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Saparmurat Niyazov served as president of the former Soviet block nation, Turkmenistan, from 1990 until his death in 2006. While his title was “President”, he changed the title to “President for Life”, declaring it to be a lifelong position with no need for ongoing elections, also making him the nation’s dictator. He was eccentric, to say the least, and made sweeping senseless legal changes at every whim. Among other things, he banned keeping dogs in the capital city, along w

In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower in our area. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911.     When paramedic

Two sisters, a year apart in middle school, returned from winter break after a week at Disney World with their family. One was down in the dumps and when asked what was wrong, she retorted, “I just came back from a week off school in Florida to this freezing cold weather and homework––that’s what’s wrong.”     The other sister was all smiles and at the top of the world. She was asked why she was so happy. “I just came back from a week with my family in Florida, where it was w

We have vine trouble at our house. The previous owners planted some kind of flowering vine along the fence, and it is pretty during its blooming season. But I hate it. It sends out creepers everywhere and gets itself into everything. We’ve been working the last couple of years to keep it at bay, but it seems like where we pull one section out, a creeper moves over from a nearby area and a week later fills in what we cleared out. It chokes off many of our other plants and even

About a dozen years ago, a pastor-friend of mine made a dream hire. He was able to convince a young man to join him in a small town in Wisconsin as his assistant pastor. This young man had everything going for him on his resume. He had glowing references, a near 4.0 gpa from arguably the most respected Bible college (Moody) and seminary (Trinity) in the country. During his Moody years, he was so well thought of by his peers that he was elected student body president. In Semin

The internet is a crazy thing. Do you pay attention to YouTube videos that take off? “Viral” they call it, when an amateur posts a video and it receives over a million views. Some videos that have gone viral have been “interesting” to say the least. From cute things that kids do, to spy videos of people fighting, crazy accidents, and funny animal stunts, viral videos run the gamut.     But the latest one is the talk of the month. Jeff Bethke is a talented 22 year old amateur

Things are pretty tense in Korea right now. Since the death of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Il a few weeks ago, and his son, Kim Jong-un (in his late 20s), assuming the role of supreme commander, South Korea is understandably concerned about the near future. There has never been a peace treaty agreement between North and South Korea since the Korean War in the early 50s, and North Korea has amassed over a million soldiers along the demilitarization zone.     My two sons a

Sixteen years ago, Lena Paahlsson, of central Sweden, lost her wedding ring. All wives become distressed when their wedding ring is missing (at least those who are happily married). For Lena, this was of special concern since she had designed the ring and had it custom made. It was a beautiful white gold band with with seven diamond studs embedded.     She had taken the ring off in her kitchen while baking Christmas cookies, and it disappeared. All garbages were searched. The

Sometimes we start over on a project because we want to….unsatisfied with the way it is going. Other times we start over because we have to...like  when we forget to save a document and the computer freezes. Sometimes we should start over but don’t.     Timanthes was an aspiring Greek artist in the Roman era. While studying under a well respected tutor, he was nearing completion of a major painting when upon arriving in the morning, he found the canvas blotted out with paint.

We all have Christmas memories. Mine are probably as varied as yours. Lots of happy ones, and some lonely ones.     One year while in college, I did not have a home to go back to. I stayed in one of the dorms my college made available for overseas students during Christmas break. While lots of friends invited me to join their families, I decided to work as many hours as I could and declined the invitations. One of the jobs I had was working as a night watchman for a factory l

Seventy years ago this morning, as I am writing this, the United States was thrust into world power status via a surprise attack that almost devastated her Navy. It was a horrible day. Thousands lost their lives. Many thousands more lost their loved ones. With untold millions of dollars worth of equipment, buildings, ships and airplanes destroyed, especially at the tail end of The Great Depression, the attacking nation had hoped the US military would be relegated to a minor t

I read a spoof article today, announcing a new drug that is supposedly now on the market, promising a cure for the common cold. Within 6 hours, all cold symptoms will be gone and the underlying virus will be eradicated. A spokesperson for the company was quoted as saying, “We’re excited and happy to do the public some good.” But then the article went on to explain that as with all medications, there are some side effects. Here are some associated with this new miracle drug: H