One of the most evil terrorists in the world arrived in New York today ahead of his scheduled address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. That's right. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, a man Ronald Reagan called the "Mad Dog of the Middle East," is in the United States.

That the United Nations would give this animal any credibility by receiving him at all is beyond me...read more

After a year of flying as a pilot for Skydive Idaho, I made my first jump on Sunday.

It was fantastic. If you have ever even contemplated going skydiving, I encourage you to do it.

The experience goes something like this for the first-timer:

1. Climb aboard a Cessna 182 with tandem instructor and watch the ground get small beneath you. Am I nuts? I fly these things. I don't jump out of them...read more

I am not a person who gives much respect or attention to superstitious mumbo-jumbo, but I do believe I have seen an omen that forebodes the end of civilization as I thought I knew it.

Whilst searching for updates today on the copy desk for stories related to Travis the face-eating chimp, I came across this intellectually malodorous gem from the Associated Press:

Chimp's memoir among contenders...read more

In general, whenever I've looked up in the daytime sky above the valley in the past week or so, I see blue. Everything looks normal. Maybe a few white clouds here and there, but nothing that really screams out "air pollution."

That is, until I go to work at my other job as a pilot and climb up 10,000 feet above the ground. Then, the contrast is stark and undeniable. A clearly discernable...read more

When I moved here from Florida almost seven years ago with my wife, we came for Idaho's outdoor recreation opportunities. And although the skiing, snowboarding, camping, hiking, mountain biking and fishing have been great, what has kept us here has really been the people of this state.

A couple of days after first arrived here, my wife left her purse in a shopping cart we had left in a busy Meridian...read more

OK, that was bit obnoxious. But it was rather warm on Monday.

As a pilot, I pay extra attention to the thermometer when the mercury approaches triple-digit temperatures. As the air heat up, its molecules spread out and the "density altitude" rises. As this happens, aircraft performance decreases.

As homeowner, I dislike extremely hot days because it means I either have to get up early...read more

While I'm not the hard-core "Trekkie" type who attends conventions, learns to speak Klingon or dresses up in costume for the premiere of a new movie, I am a fan of the franchise, just the same.

On May 8, a new Star Trek movie hits movie screens across the United States.

From the reviews I've read and trailers I've seen, I think it will be the best one yet. Maybe as good as...read more

Three clowns that threaten the stability of the world. Throw in the wildcard that is nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is now being overrun by the Taliban, and you've got a scary situation indeed.

As the attention of the U.S. has turned to the global economic crisis, I hope world leaders don't ignore the free-roaming, 700-pound gorillas in the room.

These guys worry me more and more every day...read more

It's as if North Korea uses Yahoo! Babel Fish to translate its rhetoric.

While they seem to have enough resources to support a "peaceful satellite" program, the communist regime evidently cannot find anyone fluent enough in English to translate their indignant anger for us.

As you may know, the isolationist nation is preparing to launch a rocket that's expected to fly over Japan...read more

WARNING: The following blog entry contains a mild amount of snobbery that may offend teenage girls, bored technophiles and reality show fans. But for the most part, it's about embracing optimism.

Sometimes, bad things come in threes. This year, however, bad things just seem to be coming by the truckload.

The recession. Midwest flooding. Volcanic eruptions. Face-ripping chimpanzees. Twitter...read more

As a pilot, news reports of plane crashes always grab my attention.

Sunday's fatal incident in Montana, in which 14 people (including 7 young children) lost their lives, was no different.

All good pilots are taught to try and consider every possible situation that could jeopardize the aircraft they fly and, most importantly, the people aboard those planes who entrust their lives to us.

One...read more

It's a question that people will sometimes ask me. Usually it's my wife, who's always trying to gain some insight into my thought processes. Usually, the answer is "nothing."

Sometimes, the answer may be profound: M-theory, human psychology, uses for the Large Hadron Collider, the ramifications of Rommel's decision to dig in at El Alamein....

Sometimes, not so much: "Mmmmmm...read more

It's one of the things that first attracted me to journalism. As a reporter, I enjoyed learning and writing about people.

As a page designer/copy editor, I like reading these stories — which also includes the obituaries.

On the nights when I am tasked with posting death notices and obituaries to the Web, I wonder what more there was to the stories of such people. Even a long obit that...read more

Reporter Jon Meyer reminds me of my grandmother.

No, he doesn't look like her, but I just learned he does ferret away ketchup packets and plastic utensils like she used to.

I'm assuming he's just trying to be prepared for future in-office meals and that he's not some sort of "collector."

My grandmother, or "Nana," as I called her, was a woman who lived through...read more

When I'm not working here at the Idaho Press-Tribune, I try to spend as much time as I can putting my commercial pilot's license to good use by flying skydivers at Skydive Idaho in Star.

I am supposed to go flying tomorrow, but with tonight's storm and the clouds that will no doubt linger, I'm starting to wonder if that will pan out.

Although I'm instrument-rated, skydivers like...read more

A view from the copy desk

The rising waters of ignorance in our country are starting to inundate my mind, leaving my nerves short-circuited.

Today, while building the international page for Friday's newspaper, I came across a story out of Puerto Rico.

As Puerto Rico is a part of the United States, I found this more curious than annoying.

Then I began reading this: "SAN JUAN, Puerto...read more

A view from the copy desk

I pose the above question, as countless many have before me, not as a rhetorical one, but as one I wish could be answered.

My vexation comes after a new year seems to have brought with it new, albeit random and isolated, horrors in the form of news stories illustrating monstrous acts of barbarity and cold-heartedness.

Almost every day as I review the daily Associated...read more