Your trusted local news source since 1910
Your trusted local news source since 1910
Sorted by date Results 76 - 98 of 98
Weather and time permitting, I let my dog, The Mighty Shmooie, choose the route we walk every morning. We have five basic routes and, with the exception of going into people’s yards, he gets to choose. His favorites are usually a mile to a mile and a half although, at age twelve and a half, I’ve noticed he tends to prefer the shorter walks more than he used to. There’s a two mile route but we rarely take that one anymore. Even though Shmoo doesn’t have as much energy for longer walks at his age...
Sometimes we assume we have all the answers and folks from the distant past have nothing to teach us. That’s especially true when we have to distill the meaning from unfamiliar language and expressions. Even writings from a hundred years ago in English can be difficult because the writer expressed thoughts in ways far removed from our way of speaking today. We dismiss the thinking because it isn’t said the way we would say it. Roughly seven hundred years ago an anonymous work of Christian mys...
I have read ways in which mosquitoes are beneficial to the environment but I don’t know anyone who actually likes them. The one good thing is, they are fragile. Suppose they were like beetles and had a hard carapace so a simple slap wouldn’t finish them off? What’s also annoying is what they do to us psychologically. After a bite we all get twitchy. We feel a faint sensation on our skin and instinctively slap ourselves. Then we’re annoyed all over again when we realize there was nothing there a...
The speed with which the world is changing means we cannot possibly hope to teach our young folks how to deal with it all. The speed of climate change, the advent of Artificial Intelligence, the massive increase in information about the universe, leaves us with a feeling of inadequacy in conveying the necessary information to our children and grandchildren so they can deal with it appropriately. How do we teach the best way of employing Artificial Intelligence when even those at the forefront...
A child comes in, “Can I have a popsicle?” Adult who is fixing dinner, “No, dinner is in fifteen minutes.” Two minutes later, “Is dinner ready?” “No, I said fifteen minutes.” Two minutes later, “Is dinner ready…” When we give a small child a time frame for something we might as well tell them to go taste the number nine. It literally makes no sense to them. As we grow older we, hopefully, begin to grasp the passage of time. If children don’t have an increasing concept of time they are destined f...
Scientists, philosophers, theologians, and regular folks like you and me all search for truth, for absolutes. However, science is not simply a matter of collecting facts. Science is a method of asking questions and then studying the answers to make sure they are accurate. Philosophers and theologians have systematic ways of analysis to determine the logical consistency of their Truth but they also give us ways of looking at reality in a way that makes us comfortable. We seek psychological...
- National survey of parents reveals parental proficiency in 2023 slang. - Parents in Montana scored above the national average. - Interactive quiz for readers to test their own 2023 slang skills. Sometimes, just talking to anyone under 25 can feel like they are speaking a whole different language. And actually, in some cases, they are. Each generation crafts its own fabulous, quirky lingo, but these days, language evolves so fast - and if you’re the parent of a young person, what they say might just end up sounding completely alien. U...
Since the advent of 24 hour per day, 365 days per year news cycle we’ve become accustomed to being inundated with so much news that we easily ignore news of great importance to someone else but doesn’t affect us directly. Sometimes there are problems we hear about but ignore even though the folks who know best try to alert us that it is going to get so big that it impacts everyone. Those are the problems we need to pay attention to sooner rather than later. There are 10 million refugees in the...
Human interactions can, generally speaking, be reduced to either force or mutuality of respect. Arguments can be made as to where we draw that line but we behave in certain ways either because we feel forced to do so or because we wish to nurture respectful relationships. If our behavior is based on wishing to have a society that functions in a manner which nurtures relationships we behave in a certain way regardless of whether or not there is a reasonable expectation of any further...
Sometimes it seems as if humanity lurches from disaster to disaster with brief periods of enlightenment in between. As we look back through history we learn about the so-called great conquerors. We hold up as persons of note men like Alexander, Genghis Khan, Attila, on and on. We build statues to these “great” men. Somehow the fact that their fame rests on the slaughter of untold millions of people who were just going about their lives before being butchered to serve the megalomania of a con...
A friend is taking music lessons from a talented teacher. She’s in Japan, he’s in New York. That, by itself, is utterly astonishing to many of us older folks. She assigned him a piece of music which he thinks is too difficult for him. In encouragement she told him she wants him to relate to the music, not the individual notes. He’s focusing on trying to get the notes right. She’s telling him to get out of his own way and play the music. We’ve all had moments when we did something exceeding...
Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed a bill that makes significant changes to the Montana Environmental Policy Act, a law that's used in legal challenges to mines, timber sales and power plants. On May 19, Gianforte signed Senate Bill 557, which changes how individuals and nonprofits can use MEPA to challenge a state permit. Proponents of the measure say it will level the playing field and ensure that groups challenging natural resource and industrial projects first establish "legitimacy." Opponents...
My mother was born on May 19th, 1913. When she was born 110 years ago, World War I hadn’t happened, the Civil War was a recent memory for many. There were ex-slaves who still worked in the family fields and household. The whole idea of the Civil Rights movement was unimaginable to virtually anyone. Radio had been invented but I don’t think it had reached rural Mississippi. Television and computers were things of which few folks could imagine. We can go back some 2,500 years to get some per...
When Rabbi Harold S. Kushner died last month my mind went back some 40 years to the publication of his book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”. It remains, to me, one of the very best books ever written on the subject of human suffering and how we think about God. Rabbi Kushner spoke from experience, he wrote honestly and compassionately. His son died of progeria shortly after his 14th birthday. I heartily recommend his book for anyone dealing with grief and the unfairness that so oft...
The Friends of the Black & Gold is proud to award $500 scholarships to Alaina Barger and Sydney Gutierrez, Badger Cubs Youth Basketball Program The scholarships were awarded to Cascade High School Seniors who are actively involved in community service activities. Alaina and Sydney were able to demonstrate their volunteerism through their dedication to enrich the youth in their community. Friends of the Black & Gold is committed to inspiring enthusiasm, developing ideas and generating funds to...
This week is the nineteenth week of the 2023 Montana Legislature. This week will be the last week of the session. Last week, the Senate passed a series of key bills which are the final pieces of legislation necessary to bring the 2023 Legislative Session to a close. The first key piece of legislation to advance was House Bill 2. House Bill 2 is the main budget bill for the State of Montana. The bill passed on a mostly party line vote with Republicans voting to pass it and Democrats voting against it. On Thursday, the Senate passed House Bill...
I saw a clip from the old show All in the Family. Meathead is putting on his socks and shoes. He puts on one sock then puts on that shoe. Archie, who is watching, goes ballistic because he believes it is only acceptable to put on both socks before putting on a shoe. The debate is ridiculous. The point made is not ridiculous. Archie, in his supreme narcissism and narrow mindedness, cannot conceive of anyone doing anything that doesn’t conform to his idea of how things should be. If social m...
This week is the eighteenth week of the 2023 Montana Legislature. As of last Friday, we have completed seventy-nine out of a possible ninety days. Depending on how things proceed, this could be the last week of the 2023 Legislative Session. As we approach the end of the session, the focus shifts from general bills to the state budget and bills which have a fiscal impact on state government. General bills are bills which are primarily policy oriented in nature. At this point, most of the general bills have passed through the legislative process...
Many years ago, I attended an event that was a failure. A sizeable number of people were involved but success or failure rested on the leadership of one individual. What followed was an utter abdication of responsibility. It was obvious no preparation had been made. The “leader” did nothing the occasion demanded. No one’s life was endangered but everyone’s time was wasted. Clearly the leader had little or no respect for those who made the effort to participate. When the Mountain Men headed out into the wilderness they carried with them almost...
HELENA – Congressman Matt Rosendale (MT-02) issued the following statement in response to the April 24 events at the Montana State Capitol: “I’ve participated in many spirited debates during my time in Montana’s state legislature — lively civil discourse is encouraged as we work to find the best policy solutions for Montanans, but there is no room in the public square for political violence. I’m thankful for our brave law enforcement officers who kept those involved safe, and I look forward to the Montana House of Representatives returning t...
A friend put in a request for a column addressing a sensitive subject. Over the years numerous folks have expressed similar emotions and there’s always guilt in their voices when they’ve told me about it. When a loved one dies, the one left behind feels grief but, frequently, also relief. Our relief produces guilt. “If I truly loved him or her, how can I feel relief that they’re gone?” Grief is a complex issue. It is neither simple nor is there a standard that applies to everyone. People ma...
Two proposals with competing visions for the tens of millions in taxes that Montana collects annually on the sale of recreational marijuana are still making their way through the Legislature as lawmakers work to set a two-year state budget. One measure, House Bill 669, would funnel most of the state’s adult-use marijuana tax collections — which are forecast to top $50 million per year — to the General Fund, allowing lawmakers to distribute that money as they see fit on a session-by-session basis, including this one. The other, Senate Bill 442,...
A reader, who clearly didn't care for columns devoted to science, said, "You know, science gets things wrong." She was, of course, correct. Science does get things wrong sometimes. The difference between science and opinion though, is when science is shown to have made a mistake it seeks to correct the mistake rather than digging in its heels and defending the indefensible. An example of scientific methodology was observation of the planet Uranus, discovered in 1781. As scientists studied it...
