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Icon book review: A life in hozo

The sacred legacy of the Hillermans
Posted by Fred Steiner on January 4, 2021 - 6:16am

Review by Robert McCool
Hozo is the peace that a balanced life brings. Ever since 1970's Tony Hillerman's “The Blessing Way,” and all along the way through 18 books in his series until 2016's “The Shape Shifter,” hozo is what his main characters strive toward as they seek to solve the mysterious happenings in the sacred home of the Navajo people.

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Icon TV review: The Good Place is more-than-good TV

Icon welcomes Lauren Canaday as our newest reviewer
Posted by Fred Steiner on January 3, 2021 - 8:43pm

Reviewed by Lauren Canaday
Meet the author at the bottom of this review -
What do you get when you combine themes of philosophy, morality, socioeconomics, the after-life, the human soul, and... fart jokes? 

You get the television series The Good Place! 

The series has a stunning 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (with seasons two and four both at 100%), and takes viewers from laughing to crying to laughing again amid plot twists that would usually leave you biting your nails in anticipation of the next season. 

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Index to 2020 Our Swiss Connections

Posted by Fred Steiner on December 31, 2020 - 11:03am

Our Swiss Connections feature on Bluffton Icon started on Nov. 12, 2020, and have continued each week. Here is the index of the eight columns posted this year and the link to those columns for persons interested.

Michael Neuenschwander
http://www.blufftonicon.com/news/2020/11/12/introducing-new-icon-column-...

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Johannes and Barbara Walti Geiger

Our Swiss connection - part 8
Posted by Fred Steiner on December 31, 2020 - 10:55am

This is the eighth installment in this series. Click here for the previous installment.

Johannes Geiger was 44 years old when he brought his wife, Barbara (Walti) and their five children, John, Verena, Barbara, Peter and Anna, from Canton Basel, Switzerland in 1835.

Johannes’ parents, David Gyger and Verna (Steiner), as well as Barbara’s parents, Nicholas Walti and Christina (Badertscher), remained in Switzerland.

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Ten songs for when we can party again!

A little fun between Christmas and new year's
Posted by Fred Steiner on December 28, 2020 - 2:11pm

Reviewed by Craig Hoffman
While life in 2020 has been full of masks, social distancing, and isolation, there will be a time soon when everyone will party again. Here are ten songs to help you plot out your return to real life and the dance club scene.

How are you going to enjoy your return to everyday life in the near future? Let the Icon know in the comment section!

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Forgotten Bluffton: What about those curves in the road?

There's one on Bentley and Tom Fett north of town, but on Phillips it's a 90-degree jog
Posted by Fred Steiner on December 28, 2020 - 12:18pm

Why is there a “curve” on Bentley Road just north of Bluffton where the road crosses Riley Creek?

There’s also a curve on Tom Fett Road and on Phillips Road at about the same location.

On Phillips Road it's a serious twist, instead of being just a curve in the road. That’s because the Tom Fett and Bentley “jogs” have been modernized. Phillips remains the same at it was when it was originally laid out.

The simple answer to the question in the opening sentence is that the earth is round and that the early surveyors were trying to run straight lines on a sphere.

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