“Snark if needed.” Those words often accompanied my column of “Snark Infested Waters” when I submitted it to Val Robichaud so he could decide whether to include it in the next issue of the Sonoma Valley Sun. The implication — expectation? — was that he... Continue
Snark Infested Waters
These days The News is certainly bad if not downright terrible and terrifying. To cheer our spirits, it might help to apply the adage “Follow the Money,” but do so in reverse. For the clinically old, “follow the money” evokes visions of Dick Tracy, Sam... Continue
Scientists say that in order to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C, as called for in the 2005 Paris Agreement, humanity's global carbon emissions must be reduced 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050; otherwise, global warming will be irreversible. Yet after... Continue
Big Pharma is required to test new potions and concoctions to assure their safety and effectiveness before releasing them on an unsuspecting public. If they don’t, they could be heavily fined, get sued, and/or their executives put at a small risk of being tossed in... Continue
After many decades of a local economy based on low-wage agriculture, hospitality and wine industry jobs, rumors are circulating that a cutting-edge hi-tech start-up is seeking to lease several thousand square feet of office space just off the Plaza in Sonoma. If true, hundreds of... Continue
Imagine how difficult life would be today if, instead of tapping a cellphone to call friends or pay bills we still had to get out pen & paper, write & mail a letter; dial "the operator" to connect us to customer service on "long distance;"... Continue
And now we celebrate – with booze, barbecued dead animal parts, & high explosives – the birth of the most Powerful Country On Earth, created by a document painstakingly handwritten on parchment with a sharpened quill dipped in the best homemade ink in a time... Continue
Even if you can’t read, that title caught your attention, eh? The Texas reaction: “No Way!! This is AMERICA!!" Yes, it is America, whose wig-headed Founders declared, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people... Continue
Life might seem more human if we put away our Devices and get out that tablet of paper and a pencil we stuck in a drawer when Technology arrived to reinvent the way we did everything – from reading and writing, to calling each other... Continue
The New Year has been here for weeks, so how are things working out so far for you and yours? Notice any improvement from the Old Year, or is everything back there fatter than it ever was? Not to worry. There's plenty of year left,... Continue