The ancient Mayans believed that the world would end in the year 2012. Strangely enough, seers and sorcerers of several other ages and cultures have also focused their predictions of doom on that same year. As a result, there is now a motion picture called "2012" depicting the cataclysmic end of human civilization in that year. ...more

November 1, 2009

It is evident that many people who are living in this country either cannot see what is about to happen to us or do not care. The signs of catastrophe are all about us, but many argue that all is well, or insist that we have not moved far enough or fast enough. ...more

October 24, 2009

Retailers are suffering through one of the most difficult holiday seasons in years, slashing prices by 70 percent and 80 percent and offering other deals in a desperate effort to ring up more sales. ...more

December 24, 2008

As Hurricane Ike moves west across Cuba, Highlands County and south Florida residents can let their guard down for this storm. "It's going south of us; we are out of the cone of doom," Highlands County Emergency Management Director Bill Nichols said Monday morning. "We are monitoring the storm, though. ...more

September 8, 2008

Most big companies have a Great Wall of Vending in their break rooms. At the Tribune, we have a Soft Drink Treadmill, in which a rotating belt raises up to the bottle before sliding and lowering it into a dispensing pocket. We also have the Carbohydrate Free-Fall, from which an assortment of snack foods wedged in a corkscrew are pushed to their doom from various heights. We also have a rotating carousel of refrigerated entree items that I call the Wheel of Death. The WOD offers food that should never be sold in a vending environment. Like Riblets (described on the wrapper as "boneless pork rib-shaped patties). Like Lonesome Cowboy Sandwich. (Mmmm, tasty cowboy.) Or the creatively named So Good So Good. (It looked so bad, so bad that I didn't buy it.) Last week's lowlight: a Fried Chicken Snacker. Not sure what part of the chicken the snacker comes from, but it tasted like it was swathed in a soggy Kleenex. ...more

July 2, 2008