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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Benefit concert in Ashland Sunday boosts GMO-ban legal defense fund Long drought, big storm make for a dirty Bear Creek Ticket availability Police reports Engine fire extinguished Education Heading to Harvard Rising from the ashes Ashland High School again earns national honors Preschool's future not yet secure Ashland Middle School student spearheads Nepal relief effort Environment Long drought, big storm make for a dirty Bear Creek Jackson County declares drought disaster Ashland publisher offers prize for environmental book Ashland water bills could go up to fund watershed protection Stopping fire in its tracks Business Ashland's CD Or Not CD will carry on Ashland seminars focus on employment law Ashland joins in Craft Beer Week with toast at Standing Stone on Wednesday Cars We Remember: Noted musician unravels 55-year Nash Rambler mystery 'Fill'er up' will mean with beer, not gas Politics and elections Arthur I. Cyr: Camp David summit will not help Mideast stability City of Ashland to consider making recorder position appointive, not elective Ashland water bills could go up to fund watershed protection BREAKING: Baltimore prosecutor charges officers in Gray's death State News Oregon's snowpack at just 11 percent of average Lack of snow nixes ski portion of popular Central Oregon race Bill under debate in Oregon would limit livestock antibiotics Nation - World There's a $10 million precious stone hidden in plain sight at Grand Central Obituaries Nita Day Alan Leslie Robins Eva Robarts Kathryn "Kay" Blanche White Death Notices Shareable Check out top import and export for every U.S. state Patriots fan sets up GoFundMe page to help pay for team's Deflategate fine Sports Latest Stories O'Brien, Kim claim MWL doubles title Kelly McElroy: I hate this ‘game’ App Finder: Best cycling apps Thompson-Siporen earns three MWL titles in first day of district meet Rich Garven: Pumping out some Deflategate thoughts High school O'Brien, Kim claim MWL doubles title Thompson-Siporen earns three MWL titles in first day of district meet Ashland heads to Eugene for MWL district meet Ayers pitches Eagles past Grizzlies Raiders Maguin, Parks, Sanders highlight first day of CCC track meet Southern Oregon University O'Brien, Kim claim MWL doubles title Ashland heads to Eugene for MWL district meet Raiders Maguin, Parks, Sanders highlight first day of CCC track meet SOU lands two on all-CCC softball team See you in August Voices Latest Stories Other Views: Vaccine rate improves Herb Rothschild Jr.: An appalling budget Mark L. Hopkins: The key to education is still the teacher Our View: Focus on the basics Jeffrey Gillespie: Shame on the high seas Editorial Other Views: Vaccine rate improves Our View: Focus on the basics Our View: Elected or appointed? Our View: Change is brewing Our View: Forest work is a bargain Letters Letters to the Editor, May 14 (No heading) Letters to the editor: Tuesday, May 12 Letters to the Editor, May 8 Letters to the Editor, May 6 Guest opinions Guest Opinion: Ambrose spins a conservative fantasy Guest Opinion: Restoring the Plaza's sense of place Guest Opinion: Making conservation a game Guest Opinion: A good day to act Guest Opinion: Allegations unfair to Dr. Tomashefsky Columns Herb Rothschild Jr.: An appalling budget Jeffrey Gillespie: Shame on the high seas Arthur I. Cyr: Camp David summit will not help Mideast stability Ashland by the numbers Chris Honoré: Supreme Court grapples with tradition, suffrage Chris Honore Council Corner Editor's Notes Jeffrey Gillespie Herb Rothschild Revels Latest Stories Ashland Calendar, Thursday, May 14 4 Things To Do This Weekend Movie listings: May 15-21 Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum at The Mountain House Steve Poltz, Grant-Lee Phillips at Old Ashland Armory Theater Ticket availability Ticket Availability Departing Ashland Independent Film Festival programmer talks about what makes a good movie Ticket availability Ticket Availability Music The Farr Side: Contest open for singer-songwriters The Farr Side: Mumford & Sons’ latest is full-on rock Interview: Country singer Suzy Bogguss enjoying life on the road The Farr Side: CMAs do it right, in many ways Interview: Offspring plays hits new and old on tour Visual Art Movies Movie review: ‘Mad Max’ is a fresh, fantastic approach to a classic idea Your A-to-Z guide to the ‘Mad Max’ franchise Movie listings: May 15-21 'Wild Tales' is twisted, dark and lovely Movie review: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ will leave your inner 12-year-old giggling with glee Food and Drink Taqueria Picaro takes over Tabu space Owner of Mix and Amuse to bring Flip burger joint to Ashland Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Inner Peace: God's sigh: the breath of prayer Barbara Presnell: The life, legacy of Sam, a little white dog   Looking Up: Jupiter heading toward Venus Quills: Minimalist group celebrates having more satisfaction with less stuff Betty Montgomery: Longleaf pines making a comeback Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Mocha Musings Rogues: Tales from the Valley Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business Business Services NEWS NOW Herb Rothschild Jr.: An appalling budget ... Ashland Calendar, Saturday, May 16 ... Benefit concert in Ashland Sunday boosts GMO-ban legal defense fund ... Herb Rothschild Jr.: An appalling budget ... Ashland Calendar, Saturday, May 16 ... Benefit concert in Ashland Sunday boosts GMO-ban legal defense fund ... COMMENTARY Chris Honoré: 2014: the best and the rest Comment By Chris Honoré DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré Posted Dec. 31, 2014 at 12:01 AM By Chris Honoré Posted Dec. 31, 2014 at 12:01 AM » Social News And thus endeth the 15th year of the third millennium, the 15th year of the 21st century, and the beginning of the sixth year of the 2010s decade. There was a time when folks didn’t have a clue about even a fraction of the stuff that occurs in any given year. But no longer. We now live fully in a post-Gutenberg world where being wired means being wireless, screens are ubiquitous, and if it’s happening in the remotest part of the world, well, we’re in the loop, like it or not. So let’s take a moment and review some of what occurred in 2014, much of it in our peripheral vision or, briefly, surging, taking stage center, only to vanish as the next event flares. Twitter, once thought to be an over-the-counter drug, is still very much with us. And instead of hashtag it’s now bashtag because there are a lot of, well, snarky, cranky people out there that use Twitter believing they’re the hammer and everything on social media is a nail. Kim and Kanye West, self-designated power couple, finally married in Italy (huge bash). They have a daughter named North. Really. Is there really a reality TV show called “Duck Dynasty”? OK, but reassure me: There never ever was a show called “Honey Boo Boo.” Please. Have we already forgotten the NFL trying to explain the nuances of domestic violence, an explanation that turned into a train wreck and had commissioner Roger Goodell wishing for a Heidi Bowl moment? It felt like he got jammified, meaning seriously jammed up, while insisting that the boys on the field were gentle giants. However, in the parlance of 2014, jammified means showing up at Starbucks wearing your jammies (at least the bottoms). Life lesson No. 49: We once again are reminded that the characters actors portray on the big screen (or the small) are not the people they are in real life. They may portray someone we long for or want as our BFF. Bill Cosby is a fine example. But it’s possible (alleged) that this glorious TV dad is not so glorious after all. Already a distant memory: The Olympic Winter Games held in Sochi, Russia, where V. Putin medaled in all events – shirtless. And speaking of Vladimir, who can forget Rudy Giuliani’s bromance with Vlad, Rudy waxing poetic, so impressed by the Russian’s decisiveness and lack of concern for public opinion (like, say, the electorate). This is a man ready to charge ahead and get stuff done. You know, like quasi-dictators can do. Rudy was breathless in his praise. And speaking of Vlad going shirtless, 2014 was the warmest year on record. Aloha shirts for everyone. Except, of course, during that awful winter last January named for the Polar Vortex, which sounds like something you wear under your fleece. It was cold. Really cold. But this in no way obviates the reality of global warming, which is just another name for extreme weather. Tell Sen. James Inhofe and crew, deniers all. Stunning mystery of the year: Malaysian flight 370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China, with 239 people on board, vanished without a shred of debris, thousands of miles off course and somewhere over the South China Sea (maybe). And recall, grimly, Malaysian flight 17, the target of ground-to-air missiles, the alleged perpetrators denying any connection to the shoot-down or Russia. Sure. Other names we couldn’t avoid: ISIS (a magnet for worldwide psychopaths?); Boko Haram (the school girls are still missing); Ferguson (a traumatic racial-divide reveal to include New York’s “I can’t breathe”); and the scourge of Ebola, still ongoing in Africa. And there was the Nov. 4 shellacking (high-gloss finish) of the Dems in the mid-term election: Senate and House now solidly Republican, for reasons that still elude. And sadly, wondering why, a sincere farewell to Robin Williams and Philip Seymour Hoffman. We will miss their immeasurable talent. Final words and trends for 2014: al desko (eating lunch at your desk); social media oversharers who are all about assuming that everyone truly cares what hair gel they’re using; gnarly, gnome-like, state-sponsored meta-hackers gone seriously rogue, this go-round targeting Sony; words to live by from the hit film “Frozen”: “Let It Go”; and last and clearly least: pastel arm hair. Let it grow. Chris Honoré lives in Ashland. 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