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By DAN MACKIE

The Valley News was born in 1952 and so was I. This is probably coincidence, but I like to think there is more to our association than the fact that we are both from the year of the water dragon in the Chinese calendar.According to the Internet,...

By DAN MACKIE

It was Traffic vs. the Eclipse on Monday, a showdown of celestial proportions. Would I risk everything like Marco Polo who bravely set out to see the world, or follow the example of his brother Rocco, who said their hometown of Venice was “plenty good...

By DAN MACKIE

The World Happiness Report is out, and America’s ranking might make you frown. The USA, where “the pursuit of happiness” is enshrined in the Constitution, just after “the Right to Taylor Swift Concert Tickets” and “Snacks on on Super Bowl Sunday,” has...

By DAN MACKIE

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and I suppose in Ireland there might be a pub on that very corner. So there’s a little bit of sadness in knowing that my West Lebanon corner leads to a gas station with hot dogs spinning on rollers...

By DAN MACKIE

This inflation thing has gone too far. Not only are supermarkets working toward a $5 minimum for essentials such as cookies, the cost of something near and dear to my heart is inching ever higher.I refer to often overlooked old-fashioned oats. They...

By DAN MACKIE

The U.S. Postal Service seems to think it can get mail to us more quickly by sending it far away and hauling it back. It is hatching a scheme — for all I know named Project Hither and Yon — to ship mail from Hartford, Vt., to Hartford, Conn., where it...

By DAN MACKIE

We recently voted in the New Hampshire presidential primary — you may have heard of it. I went to the polls in low spirits, but I am always cheered by the friendly poll workers in West Lebanon who have to make sure I’m not trying to steal an...

By DAN MACKIE

It doesn’t do much good to complain about the weather because Mother Nature ignores my texts and emails.Thanks to climate change or something else (choose your own reality), the 10-day outlook calls for warm, cold, sun, clouds, calm, gales, drought...

By DAN MACKIE

Tis the season to be as merry as we can manage. It’s fair to say that political and cultural events in 2023 have left us with something of a glee shortage. The latest polls say good will to men is not trending upward.And even Santa Claus is affected...

By DAN MACKIE

I’m a sap for nostalgia, so the feelings started flowing recently when I happened upon an online discussion about Upper Valley businesses we miss. I’m not sure why memory attaches to certain stores, but it does, like a sticky spill on aisle 2.I’m not...

By DAN MACKIE

Have you thought about ancient Rome today? That is an odd question, related to one of the oddest trend stories I’ve encountered on the internet.An online social influencer recently urged followers to ask the men in their life how often they think...

By DAN MACKIE

Presidential primary season is upon us, as it is every four years. Little deal New Hampshire gets to feel like a big deal and local pols hope to catch a rising star and win a key post in the next administration.As a longtime New Hampshire voter, I...

By DAN MACKIE

A funny thing happened on the way to a DHMC operating room. On the morning of July 26, as I pondered my fate on a hospital gurney, a medical professional asked me if I knew “exactly” why I was there that day.I chuckled. “If I wasn't here,” I said, “my...

By DAN MACKIE

I have never had much interest in gambling, other than in matters like eating dicey leftovers from the fridge. “I have an iron stomach,” I tell my wife and chief risk assessment officer, Dede, who does not always approve.As for sports gambling, which...

By DAN MACKIE

I think I know how to save America: Bring back the station wagon.That’s a bold statement, but stick with me. When America ruled the world, station wagons ruled the road. Roof racks were common and could hold half the nation’s GDP, hopefully strapped...

By DAN MACKIE

I have read quite a few self-improvement books in my life but when I finish them I seem to be much the same person I was on page one. “Awaken the Giant Within!” “Be Rich Now!” “Be So Full of Yourself That You and Everyone Else Will Hardly Be Able to...

By DAN MACKIE

Shockingly — SHOCKINGLY — I haven’t heard back from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas about my offer to put him up for a week or two for an Upper Valley vacation with certain, albeit limited, luxury elements.He has been kicking back with...

By DAN MACKIE

On a recent night as we watched the NCAA basketball tournament, I blurted out to myself and the universe, “Now why didn’t I play college ball?”It was an ironic lament, about the road not taken, the ball not dribbled.My wife, Dede, lowered her knitting...

By DAN MACKIE

If the weather predictions have come true this week, it is, as you are reading this, minus-70 degrees out, too cold even for snowmen and polar bears.Cars won’t start. Dogs won’t go out. Water won’t boil. It’s so close to absolute zero that icicles are...

By DAN MACKIE

Right as 2022 was ending (on a locally sleepy note), the news dropped that Lebanon may get a casino on the Miracle Mile.What timing! It just so happened that I was dreaming up fantastic scenarios for the New Year when this whopper dropped in my lap....

By DAN MACKIE

Setting world records might leave you breathless, but an Upper Valley resident has whistled his way to the top.Andrew Stanford, 20, of West Lebanon, recently set a record for the highest note whistled, as recognized by Guinness World Records, the...