Do Additives and Preservatives Really Help, or Are They Bad For Us? This week I had the marvelous opportunity to interview a retired school teacher by the name of Mrs. Moore. She is 100 years old today, January 9 and the entire interview was a real hoot. Her friends had told me she is just fine and has all her... ( added 303 days 11 hours ago.)

Some Quips, Quotes and Really Bad Jokes I imagine starting off 2009; I should do another one of my goofy quotes segments. I have been keeping the stranger ones I have come up with for the last few years and someday, in the far, far future, I imagine I will pop them into a little book.... ( added 306 days 13 hours ago.)

How I got rid of Spyware Guard 2008 I'm not sure how I came to catch this computer virus. I was in a busy stage of checking several personal e-mails plus looking up some facts for research on a piece when all of a sudden, my computer starting blinking through dozens of full page... ( added 310 days 10 hours ago.)

A Tornado Doesn't Have To Be Round To Be a Tornado. Well, I'm back among those in the world of communications. It was a bit shaky for a few days and when my computer doesn't work that means both of my jobs come to a grinding halt. It all started with the mother of all spyware programs that had me... ( added 313 days 6 hours ago.)

Remembering the Dumb Things About Christmas Past As a sexagenarian I can easily write about something a half-century ago that can be considered nostalgic. As time goes by, there seems to be a softening to one's memories. Things weren't quite as bad in our memories as they were in reality. We... ( added 320 days 14 hours ago.)

Weather Reports: When In Doubt, Kill the Messenger Well this is just turning into a dandy winter in central Illinois. We have had ice and snow and bitter cold and somewhere in the midst of all this is a Christmas coming up. Just last week we had a day in the mid 50s with delightful 40 mph winds to... ( added 325 days 8 hours ago.)

Blagojevich Latest Illinois Governor To Run Afoul of the Law. Last Tuesday morning in Illinois a bombshell was dropped on the state. I'm sure most of you well-read and intellectual Warpies know all about our latest governor accused of selling the senate seat and everything else in the state to the highest... ( added 328 days 9 hours ago.)

The Ugly Christmas Tree Story and Other Yuletide Remembrances My dad used to tell me a story of "The Ugly Christmas Tree" when I was a youngster. I was maybe five or six the first time he pulled it on me and he did it for a few years until he figured I was old enough to know he was buffaloing me. The... ( added 332 days 14 hours ago.)

Breaking a Few Rules Sure Feels Good. We have a special report on Mondays in our paper. It is called the Personality of the Week. What we do is showcase someone in the community that does a great deal of public service but receives little if any praise. It is always a fun task... ( added 335 days 11 hours ago.)

This Christmas: Share a Story of Those Now Gone The other evening I went to the local hospital for a photo op. The hospital's foundation has a thoughtful event every year to help people remember and honor family and friends who are no longer with them. Individuals or families can buy a light... ( added 339 days 14 hours ago.)

Tis the Season For Writer's Block I thought it was interesting while I was typing this that the Searchwarp tip of the day was how to overcome writer's block. I have a couple clients going through this right now and I recently received a private e-mail from a warpie asking for... ( added 342 days 13 hours ago.)

Two Thanksgivings With Those To Be Thankful For When my wife and I were first married and lived downstate, we seldom made it home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. We both worked the day before and after, so six hours in a car in one day were just too much. For the past dozen years or so, we have... ( added 349 days 11 hours ago.)

The UFO that came to Thanksgiving. In the early winter of 1969, I was in advanced infantry training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. The AIT, as it was called, was the second eight-week-training session a soldier got back then after the basic training was over. I imagine it was to make... ( added 353 days 13 hours ago.)

How Not To Clean a Turkey For Thanksgiving I loved my mother dearly. She was a great woman who raised five aborigines and actually saw the four youngest make something of their lives. Yeh, I'm the one not on that list of success stories. For all mom's good traits, there was one that... ( added 356 days 13 hours ago.)

Getting Lost; In a House. I wrote previously that we went up to Chicago for a wedding. Of course when a gaggle of family members get together, the old stories come out in droves. I'm talking about the really good ones. The ones that are just as funny on the... ( added 360 days 14 hours ago.)

Family Wedding Ushers In the Next Generation I didn't get married until I was 31 years old. No special reason. I just didn't find the right girl or all those right girls didn't see me as the right man. Whatever the case, I went through my twenties going to night clubs and sadly, disco... ( added 363 days 12 hours ago.)

Thanks To An Unknown IRS Employee. A while back I wrote how I received a letter from the IRS saying I owed them a few dollars more. I didn't worry about it since they owed me and my family our economic stimulus check. I was certain they would cross check socials and deduct the... ( added 1 year 2 days ago.)

At Least Small Town Politics Is Still Fun. I Hope Well I hope everyone had their say on my last article about anonymous comments. I apologize to those who gave their names and didn't receive a reply from me. I said my piece and gave the floor to others to say theirs and that is that. I... ( added 1 year 5 days ago.)

Anonymous Is Not a Name. Often in my business I receive a letter to the editor in the mail. It is mailed to me because an e-mail has a traceable address and that means the sender can be known. A letter can come with no return address or name included. The letters are... ( added 1 year 9 days ago.)

A Halloween Story. The Terror of Alta Vista Street. Since it is Halloween I thought I would tell you about a terror I faced as a youngster when I was growing up. Around Wrigley Field there was a very strange, one block street called Alta Vista. It actually was only strange and scary to a kid.... ( added 1 year 12 days ago.)

The Newspaper Business Mirrors Life. Well I am just finishing up my eleventh hour on the job today. Actually it's my twelfth but I'm not sure how to spell twelfth so I will say eleventh. I wrote several months ago that I had quickly learned that news happens according to its own... ( added 1 year 16 days ago.)

What Marvels Come When a Community Works Together. I was taken aback by the e-mails I received privately on my last column, "Finding a balance in one's life". Sometimes a writer doesn't know when they hit a resonance with their readers but it seems that last story did. Using that chord as a means... ( added 1 year 19 days ago.)

Balance Is Important In One's Life. Every morning when I open the e-mail board, there are at least a half-dozen letters to the editor or op/ed requests from people all over the country, sometimes, more than a dozen. They are often from angry people and in some cases they make little... ( added 1 year 23 days ago.)

Time For the Internet To Go On a Diet? I am waiting for a new computer to be built for me. My home version, I purchased a few years ago, was plenty to handle the Internet and the tasks I required at the time but my new job has really slowed it down. In order to work at home, several... ( added 1 year 26 days ago.)

A Bird In the Mouth Is Worth Two Outside. I am by no means changing my column into a cat anthology. It's just that this event occurred last Monday when I was writing my column about my spoiled cats and it deserves its own place in Fak family cat tales or is it tails. I stopped writing... ( added 1 year 30 days ago.)