In Praise Of Mexico, Lettuce And Billy Joel

by Kevin Burton    On a tip from a new friend, I knocked on the door of Interlingua language school one day, and asked the good people there to employ me.    Shockingly, they took me up on it.    This was in the Reagan 80s. I was in somebody else’s country, Mexico, and somebody …

Cruise Ship Tourism Threatens Alaska’s Capital

by Christian Karim Chrobog The Guardian    “The noise never stops,” says Karla Hart, her voice competing with the hum of approaching helicopters. “I can feel them before I see them.” She looks at her phone to check a website that monitors air traffic and identifies operators. Hart wants to know whether the pilots are adhering …

Countries That Will Pay You To Move There

by Meghan Shouse housebeautiful.com    Moving out of the United States may sound appealing for cultural, political or personal reasons, but the process can be challenging. Securing the right visa for you and your family is often a difficult task, especially without easy entry options like schooling or family ties.    Still, if your desire …

These Words Come From France With Love

by Dictionary Scoop    English is part of the Germanic language family, while French is a Romance language. At first glance, one would think that they don’t have much in common, right? But this is not the case; French has influenced our language in many ways, including our vocabulary. Today, ten common English words that have …

Baseball’s 70s Mighty Have Fallen Hard

by Kevin Burton    When I was growing up in the 70s these teams were baseball royalty: Cincinnati, Oakland, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.     Of the 40 division titles available in the decade in the old playoff format, those four teams won 22 of them.  That was five each for Oakland and Baltimore, six each for …

Sign Me Up, Forever In Blue Jeans

by Kevin Burton    We talk Neil Diamond for the second time this week today, but first, a short digression back to my college days.    My college friend Matt once commented that “the only things Kevin Burton and I agree on are Billy Joel and freedom of the press.”    We favored both, for the …

The Bible Has Plenty To Say About Money

by Kevin Burton    Where is your treasure this morning?    Happy Sunday and welcome back to class! Let’s not dawdle, as they say, time is money.    In our Earthly School for the Spiritually Blind (ESSB) we start the second semester today.  We started this school because spiritual blindness is the worst, most dangerous …

Famous People I Have Met Along The Way

by Kevin Burton     In the newsroom we called him “Governor Gopher.”    Fred Grandy who played Gopher on the ABC series “Love Boat” also ran as a republican for Governor of Iowa in 1994. That’s how I met him, doing an interview.    His birthday was yesterday, June 29. That’s why he leads my …