News you can use
News you can use
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Imagine, if you can, a world in which people in different regions spoke different languages. Yes, I just asked you to imagine reality, but let’s step that up a notch. Now, imagine having to rely on a computer program to help you communicate in the different languages. You may not know it, but I just asked you to live in a world of babbling gibberish — a world in which you are to make sense of statements like: “These are to deserve the rushes mesh Nsawin penny pony. Not from flattened cup, God created the tea bothered him o...
Envy me if you wish. My living room ceiling leaks drops the size of tadpoles. The wind stirred by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Blanca, like an angry sieve, filtered a heavy layer of grit over everything in my casa. The entire week has been muggy with temps in the nineties and air as heavy as water. Mama dove has taken her pair of baby doves, scruffy creatures, through basic flight instruction. The first day, as mama dove called encouragement, orders, from the top of a palm in the...
Pamville News The latest rumor from the Pentagon is that U.S. Armed Forces and covert operations agencies will be starting a major recruitment push in the war against Middle Eastern foes because it has become evident that the Middle East’s Achilles heel is actually the female fanny. An unnamed source on Capitol Hill has told Pamville News that, based on the latest news from Pakistan, U.S. women will be wooed like in the days of WWII to come to the aid of their country. P...
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds reads an inscription on the James Farley Post Office in New York City, the unofficial postal creed. Maybe the creed also applies to the UPS. Although it makes no mention of tornado, hurricane, earthquake, tsunami or flash flood or volcano, I believe both delivery services strive to do a decent job. Through my own stupidity, I got tangled in a Brown Truck...
Some topics are of such great importance that they beg to be illuminated by the written word, though doing so endangers the writer’s very wellbeing. Thus it is, dear readers, I write this column at grave peril to myself because, I must say, the topic is a doozy. One of the guiding principles of my life is the need to always remain humble or, better yet, self-deprecating. If I actually made a list of guiding principles, this life lesson would be highlighted in hot pink. H...
As far as we know we have only one life to live. That suggests to me that I want to make careful choices. Of course some things are out of my control, such as the sock that went missing when I picked up my laundry at the local lavanderia this morning. It is a universal truth that washing machines the world over eat socks. People love clichés for that hint of truth. I like clichés. One I frequently hear is this: If you were on your deathbed, would you bemoan that you had not sp...
I think I can be honest here, so I'll just say right out: I should not be reading, watching, listening to, discussing, covering, or otherwise interacting with news, like the kind found on the other pages of this newspaper. No one should. No matter what my boss says. An elite 5 percent of news is just news. It informs you. It delights you. You recognize this 5 percent when your first response is something like “huh” or “Well, I’ll be …” or “oh” or even “awww.” Yeah, ...
The Guiding Light: While weather in Havre continues to be erratic, after weeks of Mazatlan perfection, Summer arrived. Each day is hot. Mucho calor. My little apartment stays reasonable with a flow of breeze most days. Summer suggests I limit my walking to early morning and late evening. Of course, at times necessity dictates I deviate from that rigid schedule. I walk home drenched in sweat. Click. Dark Shadows: Long ago at a rodeo in Roundup, I suffered a mild sun stroke....
I haven’t written about the house project lately and, while I feel a little bad about that, I have to say it’s because I’m a little shy about expressing my deep feelings this early in the relationship the house and I are building. After some of the initial anxiety, about whether or not the house and I might be a good fit and the struggles we had to get something going, we have been getting to know one another better — I don’t mean “better” better, just better. I’m not that...
After two weeks of active (not normal) social life (nonexistent) with friends from British Columbia and then with my cousin from Sedro Woolley, Washington, and following two nights of long sleeps, my life has returned to a sedate routine. Mostly. I could call it “routine times two.” Each day with my friends, I walked three or four or six times what I previously had been doing. Plus, I continued with my physical therapy, which means the extra walking enhanced my strength and...
I was born to be a peasant. Well, OK, not one of those indentured, do whatever the boss-man tells me to do kind of serfs. I have it on good authority from just about every one of my family members and my husband, who shall remain nameless, that I don’t follow orders very well. But there was a class of landowning peasants with whom I would have fit in nicely. I come fully equipped by Mother Nature with large peasantish hands, feet and muscles, along with the broad shoulders a...
My grandma made amazing cookies. They weren’t just the best on the Hi-Line. They were the best in Montana. I’m sure those are fighting words to anyone lucky enough to grow up with doting grandparents. However, if she were still here to bake them today, I could prove it thanks to a new law. As of Oct. 1, my grandma could have sold her baked goods to the public. With bipartisan support, House Bill 478 passed the Montana Legislature easily and provides a new tool for food entrepreneurs by implementing cottage food. As of Oct...
Amber Spring Sara Bragg Today is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, with the entire month of May being Mental Health Awareness Month. There are many topics that can be identified when discussing children’s mental health. However it is important to address those that are most relevant to Hill County and Montana. Based on the 2013 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, depression and suicide are a real risk to Montana youth. In 2013, 25.3 percent of students statewide experienced depression for more than two weeks severe eno...
What is life but shifting tidbits of sensory experiences tossed into a basket of scraps? After weeks of stitching together metaphorical pastel scraps, when friends from British Columbia, who dropped on my doorstep unexpected, I felt bombarded with a galloping array of primary colors. My days didn’t change drastically, yet, the colors seemed more intense, the patterns more interesting. Kathy and Richard are long-time friends. Most of the swatches we dropped into or picked o...
In the run-up to the 2015 legislative session, expectations were low. Montanans expected this session to be more about politics and less about performance. Four months later, I’m pleased to report that the 64th legislative session has been anything but. Where previous sessions were dominated by partisan bickering at the expense of real benefits for Montanans, this year we saw a bipartisan group of legislators joining me in working to find common ground on some of the biggest issues facing our state. Montanans should be p...
G. Bruce Meyers said he was exhilarated and terrified when he took his seat in the Montana House. At 66, this political newcomer is the most unlikely of state lawmakers. A Native American Republican with no political experience, he was elected from the most Democratic district in the state by defeating a respected opponent. But in a western version of “Mr. Meyers Goes to Helena,” he went to the state Capitol and made his mark in his first session. He reflected on the recently completed session Friday at the Hill County Pac...
A humor columnist and a spiritual guide walked into a coffee shop, and it wasn’t a joke. Really. It was, in fact, more like a blind date only, y’know, not as creepy as that sounds. OK, I’ll admit it. A total stranger emailed me, mentioned the right names and connections, flattered me outrageously and asked if I wanted to have tea or coffee in a public place some day. I said, yeah, sure, why not, sounds great. And even though the situation sounds a little like the plot openi...
Holy Smokeroonies. Saturday late afternoon I sit with a book open in my lap, my eyes in the sky, watching the play of light on the cirrus clouds. Suddenly, an apparition. Kathy and Richard stand at my door, grins splitting both faces. For a brief time I am paralyzed. (Certifiable? Candidate for sainthood? Visions portend one or the other.) Fast forward: hugs, babble of voices, I can’t believe it, we wanted to surprise you, what are you doing here, it was hard to keep our t...
I noticed with great interest that some of the Montana newspapers were criticizing the actions of Republican House members who voted against Senate Bill 416. As one of the guys in the room — trying to get the deal done — I have a few observations to share. Senate Bill 416 was a bi-partisan effort designed by Senate Democrats and Republicans, with direct input by House Democrats and Republicans, and then reviewed by the governor’s office. Along the way, everyone had to give and take and no one got everything that they wante...
Sometimes the Universe stops orchestrating ironic life twists — and creating cracks in the sidewalk of life just to laugh at seeing you trip and fall — long enough to do you a favor. A real favor. Sometimes that real favor feels like a sucker punch to the solar plexus. You’re just lying there in the dirt with your mouth gaping uselessly like a fish on a dry bank waiting for the clubbing that’s sure to follow to put you out of your misery. The knock-out blow doesn’t come, but the air does, eventually, and that means you gotta...
Montanans love to talk about how special our state is. For those from some place other than Montana, you may think that we mean our beautiful mountains, the vast golden prairies, and incredible blue sky that never seems to end. And you would be right — we do mean that. But what really makes Montana special is the people. The people of our state are kind and generous. We are the type of people who celebrate together during the good times, and look out for each other when times get tough. Montana is particularly lucky because t...
Even Solomon knew we need to hear a familiar voice from time to time. And what could be more familiar than the mournful Coo-OOO-oo-oo-oo of the bird that in our country is called the mourning dove. In Mexico she is la paloma. But that doesn't mean I invited her to stake out a homestead in the hanging planter outside my back door. The planter itself is colorful, a traditional flat-backed, painted hanging wall planter. I suppose Senora Paloma looked around and decided the many...
By Young Republican Caucus You often hear Republicans talking about the downfalls of big government. The face of the Republican Party is changing and as members of the “next generation” we feel it’s vital to the state that we serve to explain why we must uphold this ideal, and why you should, too. There are four principal areas that our joint Republican caucus agreed on at the beginning of the session to guide our priorities: • Strengthening jobs and the economy; • Putting students and parents first; • Safeguardin...
The recycling community is well aware that April 22 is Earth Day. It is today that recycling businesses, organizations and savvy schools advertise their products and/or sponsor events to celebrate taking care of the earth and, hopefully, positively impact others to do likewise. It is a day that celebrates preserving a clean environment for the future. But, shouldn’t that be everyone’s responsibility, every day? Most people would agree that Americans use a lot of resources and produce a lot of garbage. Take a look at the lan...
If you don’t already know who 61-year-old Ruskin, Florida, mailman Doug Hughes is, you should make it your business to know. He’s just spent the last 2 1/2 years planning and executing a spectacular, death-defying stunt that has landed him in jail, and he did it for you. He did it for America. He did it on the White House lawn. Hughes flew an ultralight airplane-helicopter hybrid, called a gyrocopter, through restricted air space over Washington, D.C., and landed on the Whi...
