Columns

When it comes to signs, in trying to determine when they were first used, you might want to recall the 45 RPM by the Hollywood Argyles that came out in 1960 entitled “Ally Oop” because sign usage goes all the way back to the Stone Age. That was when Mr. Oop and his mates began drawing symbols on cave walls to advertise the products they had that they were willing to barter.

Nick Saban shocked the college football world when he announced his retirement at the age of 72 after 28 years as a head coach (17 in Tuscaloosa). He compiled 292 career wins, 16-straight seasons with at least 10 wins, six national titles with Alabama and a seventh at LSU. Saban also coached four Heisman Trophy winners and contributed to 49 players being selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Many people desire to give something to a local charity, church, school or community group after those people die. For convenience, this column refers to all of these organizations as “charities.”

If you tracked your life with points, would reading this column add or subtract from your total?

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation recently presented its seventh National Day of Racial Healing town hall on NBC News NOW, which was broadcast from Los Angeles. The town hall is always held following Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and this year it was hosted by NBC anchors Kate Snow and Zinhle Essamuah.

Word of mouth has it that on a pain scale of 1 to 10, the bad tooth that recently made my jaw feel like it had been hit by lightning was a 47.

In these troubled times for our country, it is understandable that many wonder if the “American dream” still lives. Might it be dead? Or at least dying? The dream evokes the ideal that all citizens enjoy “an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative.”

Tongues were wagging in Washington when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently went AWOL from the Pentagon. After mysteriously disappearing from public view for a week, leaving even the White House in the dark about his whereabouts, it turned out the secretary was recovering from prostate surgery.

My wife and I do some shopping at Meijer on Elida Road. We frequently see two ladies at the regular checkouts who take care of getting us checked out.

I heard there was another Republican presidential debate last week.