The "ends of the Earth" is just an expression for most people. But Erling Kagge has been there... exploring both poles and climbing to the summit of Mount Everest. He's come to appreciate something he found in abundance in all three places: silence. In fact, he wrote a book musing on the virtues of the absence of sound, called Silence: In the Age of Noise . It runs the gamut from the physics of sound to the metaphysics of finding silence in noisy places. And the response has been so strong, it's

A majority of American households include either a cat or a dog or both. There's a good chance that the minority households live in rental units, where landlords often forbid pets.

Our monthly perusal of the Stories of Southern Oregon tends to focus on the people who've led notable lives in the region. This month, we get to turn the focus to the collection itself. Stories of Southern Oregon is just one section of the Southern Oregon Digital Archive at Southern Oregon University's Hannon Library. There are many other collections within SODA, including an extensive First Nations collection.

"For heaven's sake, don't come here to live" may be the enduring quote of the governorship of Oregon's Tom McCall. But the 60s, 70s, and early 80s were about setting an Oregon-style environmental ethic that other states moved to emulate. McCall was the governor for much of that time, but there were also notable accomplishments when McCall rival Bob Straub took over the office. Floyd McKay covered the state capitol during that period, and he shared his perspective in the book Reporting the Oregon

By now, plenty of people have heard of the effect reintroducing wolves had on the ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park: more wolves means fewer elk and deer hanging out by streams, so plants like willows grow taller. Wolves get credit as ecosystem engineers. A recent study shows that cougars may have a similar effect in the same area. And it gets even more interesting, because cougars leaving meals behind (dead deer) has allowed for growth in beetle populations. Joshua Barry and Mark Elbroch

Forget self-driving cars. Many of us have been waiting for self-repairing cars. That may take a while longer... and during the wait, Zach Edwards and his team at Ashland Automotive will stay busy. Once a month, Zach joins us to talk about car issues in a segment we call The Squeaky Wheel. This month we focus on car issues typical for the middle of winter.

What better time than the New Year to take on a grudge! British crime writer Sophie Hannah maintains that not all grudges are created equal. Some are better than others. And embracing a good grudge -- or as Sophie Hannah puts it, walking the Grudge-Fold Path -- can be downright healthy. She outlines it all in her new book, How to Hold a Grudge .

Plenty of Christmas decorations are still hanging there, but it's time to talk about entertainment options for January. Our First Friday Arts segment returns, giving a chance for arts organizations to tout their performance plans for the weeks ahead. It's probably true that January won't have quite as much on offer as December, but there's plenty to talk about. We throw open the phone line at 800-838-3760 for news of arts events happening soon.

It's not fair to say the Klamath Lake Land Trust is twice as committed to its mission as it used to be. But it is now protecting and restoring twice as much land, after the purchase of 785 acres in the Sycan Valley. The plan is to preserve the land as wilderness and a wildife corridor, though there may be public uses.

Even in an age of heated rhetoric, there are terms most people simply don't use anymore. But even the U.S. Supreme Court once subscribed to a scale of intellectual impairment that included terms like "moron," "idiot," and "imbecile." In fact, the court once backed the state of Virginia's decision to sterilize a young woman. Lawyer and writer Adam Cohen wrote about the case in his book Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck .