Andy Hallman

When I was a young boy, June meant one thing and one thing only: baseball. Little League baseball seemed to consume the entire month through practices, games or playing catch in the backyard.I thought about those Little League days recently when one of my favorite players retired from the majors. Kerry Wood, a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, was having a rough 2012 season. He spent part of the year on the disabled ...

For 15 years, our family had a pet cat we called ?Tiger.? We got Tiger from a litter of kittens on a farm that belonged to a family friend. I told my friends at school that we named it Tiger, and I quickly learned that was hardly an original moniker. In fact, the name has to be up there with ?Whiskers? as one of the most popular cat names of all time.In my family?s defense, our Tiger actually resembled a tiger. ...

There are a few recent inventions that relate to cars that have caught my eye. They both could revolutionize transportation. One is a car that drives itself and the other is a car that turns into an airplane. I?ll give you a moment while you pick your jaw up off the ground.The self-driving car was pioneered by Google. It is well beyond the testing stage and the closed-course demonstrations. The car has already ...

A 10,000-year clock By Andy HallmanThe JOURNALOne of the greatest engineering feats of all time is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which was built in Egypt in about 2500 B.C. For 3,800 years it was the tallest structure in the world. Modern skyscrapers have easily eclipsed its height but the pyramid?s longevity is still unmatched.I recently discovered that a team of scientists is working on building something ...

The town of Riverside is abuzz over the proposed splashpad. When the issue came up last year, I had to do some research just to find out what a splashpad was because I had never gone to one. My hometown of Pocahontas is about twice the size of Riverside and is able to support a swimming pool, which I visited frequently as a boy.I took swimming lessons in early elementary school. Back then, in the mid 1990s, we ...

I recently came across a video produced by the Cato Institute that was intended to introduce viewers to libertarianism. The video features David Boaz, the institute?s vice president, explaining the fundamental beliefs of libertarians. One of those central beliefs is the desirability of a free market economy as opposed to one that is centrally planned.Boaz says that the way goods are distributed in a free market ...

My parents just returned from a two-week vacation to Arizona, where they went to visit some friends. This is the third year winter in a row that they?ve gone to Arizona. Before they left, my dad told me he likes to go at the end of January because it ?breaks up the winter.?Iowa?s winter can be very dreary if it?s windy and cold for months on end, so I can understand my parents? desire to take a vacation from it. ...

My youngest sister, Mary, had a surprise birthday party over the weekend. One of her friends at Iowa State, where she goes to school, organized the party and invited several of her high school classmates and her two siblings. It was a 2 ½ hour drive for me and even farther for my sister, Julie, who drove four hours from Wisconsin. We all gathered at a restaurant in one of its back rooms. Mary?s friend told a fib ...

The GOP South Carolina Primary is tomorrow and the quest for the nomination is not yet over. Several candidates have dropped out but four remain in the race. At this time, there are usually calls for the minor candidates to get out of the running so they do not ?steal? votes from candidates who have a chance.The theory is that since voters can only choose one candidate, the more candidates there are the greater ...

A number of people told me months ago that the coming winter was going to be very cold and snowy. When I heard that my heart sank because I knew that if that were true I might not make it home to celebrate Christmas in my hometown of Pocahontas. Two years ago there was a bad snowstorm just before Christmas and I had to cancel my travel plans. I did not want the same thing to happen this year.Fortunately for me ...

There are many things about our calendar and ways of keeping time that leave you scratching your head. We have seven months of 31-days and yet we shortchange February by giving it a measly 28 days (and 29 every once in awhile). The calendar most of the Western world uses is the Gregorian Calendar, which is named after Pope Gregory VIII who introduced it in 1582. At the time of its introduction much of the Western ...

At the GOP presidential debate in Iowa last week, Mitt Romney made headlines when he challenged Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet. Perry had accused Romney of deleting a line in his book ?No Apology? between hardback and softcover editions that he claimed showed that Romney wanted to expand Massachusetts? health care plan to the nation. Romney denied the accusation and bet $10,000 that Perry could not prove the charge. ...

I was excited to hear that another planet that could support life has been discovered in the universe. A few days ago NASA reported that one of its telescopes had discovered a planet, named Kepler 22-b, which is twice earth?s size and orbiting a sun-like star about 600 light years away. The surface of the planet is believed to be about 72 degrees.This is an exciting find because it means the planet could ...

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and thus some thanks are in order. We should be thinking of things to be thankful for all year round, and Thanksgiving is a special reminder of that, especially for those of us who don?t do it as often as we should.One thing I am thankful for, and which we should all be thankful for, is being alive in the year 2011. The other day I was chatting with a friend about the Occupy Wall ...

I attended only public school throughout my childhood, but I had two good friends who did not. Both of them were home-schooled for large portions of their upbringing and both of them are exceptionally bright. Because of our friendship I was spurred to learn more about alternative methods of education. In the past year, I have been reading about a really interesting version of home-schooling called ?unschooling.?...