Ned Hickson is an award-winning humor columnist for Siuslaw News, a small Oregon newspaper where the motto is:Your dependable source for local news. Twice weekly. Unless we lose count.Ned has been awarded "Best Local Column" from both the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.In 2002, he took his self-syndicated column online to newspapers and, by 2003, received his first measure of national success: A threatening letter from the Velcro© Corporation for not using the "©" symbol when making fun of its product. That same year, he became a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists -- mostly for his protection.Currently, his weekly column appears in dozens of newspapers in the U.S. and Canada as a syndicated feature for News Media Corporation.He writes about daily life and important social issues, such as glow-in-the-dark mice and injuries caused by overheated pickles. His first book, Humor at the Speed of Life, was published in January and is a collection of his most popular columns (as opposed to the kinds he usually writes) during his 15 years as a newspaper columnist.Ned lives on the Oregon coast with his wife, four children, two dogs, a cat and entirely too many seagulls.