New Zealand Tries To Tax Burping Cows

by Kevin Burton    Politicians, working in committees, will find a way.     Bet you five dollars they will. And cows will be cows.    This story from the Associated Press out of Wellington New Zealand, marries politics, agriculture and the unseemly but altogether natural acts of cows.     “New Zealand’s government on Tuesday proposed …

Trivia Time: “Good Night, Sleep Tight”

by Kevin Burton    I don’t think trivia is trivial, do you?    Trivial means of little value or importance. Not all of what can be called trivia fits that description. Some is news I can use.    Anyway, my friend Tracy sent me the following trivia months ago and I am just now getting …

Up All Night And Original Thinking

by Kevin Burton    I’m sitting in the dark, on the couch my mom gave us. I hear the sound of a train in the distance.    There is romance, poetry in the sound.    I’m in the Man Cave and it couldn’t be mancavier. Two smallish beacons of light accompany the night without interrupting …

Overchoiced And Underconfident

by Kevin Burton My longtime beep baseball team mate Mike Miller who pitched for the Columbus Vipers is famous for calm under pressure and for saying “It’ll all work out.” So it was his voice I heard in my head Sunday night when I realized, against all odds, I was in position to get four …

Studying Social Interactions Of The Blind

by Kevin Burton    A North Carolina State University research study offers tips for blind people on how to make social interactions less awkward.    I found the story by NC State’s Matt Shipman on http://www.medicalxpress.com.    “A recent study highlights the range of uncomfortable situations people living with blindness or visual impairment encounter due …

Loud Arguments About Silent Letters

by Kevin Burton    When my parents issued me flash cards before kindergarten, I wondered why the work “knife” had a K in it when it didn’t do anything.     All these years later I hear from Merriam-Webster that not just e’s and k’s but all the letters of the English alphabet are silent at …

Hearing My Story In The Rock And Roll

by Kevin Burton    The stories, the images, the sound and fury of rock and roll, truly resonate when they hit close to home.    By now we have enough rocking sounds to fill the seven seas. The messages are all over the map. The sheer variety is breathtaking. Not every song will get in …

We Have Hope Because Of God’s Grace

by Kevin Burton    God’s grace is truly amazing. But what does it look like in everyday life?    Here is a poem, written by an anonymous elementary school teacher, that paints us a great picture: A New Sheet He came to my desk with a quivering lip the lesson was done“Have you a new …

Quibbles And Bits: Shame On Starbucks?

by Kevin Burton    Got some things to say. Don’t want to make a federal, 700-word case of them, just want to have my say as they say in England.    Just some things I need to get off my chest.     I’ll call them Quibbles And Bits. I’ll serve them up on Page 7 …

The Deep Conversation I Never Had

by Kevin Burton    “Daddy?”    “Grrrpha-umph.”    “Daddy?”    “Yes Jeanie, what do you want?”    “I don’t want anything Daddy, how can I? I’m not here, remember?”    “I know you’re not here, you don’t exist. Now go to sleep.”    “What would I want daddy, if I were here, there, wherever? What …