Gadfly

Riding the Economic Merry-Go-Round

March 21st, 2024

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

The Catacombs under Paris Contain the Bones of Millions of Feudalists

Sixty-five feet below the Paris streets are about 170 miles of tunnels that go through stone quarries, galleries, and ossuaries that contain the bones of six million French who died between the 9th and 18th centuries. Along the tunnel walls are ossuaries where human bones are stacked in the form of crosses, hearts, and even a structure called the Eiffel Tower. The entrance is in the…

Read more...


Sex and the World

March 21st, 2024

by Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Why Jerry Lee Lewis Sang: "There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on"

For the last couple of months, the “Star Spangled Banner'' was not the national anthem. It was Jerry Lee Lewis’s song about sex titled “Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on.” At the same time there was a whole lot of sex going on the continents and in the great depths of the oceans. Pope Francis even got into the act by proclaiming in St. Peter’s Square at a general audience…

Read more...


Bowls and Superyachts

March 21st, 2024

By Ed Raymond

farfgogadfly@gmail.com

Two Super Bowl Seats at a 60 Minute Game would Pay a Year’s College Tuition

The final seat price is in. The average seat price for the 2024 Super Bowl is $9,850, figuring in scalpers, grifters, and the like. The super rich paid as much as $66,000 for an executive skybox seat. Meanwhile, back on earth, we have 45 million American adults from 18 to 95 who owe $1.7 trillion in college student debt. The average annual tuition for public universities in…

Read more...


Dung beetle politics

February 15th, 2024

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Politicians could learn a lot by watching dung beetles work for a living

The 400,000 species of beetles is the largest order of insects discovered on Planet Earth, so far. Insect researchers believe that the orders of bees, wasps and ants may be larger, but no one has counted them, so far.

Homo sapiens cannot live without beetles. More than 300 species of beetles are used for food by many animals, including humans. Some beetles are agricultural, forestry…

Read more...


​The Doomsday Clock is Broken

February 15th, 2024

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

MAGA Throwaways: helmets, reason, masks, regulations, seatbelts, and books

There was a time when troops in trenches and foxholes moved from killing each other to recognizing the enemy was also a human being. Christmas morning during World War II in Europe was one time in between firing artillery pieces and machine guns at each other. After the war when countries were divided up or added to, there was an incident between American and East German troops…

Read more...


Angry Orcas and Crazy Horses

January 18th, 2024

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

There are signs 2024 is going to be a disastrous year

My favorite philosopher William Shakespeare was said to recognize 20,000 flowers and often used their qualities to complete a scene, to add meaning to plot and dialogue, and to put another hat or cloak on a character. He understood that the theologians of the time had created the Elizabethan Chain of Being so kings could claim a divine right to rule came directly from God. The chain stretches from…

Read more...


​It Took Two Tons of Metal

December 27th, 2023

ByEd Raymond 

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Tevye: “Oh, Lord, You Made Many, Many Poor People. If I Were a Rich Man………

Whenever Corky and I get a chance to watch “Fiddler on the Roof” we make some popcorn. The short stories about Jewish life titled Tevye the Dairyman and His Daughters were written in Yiddish by the Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem between 1894 and 1914. They are about life in an area called the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia near Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine today,…

Read more...


A Mixture of Red, White, and Blue Can Be Ugly

December 9th, 2023

A Mixture of Red, White, and Blue Can Be Ugly

by Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

These Colors Can Produce Beautiful Flags or Ugly Bruises

As a football player playing guard in the middle of the line, I estimated at the end of eight years of high school and college that I had been hit approximately 14,000 times in 80 games alone, not counting scrimmages and practices. So, the beautiful red, white, and blue colors on the flag presented before the game mixed into some ugly bruises during and…

Read more...


A Mixture of Red, White, and Blue Can Be Ugly

December 9th, 2023

By Ed Raymond

fargogadfly@gmail.com

These Colors Can Produce Beautiful Flags or Ugly Bruises

As a football player playing guard in the middle of the line, I estimated at the end of eight years of high school and college that I had been hit approximately 14,000 times in 80 games alone, not counting scrimmages and practices. So, the beautiful red, white, and blue colors on the flag presented before the game mixed into some ugly bruises during and after the game. I had mixed purple, blue,…

Read more...


More-a-Loco and Trump Towers of Babble

December 2nd, 2023

By Ed Raymond

farggadfly@gmail.com

Donald Trump: A Social-Psycho-on-Path Reproducing MAGA Zombies

I have been asking members of the Make Amerika Great Again (MAGA) cult for years to identify days, weeks, months, years, decades and/or centuries when America was great, so I can know what the Orange Genius sitting to the far right of the Christian God is planning for the Divided States of America. Not a word yet.

Perhaps the genetic discovery that we share 99.9% of our DNA with chimps, great…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Farrms Tracker Pixel for Entry VisitStCloud Tracker Pixel for Entry Hjemkomst Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry Marigold Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck1

Recently in:

By Vanessa Jugarap Clarkvanessajugarapclark@gmail.com "I lived in Gaza, Palestine from 2003 to 2017 and 2020 to 2021. From water cuts, to the electricity schedule of 6-on/12-off (on a good day), every day was a reminder of the…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com As an elementary school kid in the early 2000s, Kristy Tran didn’t start her day the way most kids do. Instead of rolling out of bed to go straight to school, Tran and her parents went…

March 19-23Fargo Theatre314 Broadway N, FargoCheck out luncheon panel discussions, pre-parties, a 2-minute movie contest, local, international and award-winning films for your viewing pleasure. Producer Will Greenfield will be…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.com What’s that you just said? “Tell somebody who gives a shit”? Stop reading this now if you don’t care about anyone else. Don’t waste your time. You’ll only get mad. Vocal. Obstinate.…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comThe Catacombs under Paris Contain the Bones of Millions of FeudalistsSixty-five feet below the Paris streets are about 170 miles of tunnels that go through stone quarries, galleries, and ossuaries…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com It is not unheard of for bands to go on hiatus. However, as the old saying goes, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” That is why when a local group like STILL comes back to…

Now playing at the Fargo Theatre.By Greg Carlson gregcarlson1@gmail.comPalme d’Or recipient “Anatomy of a Fall” is now enjoying an award-season victory tour, recently picking up Golden Globe wins for both screenplay and…

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the pursuit of knowledge has directed humankind to new horizons – the ocean depths, the infinite reach of space, and the hidden secrets of cells and microbes…or to Artificial Intelligence, which…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By John Showalter  john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…

JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…

By William Cooperwcooper11@gmail.com When people look at political questions through a partisan lens, they apply their own personal gloss to the world. They reflexively interpret events in favor of their own tribe and against the…