Ag and Trade

Farm Bill Payments 'Off the Charts'

editor — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:56:14 -0700

A deputy secretary of agriculture told the Des Moines Register that potential payments under the new farm bill "are just off the charts." Charles Conner said the p

House and Senate Pass Farm Bill by Veto-Proof Margin

editor — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:55:00 -0700

Listening to Richard

editor — Wed, 7 May 2008 11:33:23 -0700

For those of you who haven't read our regular feature, Letter From Langdon, you don't know what you're missing. Check out the feature below and to the left — or just search for Langdon up above and start reading. You won't want to stop.

Buffalo 'Assasinations' Roil Ranch Town

editor — Tue, 6 May 2008 07:44:17 -0700

Buffalo from Monte Downare's ranch ran through the thin fence put up by Jeff Hawn, a newcomer to Park County, Colorado, and so Hawn allowed some hunters to kill 32 of the bison.

Letter from Langdon: Product Placement on an Udder

editor — Mon, 5 May 2008 18:10:11 -0700

Can you find the dermatology lab in this picture?
Photo: Alison

Humanity seems plagued by mundane problems like neuritis, neuralgia, pyrosis, and the dreaded pruritis.

Over the years advertisers have attempted to capitalize on those problems by trying to connect the dots to products that people will find appealing. For example pruritis, otherwise known as itching, is a big problem. I know of a product that always claimed to be good for itching anywhere, but in the eyes. (I’ve always wondered, “Yes, but what’s good for itching IN the eyes?”)

With advertising it’s always the unanswered questions that come back to haunt us. Sometimes though, a little careful searching can yield valuable answers.

It wasn’t advertising but a trip to the local hardware store that solved my unanswered questions about the human scourge eczema, known in layman’s terms as chapping. At the time we had a milk cow named Cynthia. Just as frequent washing causes chapped hands in humans, it can also cause chapping of other exposed flesh (anywhere but in the eyes). Cynthia had a chapping problem that cried out for answers. There among the cow halters and milk buckets of Stite’s Hardware Store laid the possible cure: Dr. Naylor Udder Balm.