Saving money by downgrading asphalt to gravel.

Some rural Michigan counties are converting their paved roads to gravel, because they’re much cheaper to maintain. I live on a gravel road, and it always grates when developers buy a bunch of land and then offer to pay the cost of paving the existing gravel road that leads to it, knowing that it will …

“Why journalists deserve low pay.”

Economics professor Robert G. Picard argues that many journalists deserve low pay in an article in the Christian Science Monitor and, to my surprise, I agree with him. Picard’s thesis is: To create economic value, journalists and news organizations historically relied on the exclusivity of their access to information and sources, and their ability to …

Is “conservative nightlife” an oxymoron?

The Washington Post is in a bit of trouble for disparaging Lynchburg, although really it’s for disparaging religions conservatism. A freelancer promoting Lynchburg wrote of her low expectations, writing that “its reputation as home of conservative Christian-oriented Liberty University and the late Jerry Falwell hardly bodes well for style, culture and night life.” The ombudsman …

Jandd is a company worth buying gear from.

I bought a Jandd Gabriel messenger bag in 1995, in part because of its lifetime warranty. I’ve used it every day since. The shoulder strap wore out in 2000 and again last year. Each time I contacted Jandd, and each time they’ve repaired it for me without complaint or cost (and each time with a …

Thomas Garrett is now representing himself.

Writes Hawes Spencer at The Hook: Daleville attorney James Creekmore is no longer representing the Buckingham publicist/author/chicken farmer who’s suing the Hook and two of its reporters for $10.7 million. A Buckingham judge signed an April 14 order that allows Creekmore to withdraw as Tommy Lightfoot Garrett’s legal counsel. For those keeping track, I’ve gone …

The new homesteaders movement.

All of a sudden, everybody’s getting chickens. It started before the recession, over the past couple of years, but it’s really taken off in the past six months. Acquaintances talk of how many square feet their new garden plot is or how many varieties of tomatoes that they’ve planted. People under the age of 65 …