The hand drill is one of the simplest friction methods available. First cut a notch in a large piece of wood, about the thickness of your forearm, using a rock or knife tip.  Now select a dry, hardened stick, no thicker than your thumb and about a foot long. Secure the wood with a knee or under foot,…

The settling of Lake Tahoe came in three stages: transportation, logging, and recreation. Transportation was first, because of the immigration to California during the years of the Gold Rush. However, while the immigration routes around the lake were lower in elevation and shorter in distance, they were more difficult because they required two mountain crossings. Wagon trains coming west by…

In 1927, there arrived on the scene in north Lake Tahoe a young man by the name of Norman Biltz. He was born in Connecticut in 1902, of wealthy parents. He left the east coast for California in about 1920, where in his first few years of residence he held a wide variety of jobs, mostly menial.…

“So, be patient, perseverant, and stationed,” al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula commander Tariq Dhahab said in early January. “The Islāmic Caliphate is coming, with permission from Allah, and it  will be established, even if we sacrifice our own skulls, money, children and  homes.” Calls for limiting freedom of expression to prevent denigrating attacks on Islam are being made at…

President Obama spoke to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) saying, “That is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe…

It’s always a good idea to be prepared ahead of time in the event of an emergency or disaster. Hopefully it is something you will never need but it’s an excellent idea to be prepared and have supplies ready ahead of time. We see, hear or read the news daily about fires storms, hurricanes, floods,…

The FBI plans to drill outside a suburban Detroit residence  in the search for Jimmy Hoffa, the labor strongman whose disappearance is one of the most notorious and mysterious in U.S. history.  A tipster says a body was buried at the spot in Roseville, Michigan, at around the same time the Teamsters boss disappeared in 1975, but did not claim it…

It began with Gregory A. Prince, a Mormon author and blogger, who wrote about GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney: “His arrogant and out-of-hand dismissal of half the population of this country struck me at a visceral level, for it sullied the religion that he and I share — the religion for which five generations of…

“Few of Romney’s billionaire backers make actual products – most simply siphon income from ordinary workers into their Swiss bank accounts.” That’s the latest from International Brotherhood of Teamsters president, James Hoffa, writing in the Summer 2012 issue of the union magazine, “Teamster.” He’s really nothing more than a hypocrite. He makes nothing and yet…

William Carson situated his home in the heart of the city next to his lumber mill and the bay. From his cupola he could view commerce on the bay and check the happenings at his lumber mill to the north. Constructed in 1884-85, for over $80,000 is a four-story, 18 room structure with a tower…