Category Archives: Columns

Originally published in the Lititz Record-Express, June 11, 2015 (but still unanswered) We have become a culture saturated with information. But, despite the flood of round-the-clock news, the overload of marketing missives and the continuous intrusion of smart phone patter, there are three questions to which I can never seem to get answers. Perhaps someContinue reading “Three Burning Questions”

When I went to work on the old 1994 Chevy pick-up that I bought to use as a commuter “rat car,” I was amazed to find that it employed metric fasteners exclusively. This was the first domestic vehicle I’d ever owned, so I’d thought that only foreign cars used this simpler system. Now my questionContinue reading “Measure This!”

It’s great to shop at our local Target, because they don’t play music. Instead of being assaulted by the tinny sounds of the shrieking of current pop divas or the bleating of Christian rock, there is just silence. It’s like a vision of heaven: Quiet, peaceful and full of good stuff. Now that I’ve openedContinue reading “Good Vibrations”

Originally published in the Lititz Record, March 11, 2021. Reproduced here because it was probably the best received of my seven years of columns in that paper. You likely don’t know what a Forstner bit is. Despite being a mechanic and “tool guy,” I spent most of my years not knowing, either, until my goodContinue reading “Picking Through My Threads”

The art of the political cartoon has, like everything else in our culture, been diluted by over exposure. There are so many outlets for their product that cartoonists have been driven to specificity, focusing their visual sarcasm on the minutia rather than the broader issues. I was heartened to see the exception to that inContinue reading “A Glimmer of Hope”

You may be familiar with the Gaia hypothesis, which borrowed the name of the Greek Earth goddess and posits that organic and inorganic elements on the planet are involved in a continual interaction to keep things in balance so life can continue. It was first proposed back in the ’70s, then fell out of fashion.Continue reading “Message to Gaia: Urgent Help Needed!”

Up until Donald Trump, the most nefarious national level villain of the modern era was Richard Nixon. We all know about Watergate, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps even worse than the break-ins and actual criminal activity in support of his political fortunes was the smear campaign that destroyed the 1972Continue reading “The Liz-ard of Oz”

All this bickering and pussyfooting around over the details of legislation dealing with gun violence is getting us nowhere. It’s been going on since the Reagan years, the Brady Bill and the advent of readily available, assault-style arms. Sure we can continue to argue back and forth about red-flag laws, assault rifle bans, stricter backgroundContinue reading “A Simple Solution”

Originally published in the Lititz Record Express, May 20, 2021. Reproduced here because someone just contacted me about buying my car and I have to tell any potential buyers that the license plate stays. Read on and see why I have such an emotional attachment. In 60 years of auto owner­ship, I’ve only ever hadContinue reading “Plate It!”