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Opinion

A perfect pain in the rear

Local Columns

Okay, I’m a senior citizen now and I’m mature enough to admit to my faults. My jaws crack noisily when I eat apples and I snarf down popcorn too quickly. I bore my family by repeating jokes and personal anecdotes and my Dutch stubbornness and German temper sometimes get in the way of human ...

The big plate glass window where it all started

Local Columns

Did you have a childhood experience that precipitated your eventual adult career? I did. I remember the experience vividly. My family had moved from the farm into a two-bedroom apartment on the main street of Ellsworth in early February 1953. I had just turned five and enjoyed playing with ...

I used to be more exciting

Local Columns

On a recent Saturday night my wife went to bed around 8 p.m. and I planned on retiring for the evening around 10 p.m. We kissed each other goodnight and I was about to head for my recliner to watch a few more YouTube videos when I was struck by a sobering thought. “I was a lot more ...

With a little help from AI

Local Columns

It is no secret that AI has captured the imagination of most of us. It has, in particular, captured the imagination of the media. The gist of the media’s wonder is: How can we use AI? Well, in the interest of answering that question, I launched an experiment. I asked AI what we can do ...

Soybeans are big business in Iowa

Editorials

No one knows exactly how long humans have cultivated the soybean, but agricultural historians seem quite certain its domestication as a crop in China dates back three millennia. There are actually Chinese records documenting soybean growth as far back as the 11th century. There is some ...