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Articles written by mike sunderland


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  • Civil Discourse

    Mike Sunderland|Feb 23, 2023

    Reaching back into the not so far distant past, one of the activities I participated in during my high school years was debate. Monroe High School in Fairbanks, Alaska had a debate club that I joined shortly after leaving the high school choir. My voice had changed and I couldn't hold a note without ending up screeching in C above high C. That simple change ended up making a great change in many things in my life over the following years. Among the things we were taught in the debate club,... Full story

  • Dealing With Stress

    Mike Sunderland, Columnist|Feb 9, 2023

    After watching young people (anyone under 30 years old... snicker) demonstrating and rioting because they find their lot in life so difficult I want to throw up. It makes me that sick. They want other people to pay for their college education. They want to enter the work force and get paid large salaries for sitting on their duffs in front of a computer screen. They act like they are the only ones who have to deal with the stress of living. Yep. Living can be stressful, especially when you have...

  • Pushing More Buttons

    Mike Sunderland, Columnist|Jan 26, 2023

    Power hungry politicos are using "climate change" to scare you out of your wits and make you willing to bow down to their power grab over your life. They believe that we must allow them to do what they want or the world is doomed. Let's look at a couple of the tools they claim will help solve the climate crisis. There really is no crisis, but we'll look at that another time. The major item in their tool box is wind power and battery-powered vehicles. Having lived in various locations in this...

  • Pushing Buttons

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Jan 12, 2023

    Do you remember the TV show this quote is from: "Push the button, Max!" It was invariably followed with, "That's the wrong button!" instantly followed by chaos. No fair peeking at the answer. After watching the recent elections and the national news pundits I was reminded of the TV show that frequently used that verbiage in it's scripts. For the most part the show was one comedy foul up after another as the main character tried to accomplish his assignment. The recent elections reminded me of...

  • Getting a Short Course

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Dec 29, 2022

    Aside from using a Kodak Brownie (which I doubt few today even recognize the name!) and borrowing dad's old 35mm Argus a couple of times in high school, I didn't know much about taking pictures, much less developing film and making prints. After joining the family newspaper in Winamac, Indiana Dad assigned me the job of taking pictures at a local basketball game. He hauled out this old 4"x5" sheet film Crown Speed Graphic. You see them in the old, old movies. They weigh about 4 lbs. Add another... Full story

  • In Defense of Freedom

    Mike Sunderland|Dec 15, 2022

    There are those who are so scornful, or maybe afraid, of the past history of the United States of America they want to remove the study of American history and our nation's system of government from our schools. Among the reasons given it is claimed that there are more important things to learn. It is asserted that it is more vital our children learn how to live in today's digital world. Some base this argument on their belief that the past is not relevant to the present. Others contend the... Full story

  • Changing Things

    Mike Sunderland|Dec 1, 2022

    By Calvin K. Sunderland, edited by Michael K. Sunderland When Roosevelt came in things worsened quickly for the Sunderlands. FDR’s first act in office was to close every bank in the nation for the historic bank holiday. There was panic in some quarters and banks went under to the dismay of their depositors. A flood of emergency measures came from the White House quickly rubber-stamped by a thoroughly cowed Congress. Whatever Roosevelt wanted, he got with hardly a murmur of dissent. The... Full story

  • In Defense of Freedom

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Oct 27, 2022

    There are those who are so scornful, or maybe afraid, of the past history of the United States of America. They want to remove the study of American history and our nation's system of government from our schools. Among the reasons given it is claimed that there are more important things to learn. It is asserted that it is more vital our children learn how to live in today's digital world. Some base this argument on their belief that the past is not relevant to the present. Others contend the...

  • Changing Things

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Oct 13, 2022

    By Calvin K. Sunderland, edited by Michael K. Sunderland When Roosevelt came in, things worsened quickly for the Sunderlands. FDR’s first act in office was to close every bank in the nation for the historic bank holiday. There was panic in some quarters and banks went under to the dismay of their depositors. A flood of emergency measures came from the White House quickly rubber-stamped by a thoroughly cowed Congress. Whatever Roosevelt wanted, he got with hardly a murmur of dissent. The radica...

  • A Science Fiction Story?

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Oct 6, 2022

    I’m an avid reader. From soup can labels, magazines in doctors’ offices, street signs, newspapers, and just about anything that has the printed word I’ll pick up and read. Early in my life, around 7 or 8 years old I discovered the Tom Swift books and I was hooked. By my early teens I had read every sci-fi book in the Fairbanks Public Library from the Tom Swift series, to the great authors. Over the years the list grew to include Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, H. G. Wells, George...

  • A Cure for Depression

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Sep 29, 2022

    Even in the 1970’s some of the old gold rush style miners lived the life of a hermit and it was a risk to life and limb to explore the mountains in Northern Nevada. You never knew when you would stumble across one of these characters. The first indication you were trespassing on their claim would be the sound of a bullet ricocheting off a rock at your feet. Taking a page out of Wild West history, in mid-summer of 1974 one of Winnemucca’s sheriff’s deputies decided to put together a gang...

  • A Cure for Depression

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Sep 22, 2022

    By Calvin K. Sunderland Edited by Michael K. Sunderland The following is a short excerpt from the Family History my father worked on until Alzheimer’s progressively destroyed his memory. The nation, and the world, found itself beginning the slide into The Great Depression by 1930. The unprecedented economic disaster began with the stock market crash of October and November 1929. It can hardly be argued the crash caused the depression, but it was the curtain raiser. The Great Depression is...

  • Return to 1968

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Sep 15, 2022

    With the on set of warmer temps I invite you to come with me on a short trip to 1968 and visit a couple of “cool” events in my past. As related in an earlier story, “The Blizzard of 1968”, Fairbanks, Alaska was visited with one of the largest snowfalls seen in recorded history for the state. So far as I know the 16 feet of new snow deposited by one storm was the most ever recorded since the Ice Age. Another first was soon to follow. The coldest time of the year in Fairbanks usually...

  • Give 'em A Kick

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Aug 31, 2022

    We take computers for granted. We text, talk, do research and spend too much time sitting on our duffs in front of them. It wasn’t always like that. In 1966 a major change in the way newspapers are produced was previewed. The first computerized typesetting machine was field tested at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. C.W. Sneddon, the owner, was always eager to try new technology and IBM accepted his offer. IBM combined a keystroke capture system with a Selectric typewriter and added a punch tap...

  • Look Out! I'm Back!

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Aug 24, 2022

    With the permission of my wife, of course. So buckle up and prepare for another series of politically incorrect articles. After watching the serious over reach of the enforcement arm of the Democratic Party In Power, aka FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a Lago residence, I can not remain silent. Yes, this might be dangerous as it could induce the radical left into requesting their army of political correctness enforcers to raid my home, subject me to a strip search and put...

  • What Makes Me Secure

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Jun 15, 2022

    Life is full of uncertainties. There are few things I can count on as anchors in the storm. Many of the people and things I thought I could rely on turned out to be false hopes. So what do I count on for my sense of security? If I’ve learned anything in my life to date it is this: I can count on my God and Dorothy, my wife. Before we moved to Sidney, she and I owned and operated The Town & Country Shopper in Albion, NE. Circumstances beyond our control drove us into bankruptcy. Those we though...

  • Real Climate Change

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|May 18, 2022

    The Fairbanks Flood of 1967 was followed by more dramatic climate events. No sooner had 1967 turned into 1968 than we had a winter in which a raging blizzard deposited 16 feet of new snow on the Fairbanks area. We thought that should be the end of it. The weather was expected to moderate. But no, Mother Nature wasn’t finished with us. She had one more piece of nastiness for us. The coldest time of the year in Fairbanks comes in January and normally lasts but a week or so. This winter the...

  • The Blizzard of '68

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|May 11, 2022

    The winter after the great Fairbanks flood of the previous year was memorable. Mother Nature was not finished with us. She must have known that I would soon be leaving Alaska for good and she wanted to make sure I would remember what it was like. I’ve read stories of blizzards on the Great Plains, but nothing I have read, or experienced since has come close to the one that hit Fairbanks in 1968, my last winter in Alaska (except one I experienced in Kansas in 1954). At the time I was working...

  • Disinformation Campaign

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|May 4, 2022

    Who do you trust to tell you the truth? Would you know the truth if you heard it? What is the difference between “disinformation” and a “different point of view or belief”? Your answers to these questions will have a great deal of influence on who and what you believe in. We are hearing a great deal from certain characters in our federal government and mass news media about “disinformation”. They are so distraught over what they call “disinformation” they want to instigate (yes,...

  • Now That's A Footprint!

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Apr 27, 2022

    I came across some stats the other day that, if remotely accurate, are astounding, shocking and demand action. Fasten your seatbelt and prepare for a jolt. According to this info it takes 21 to 35 days for a Russian oil tanker to get to a US port to be offloaded. It takes between 35 to 60 days for a tanker from the Middle East to make the same trip. It takes about 10 hours to load a tanker and up to 24 hours to unload if it has to wait in port, and to get to an unloading dock can take up to 3...

  • We Have It Rough?

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Apr 6, 2022

    If you think we have it rough today with a shaky economy, terrorists, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, tidal waves, high taxes, high unemployment rates, low income to high cost of living ratio, a growing stronger dictatorial federal government, and all of the additional etceteras of life in today’s America – think again. Consider poor Methuselah and all that he had to deal with. For starters how about having a 900-year lifespan? And you think you get bored doing the same...

  • How to Stop a Bully

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Apr 6, 2022

    In my preteen years our family lived in a subdivision across the river from downtown Fairbanks, AK. Besides having one of the best home we had lived in up to that time, the housing area was surrounded with a virgin forest that was a perfect playground for youngsters. We hiked, played hide-and-go-seek, and went fishing in the Chena River on the forest’s edges. Tree forts were built in many tall pine and spruce trees. The forts were used for several different purposes. We played war games,...

  • A Smashed Elbow

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Mar 30, 2022

    Edited by Michael K. Sunderland Calvin K. Sunderland, my dad was, among many things a storyteller. It’s a trait that seems to have been passed on to me. I recently unearthed the following story of my dad’s while sorting through a stack of his letters and papers. It reveals a lot about where I got many of my traits. “The summer of 1941 was not over and by late summer I’d recovered enough from my exposure to poison ivy to be feeling frisky again. Horsing around got me into worse trouble...

  • Advanced Training

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Mar 23, 2022

    When advanced Navy boot camp training commenced in earnest our recruit company was quickly immersed in fire fighting techniques, first aid, NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical warfare), among other necessary skills. We spent two sweltering days in Southern California heat at the San Diego Navy boot camp learning to handle fire hoses and how to put out a shipboard fire with nothing but water. It was hot miserable necessary training. When you are 100s of miles out to sea there are no fire...

  • What Is News

    Mike Sunderland, Thoughts from a Grey-Haired Point of View|Mar 16, 2022

    Working for a local newspaper may not be as glamorous as working for a big city daily, but it is not boring. Where else can you do a story on a carrot that looks like Abe Lincoln, a 2-headed snake, or cover a cat rescue? One of the memorable stories I covered gave me opportunities to do it like the big city boys. In mid 1974 Northern Nevada from the Black Rock Desert on the west thru Elko County on the east was hit with high winds. For many hours from early in the day the wind blew at 70 mph wit...

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