The early return of Chinook salmon to the Kenai River – the big kings of Alaska fame – is shaping up as a disaster. No one knows why. The run […]
Limits of science
The science hunt
Number crunchers around the world are having a field day trying to sort out the whys and wherefores of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the driver of the Great Pandemic of 2020. The pre-print […]
A natural disaster
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is far from over, but already it can claim its place as the worst national disaster to strike the U.S in the lifetimes of nearly everyone reading this. As […]
Be thankful
Four months into the pandemic that should remind self-important, modern humans that Mother Nature still rules the planet, with the battle against SARS-CoV-2 having left many masked up and living in a […]
Skepticism
The Seattle Times has caused something of a stir in the world of journalism with a report that Microsoft News is aiming to use computers operating on “artificial intelligence” to replace dozens […]
Masks unmasked
No one who reads this commentary should take it as advice to avoid wearing a face-covering in public in these days of COVID-19. But neither is it an argument for masking. True […]
Masks and guns
If you live in Alaska, there are situations in which a firearm just might save you from being mauled or killed by a grizzly bear. With the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the loose, […]
The cubicle class
Few ideas are more dear to Americans than the belief that they live in a society free of class, and nothing in modern times has done a better job of putting a […]
Forgotten sex
Back in a brief and long-ago stint as an assistant press secretary in Washington, D.C., a sex scandal involving then-Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, taught me an important lesson about U.S. Senate staff, […]
Banning books
When and how was it that American journalists became so contumelious toward the U.S. working class? On second thought, let me rephrase that to head off the comments from conservative critics of […]
