Cumberland Times-News Columns

Not all grasshoppers wind up like Aesop’s

2012-02-11T17:46:52-05:00

I was reminded of an old story recently while talking with a friend about Aesop’s Fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper.

Sobering facts about developing world

2012-02-11T17:45:46-05:00

With the exception of sports and social news, a large portion of the information we get is rather negative, focusing on crime, foreclosures, nasty weather, verbal attacks of one candidate against the other(s), and foreign threats.

History of chopsticks and related subjects

2012-02-11T17:45:20-05:00

Now there are some big questions in life, like where did we come from, and even bigger questions in life, like where are we going? Today, however, I prefer to talk about chopsticks.

Sines & Simpson perfect at Rainbow

2012-02-08T23:34:34-05:00

C.P. Sines and Todd Simpson both bowled perfect games in Rainbow’s Men’s Civic League. Sines was Rainbow’s top bowler for the week with a 766 set. Simpson scored 720/300. Rich Baker with a big score rolling 744/666.

Looking Back: 1923

2012-02-06T22:07:16-05:00

Thomas Footer knew the formula for wealth. He was a chemist after all. You take one part of good and add to it eight parts of determination and one part belief in yourself.
It was a formula that had worked for him. He was born in England in March 1847. His father was a papermaker, but “he lost both parents in early childhood and began to earn his own living as a boy,” according to the Cumberland Evening Times.

Here’s your chance to meet the bears

2012-02-04T18:45:47-05:00

This afternoon our weekly Sunday programs will resume at 4 p.m. in the Compton Science Center, Room 224. Compton is the large building across the Tawes Hall, set for demolition.

They got while the getting was still good

2012-02-04T18:45:36-05:00

I occasionally make reference to an unidentified woman as being “one of my numerous ex-girlfriends,” and the other night I sat on my back porch with my whiskey and cigars while conducting a review that went as far back as first grade to Indy and Sandy.

For Harper, a great day to be a Mountaineer

2012-02-02T23:56:37-05:00

A dozen years ago or so, there was a Pee Wee League football player scoring virtually at will and forcing everyone in the stands to take notice.

Bob Greene’s 816 leads area

2012-02-02T23:44:19-05:00

Bob Greene bowled a near-perfect 299 game and an 816 set at Wilson Lanes and was highest of the local area bowlers for the week. Scott Hixenbaugh was next high at Wilson, scoring 746/267. Clay Corbin rolled a big 290 game in his 707 set.
At The Bowler, Dave Yates set the week’s top mark, scoring 766/278. Tim Yutzy was next, rolling 715/269.

Somewhere over the rainbow starts here

2012-01-31T23:24:46-05:00

During a break in the program Sunday night, former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Bob Robertson sat at a table backstage sharing some stories from the day when he played some of the finest defensive first base and hit some of the longest home runs in the major leagues in helping the Bucs to the 1971 world championship.