Columns

Over the past several years, terms like Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain have made their way into headlines. In a nutshell, Bitcoin is a completely digital currency. It allows secure, anonymous transactions to take place over the Internet without the oversight of any government or centralized system. 
 It wasn’t until 2009 that the first fully-fledged independent digital currency was released in the form of Bitcoin. Its value wasn’t backed by any other currency, government or commodity. No governing body or regulatory authority has ever controlled it. How was this accomplished: through the use of the blockchain. 
 The simplest way to describe a blockchain is as a sha...

I never used to consider myself a bird watcher, but this summer I’ve had various species of birds cross my path.       Ducks are great swimmers; the same can’t be said about flying. Oh, sure, they do fly, but they work very hard at it. They stick their necks out (literally) and ...

Homeowners know that when a leaky roof is spotted, it’s important to act quickly to find and fix the leak. If left unattended, that slow drip overhead can turn into a ceiling that collapses – costing far more to repair and threatening the integrity of the entire home.  The same should be ...

During the summer months, I enjoy going barefoot and dipping my feet into the lake. My husband and I experience our own version of a pedicure when we wade in a shallow sandbar and the minnows swimming there nibble on our toes. It scared me at first and grossed me out to be honest. But it only tickles and is ...

It took a while but summer finally got here, and at the library we are in the last month of our summer reading program. On Thursday, Aug. 15, at 10:30 a.m., we will have a special showing of the 30-minute documentary, Earthrise. This story is told solely by the Apollo 8 astronauts and recounts their experien...

There aren’t many weeks of the year that can rival a summer vacation. Except maybe a winter vacation, but hey, it’s summer so let’s stay in the here and now. Vacations, no matter what time of year are preferable to a regular old non-vacation week. But in my opinion, summer beats winter a...

My grandbaby has started talking. One of her first words was “water.” It’s a multi-tasking multi-purpose word in her life. When she’s in the bath, she’s surrounded by water. When she’s in the lake, she swims in water. When it rains, water falls down on her from the sky to ...

You have likely heard about the Oxford comma at least once. As a writer, using it is a habit I have grown quite fond of. There is something about that little extra comma in a list that just feels right to write; however, since starting my column, I have learned that this practice is not welcome everywhere.&n...

The media has us fired up about lots of things. And that’s good. We should be fired up. Fired up equals interested and engaged. We should all be interested and engaged. An observation: our culture is ever changing (hallelujah to that). We often need culture changes. They bring about good things and ...

With the advent of texting and instant messaging there has emerged a huge set of online abbreviations to make messaging faster. For those of us who aren’t immersed in messaging lingo, getting a message with a bizarre term or shorthand can be annoying and confusing.  First off, how did this come...