Necessity’s child

Necessity’s child

For the past two-plus decades, a professor has discovered more than 25,000 inventions created by ordinary people in rural India. He believes the best ideas for making life a little easier in the developing world won’t come from corporate research labs in Silicon Valley, but from people struggling to survive.

That being said, we do hear the upgraded case on the new iPad can double as an areca-nut cracker.

Let’s get busy: Concerned about an aging population and low birth rate, the clerics who run Iran have ordered their subjects to start making more babies.

To give the effort a much-needed boost, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered every married Iranian couple of childbearing age to be issued a copy of Barry White’s 1974 album “Can’t Get Enough.”

Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1956, at the height of the Cold War with the atheistic Soviet Union, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure making In God We Trust the national motto, replacing E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one).

In today’s credit crunch, a more apt motto might be Jean Sheppard’s: In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff

Talk to us

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Sunday, Oct. 1

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

FILE — In this Sept. 17, 2020 file photo, provided by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Chelbee Rosenkrance, of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, holds a male sockeye salmon at the Eagle Fish Hatchery in Eagle, Idaho. Wildlife officials said Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, that an emergency trap-and-truck operation of Idaho-bound endangered sockeye salmon, due to high water temperatures in the Snake and Salomon rivers, netted enough fish at the Granite Dam in eastern Washington, last month, to sustain an elaborate hatchery program. (Travis Brown/Idaho Department of Fish and Game via AP, File)
Editorial: Pledge to honor treaties can save Columbia’s salmon

The Biden administration commits to honoring tribal treaties and preserving the rivers’ benefits.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is surrounded by reporters looking for updates on plans to fund the government and avert a shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Comment: Shutdowns a poor way to negotiate a budget

Past brinkmanship has produced agreements with little in budget savings. There are better ways.

Eco-nomics: Climate report card: Needs more effort but shows promise

A UN report shows we’re not on track to meet goals, but there are bright spots with clean energy.

Comment: Child tax credit works against child povery; renew it

After the expanded credit ended in 2021, child poverty doubled. It’s an investment we should make.

Consistent drug pricing would help all

I found a recent column by Megan McArdle about the very current… Continue reading

Can Congress act in time to avert government shutdown?

I just looked in the mirror and saw that I had cut… Continue reading

Matthew Leger
Forum: Amenian festival shows global reach of vounteers

A Kamiak student helped organize a festival and fundraiser for the people of a troubled region.

Dan Hazen
Forum: Things aren’t OK, boomers; but maybe the kids are

Older generations wrote the rules to fit their desires, but maybe there’s hope in their grandchildren.

Most Read