Columnists

A romance is the background to a splendid tutorial on Egyptology, tombs and hieroglyphics

Reviewed by Robert McCool
How about a little romance for Feb. 14th?

In #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Jodi Picoult’s latest novel, the book of two ways (Ballentine Books, Isbn 978-1-4328-8334-8), romance is the background to a splendid tutorial on Egyptology, tombs, and hieroglyphics. With four pages of reference materials at the finish you can immerse yourself in a time far past knowing the details of that time are accurate and made simple for us to understand.

Neil Schmidt could be Bluffton HS's all-time most outstanding male athlete

Would you believe that a Bluffton High School graduate earned four Super Bowl rings? That honor goes to Neil Schmidt’s collection, who might well be the best male athlete to graduate from BHS.

The 1940s-era Bluffton High School athletic standout in football and basketball started in both sports at Purdue, was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals and became a scout for the San Francisco 49ers.

He was the only Pirate to be named first team all-Ohio in two sports the same season, in football and basketball.

This is a novel that I will read again someday when I want to travel throughout 19th century Texas.

Reviewed by Robert McCool
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a 71-year-old vet of two wars who rides through the state of Texas reading the news of the world to groups of people for a dime apiece.

A newspaper printer who lost his press in the just finished War Between the States, he buys newspapers from both far away and local to Texas and people flock to his readings in order to hear the latest news. Many are illiterate.

Our Swiss connection - part 12

This is the 12th installment in this series. Click here for the previous installment.

Later in this series we will feature the David and Elizabeth Neuenschwander Stauffer family. One of their children, Regina, married Christian Matter, This couple is the focus of this week’s column.

No matter how you plan on spending the day, whether it’s getting comfy for a Valentine’s Day movie or a romantic dinner at home, stay safe

Reviewed by Craig Hoffman 
Often even the best Valentine’s Day plans fail. In a year when going out to celebrate love is difficult, what is one to do? Thankfully, there are tons of great singers who can put a little romance in your life even while you are sitting at home.

What are your favorite love songs? Let the Icon know in the comments!

Music streaming

By Derek Swartzlander
How do you listen to your music?
  • Do you have a large stack of CDs?
  • How about a crate of old records?
  • Maybe you even have a dusty collection of 8-tracks or an iPod full of mp3 files.

These are what you probably think of when you want to listen to music, however, one of the fastest growing formats for music is streaming.

Streaming is the use of a computer, cell phone, or other technology to have music (or other media, such as movies) delivered to your device.

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