-hoaxes?. Personally, I’m not the prankster type, so I’m spending the day
When paying property taxes, how many property owners have wondered “I wish I could tell the city/county/township how I want this money spent”? Now there is a way — participatory budgeting. First tried in 1989 in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, with participatory budgeting ordinary citizens have a say in how public money
Ever since I saw a man in a wheelchair at a urinal in an airport restroom, I have never begrudged accommodations for people with special needs. This is also why some recent news from Egypt caught my eye. What if you like to swim, but your vision is severely limited? Last July, the local government
This is a little late; I’m sure most resolutions have already been tossed aside. If that’s true for you (personally, I don’t even bother), maybe it’s time for a new approach. The Sunday, January 8, 2023 issue of the Dayton Daily News explained one such approach. Columnist Meredith Moss wrote about a woman in Centerville,
Up to forty percent of the food we produce is never consumed, according to multiple sources I’ve been finding recently. By any measure, this is a tremendous waste in a world with a growing population, but even more so considering the famines caused by armed conflict and political instability. Fortunately, wherever there is a need,
You may have heard that traffic deaths are increasing. That is disturbing because since the early 1970s the trend has been down. That’s when cars became safer with seatbelt laws and crackdowns on drunk driving. Then came airbags and advanced technology to prevent accidents. Unfortunately, the death rate began to rise around 2015 when the
Denmark is not a nation that resists youth participation — think of Greta Thunberg. But Billund, a town of 27,000 in the middle of the country, has taken this concept much further. Here it’s the kids who frequently initiate and have a say about projects that impact their community. In 2020, Billund became the first Danish city
I hope you had a happy Fourth of July (or as I like to say, Disloyalty to Royalty Day). Did you watch any fireworks displays? I’ve been hearing news reports about communities having to cancel their programs due to a shortage of trained explosives technicians. But assuming you were able to see some fireworks somewhere,
It’s easy to get published these days. More books are published each year than the average bookstore can hold. Websites like Lulu.com make self-publishing easy. And there is always Amazon Kindle. Yet a recent article in The Guardian caught my eye. It suggests the key to understanding our literature may not be how many books
I’m sure most people have their summer vacations planned. If not, might you consider a place to stay that’s a little… creepy? If so, I’d like to suggest a Nevada road trip. There are a couple of places in this state than can really get your attention. For example — The Little A’Le’Inn — “Earthlings
