By Rachel Sargent The oyster mushroom: delicious, frequently spotted on veggie pizzas, and predatory. That’s right. The hyphae of many fungi, including the oyster mushroom, attack and paralyze prey. Then, as R. Greg Thorn of Western University enthusiastically described, the fungi “grow down their throats and digest them from the inside.” Oyster mushrooms live in…

The following is the first in a series of reviews of randomly selected, low-quality, made-for-TV Christmas movies. The most disconcerting element of the fictional universe of the 2011 ABC Family movie “12 Dates of Christmas”—the tale of a Manhattanite named Kate (Amy Smart) who goes on a blind date on Christmas Eve with the Perfect…

As I look back at some of the foolish things my friends and I did in our youth, I can only say, “What was I thinking???” One of the pranks many of us pulled was calling people and asking, “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” Without even giving them a chance to answer,…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye The Moon has just slipped into Scorpio, and this week's Horoscopes are coming out under a series of aspects that are bound to make for an interesting time. With the Scorpionic vibe putting a twist on things, and the Festival of Lights, and the Advent Season giving…

If you spent 44 years with the same employer, you must love the company. If you’ve been in the same profession for 60 years, you must really love what you do. Both of these statements are true and apply to Doug Gray, the lead vocalist of the Marshall Tucker Band. Don’t miss your opportunity to…

By Dom Cioffi In retrospect, I should have warned my son about the “scene” he was walking into. But then again, sometimes it’s better to let life unfold and talk about it later. I could see his eyes widen as we made our way through the hallway: long, dimly lit and with a faint smell…

By Michael J. Caduto There was a time in the waters known by the Abenaki peoples as Kwenitegok, “Long River,” when migratory fish moved in such multitudes that their backs appeared as a living bridge from shore to shore. After the glacier melted, shad and alewives returned to migrate up our rivers for 10,000 years,…

Br Brady Crain So, Dallas. I love Dallas. My family is in Dallas. Five uncles and aunts, 15 cousins, uncounted first cousins twice removed. All of these people migrated from the scene of the original crime in Newton and Wichita, Kansas (GO SHOCKERS), and they are now strung out between Norman, Okla. (GO SOONERS) and…

A full month has passed in which my minor obsession with Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” music video has not subsided; I suppose it may be time to come clean. Released on Oct. 22, 2015, the clip has so far notched only about half as many YouTube views as “What Do You Mean?” the lead single from…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week's Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Leo Moon, with short and long term aspects that include the Sun and Saturn, in a hard Square to the planet Neptune. Translating this configuration into laymen's terms it comes down to confronting our illusions and…

By Brady Crain Skiing has proved a distraction for Crain’s running goals... he just can’t get enough of it, includeing this peak view. So this is the week that I travel to Dallas to run in my race. Given my acute loathing of running on pavement, I have been avoiding it. Instead I’ve been skiing,…

Your pets and Thanksgiving By M. Kathleen Shaw, DVM Vermont Veterinary Medical Association The last thing any pet owner wants to do on Thanksgiving is rush their pet to the animal emergency room. The sad truth, however, is that many pets are injured or poisoned around Thanksgiving. How can you make sure your holiday doesn’t end in…

By Elise Tillinghast Last week, a black bear in a blaze orange collar showed up in our yard. Two cubs followed close behind. The sow paused to observe the house, then led her cubs up across our field and down into a small stand of apple trees beside the road. There the family feasted on…

I’ll bet just about everyone reading this column remembers bringing home papers from school that informed your parents about the opportunity to take lessons on a musical instrument. You could rent the instrument in the beginning and eventually buy it. For me this musical opportunity came around the sixth grade. The usual “hype” accompanied the…

I’ve just listened to Adele’s newly released album “25,” which a lot of people expect to be the bestselling album of 2015—which is the reason I listened to it, I guess, even though I don’t particularly care for Adele as a musician. The album strikes me as loud, overproduced, emotionally unsubtle, lyrically and musically repetitive,…