The Daycare Drought
Thanks to a broken state government, the state of Humboldt County child care is getting worse and worse
Cover Story
The Daycare Drought
It’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the shopping rush is on. Amid the shopping chaos, the checkout line at Michaels, a crafts store in the Eureka Mall, stretches from the front to the back. Carissa Bowser-Smith is working a register, and is happy to do so. “Are you kidding?” she says. “To be where you…
Smart Meter … or Electromagnetic Death Pod?
Will PG&E’s SmartMeters make you sick? Critics of the devices — which are currently being installed throughout the state — say they’re hazardous because they emit electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and radio frequencies (RF) in sufficient quantities, they claim, to cause nausea, headaches, dizziness … even brain tumors. Last week, citing such fears, the Marin County Board of Supervisors…
National Geographic: ‘How Marijuana Works’
[Note: This is the first of two science-related posts today. Yay for science.] Below is a clip from an upcoming two-night TV special from National Geographic called “Drugged,” which will examine the bio-chemical effects of marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy. Nat Geo says: “Drugged: High on Marijuana” uses visual effects and CGI to take the viewer on…
Fire at PG&E Plant, Utility Asks Users to Conserve
[UPDATE: The power plant was reactivated by 6 p.m. Wednesday night.] A fire broke out around 2:10 this afternoon at Pacific Gas and Electric’s Humboldt Bay Generating Station. It was quickly extinguished, and the cause remains under investigation, according to a release from PG&E. At the request of the fire department, all power-generating units at…
Former RREDC Exec Director Jeff Zander Arrested
Remember Jeff Zander? He was the semi-legendary con man that the Redwood Region Economic Development Corporation hired to be its executive director a couple of years ago — inexplicably. As detailed at the second link above, dating from a year or so ago, Zander had plenty of unresolved legal troubles before he came to Humboldt…
Montel Williams For Humboldt Tourism Commissioner
Yes, yes indeed! Do as the man says and come check out our fat buds! We will hook you up and send you home happy! (Despite what our new hero says, though, you can give the Appalachian Trail a pass.)
Un-Natural Foods
Food purists often fuss about the inadequacies of USDA’s organic food standards, how pitifully watered down they are from the lofty principles that built the organic movement. They have a point. After all, the USDA’s National Organic Program was created to deal with big agribusinesses determined to exploit the lucrative organic market. But for all…
Public Art: Past, Present and Future
Eureka would be a far less lively place without the many murals that uplift its public spaces. Duane Flatmo’s transformation of the inescapable bulk of the rear of The Arkley Center into a monumental poster praising the performing arts is the iconic example of what a mural can do. The fabulous array of fauna depicted…
Dear Field Notes Guy …
Is it true that women talk more than men? According to the cover of the first printing (2006) of the book The Female Brain, by neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, “A woman uses about 20,000 words per day while a man uses about 7,000.” The publisher removed the claim from later editions, but not before it was…
A Radio Quinceañera
We’re all okay now, so it’s easy to forget the uncertainty many of us felt following the deceptively-large-feeling earthquake that rocked the North Coast on Jan. 9, 2010. I mean, it felt like “The Big One.” For all any of us knew, a Deep Impact-ish tidal wave was about to Atlantis-ize HumCo for good. Grab…
Of Deadly Importance
It’s a humdrum day. You drive home and see your neighbor check his mailbox. You stop for five minutes to say hey. You talk about nothing, really. The weather, your in-laws’ upcoming visit, some funny story about his dog. Then you each go back to your respective lives. We know little about the people who…
January 1st
Huge and cold, the ocean laughs and laughs…
Salsa!
It’s not just the red and green sauce on the table at your neighborhood Mexican restaurant. Salsa is also a music style and a dance form, both with firm roots in Cuba, brought to North America mostly by Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants who came to New York City in the ’60s and ’70s. In…
Learning to Harmonize
Portland-based guitarist/songwriter Miss Lana Rebel is bucking the trend: She’s leaving PDX, heading for warmer climes, the Southwest, where she’s from. The former bassist for the hard-rocking Last of the Juanitas got into country music with Juanita Family and Friends. When that band disbanded she stuck in the country-tonk vein playing in The Love Lasers…
Charlie’s Top 10
Previews SEASON OF THE WITCH. Medieval actioner directed by Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds, Swordfish) centers on a pair of knights (Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman) who come back from the Crusades to find their homeland in the grip of the Plague and some evil force. Could it be the fault of the…
Staking Claims
Despite the advance hype, there wasn’t much happening early Tuesday morning at the Best Western Bayshore Inn, down there by the Bayshore Mall. Dustin Barton and Nate Shaffer, the Ohio Valley Gold and Silver Refinery’s men on the ground, were supposed to be energetically buying precious metals, old coins, watches, jewelry, guitars, war memorabilia and…
Commissioner Zanzi
On his way out the door last Friday, departing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a slew of appointments. Among them was 67-year-old Fortuna Mayor Pro-tem Ken Zanzi, whom Schwarzenegger appointed to the North Coast seat on the California Coastal Commission, a seat long held by departing commissioner (and chairperson, most recently) Bonnie Neely, who lost her…
Idiocritique
Editor: Two weeks without a letter to the editor, but this following three weeks of nothing but Christmas ads and rehashing of old stories from 2010 — not a surprise. Fortunately, “A Cannabis Carol” (Dec. 23) will fire up some readers to send in their thoughts. It’s like Pavlov’s dog, poke ‘em a little and…
Garbage In
Editor: Regarding “Through the Roof” insurance rates (Dec. 16), the answer may not be so elusive. The public relations representative at the Insurance Services Office (ISO) surely dissembled, simply because risk-assessment methods are a well-guarded trade secret. Consider the fact that ISO is just one of many subsidiaries of a corporation by the name of…
Young Romantics: The Tangled Lives of English Poetry’s Greatest Generation
The early 19th century Romantic period in English literature continues to fascinate readers. Last year’s popular The Age of Wonders examined the relationship between that era’s poets and the science of the age. This book by Daisy Hay concentrates on the relationships within the younger Romantics, particularly the Shelleys and Lord Byron, but also John…
Northern Aggression
When LA’s Dream Syndicate first played NYC’s famous Folk City club in the early ’80s, mayhem ensued. Guitarist Karl Precoda decided to hang from an overhanging pipe during the performance, causing it to break and spilling the contents all over the club. During the proceedings, bandleader Steve Wynn seemed to sneer through the whole messy…
Gray Matters Winter 2011
Gray Matters Winter 2011
