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by John Phillips | posted in: Vol. 27: 4th Quarter 2024, John Phillips | Have you ever asked yourself what the odds of you being you, are? The answer will bring you down some very geeky roads with large numbers, obviously.

I remember penny candy and penny gumball machines. They are, of course, no longer available, and soon the penny itself will also join them in extinction.

When I was in school, back in the “good ole days” no activities were scheduled on Wednesday nights or Sunday. Those days were set aside for church. Like many other things, that has changed and not for the better….

I was visiting with friends just before New Years and asked them if they were going to make any New Year’s resolutions. Only one of them had plans to do so. I must admit, I did not. If I would have, I would have taken some advice given many years ago….

An answer to the 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon’s written inquiry, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” has been printed in newspapers throughout the nation. One of the most beloved Christmas stories traces its origins to a picturesque street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood.

“Peanuts” is my all-time favorite comic strip. When our kids were growing up, almost every December we would watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” With that in mind, when I read the following, I not only was in total agreement, but it also sent me on a great trip down “memory lane.

It would be my first time to cut down my “own” Christmas tree. My dad and I had gotten permission from our good friend John Daugherty to go on his land and take any tree we wanted. We got started a little later in the afternoon than we had hoped.

Language is not the only thing that has gone by the wayside. How many of you remember the pay phones?

I recently read where test scores are down across the state in our public schools. The news made me think of the following item sent to me by one of our readers…. Teaching Math: A Historic Overview Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.

I understand that cursive writing has been brought back into our schools. I hope so. I enjoyed the following article… Do We Really Need Cursive Writing? With the rise of electronic communications, even less time is being devoted to teaching handwriting in our schools.