There are bike people and there are car people. This being America, there are far more of the latter, which is sorta pathetic given the meager requirements for bike personhood. It’s generally a matter of self-identification, not unlike religious affiliation: Daily, weekly, even monthly observance of the rituals aren’t required so long as you believe […]
Life + Outdoors
Posted inLife + Outdoors
May 5-11
May 5. The planet you are currently occupying will pass through the debris of Haley’s Comet tonight and tomorrow. This year’s Eta Aquarids meteor shower takes place across a dark sky, so up to 40 to 50 meteors will be visible per hour if conditions are ideal. May 6. Unless you own a greenhouse […]
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Why I’m Not Rich
If only I’d listened to Alf. American economist Alfred Cowles III (1891-1984) sought to “elevate economics into a more precise science using mathematical and statistical techniques,” sez Wikipedia. Back in 1944 (I was 2, no wonder I didn’t listen), he published his second report — 11 years after the first — in which he rated […]
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Tour of the Unknown Coast is NOW
Around about a week ago, some of us who shall not be named exclaimed, “What?! The Tour of the Unknown Coast is here already? But I haven’t even trained! And I was going to conquer The Wall this year and be the queen of ‘California’s toughest century.’” Yes, the TUC is here. If you have […]
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April 28-May 4
April 28. Birthdate, in 1758, of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States and the third to die on the Fourth of July. April 29. A punch called a glogg can be made by heating a bottle of port, a bottle of burgundy and a bottle of the caraway-flavored spirit aquavit, along with […]
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Reality Check
I love those other-reality movies that mess with our minds. The Wachowski brothers’ Matrix series, Richard Linklater’s Waking Life and Christoper Nolan’s Inception have a common premise: We can’t know for sure what’s real and what isn’t. In the original Matrix movie, for instance, it turns out we humans are harvested by intelligent machines for […]
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April 21-27
April 21. Sunset 8:03 p.m. The Lyrids meteor shower will peak tonight or tomorrow night, showing at best 20 meteors per hour. Seek clear skies away from the lights of the city. This is good advice generally but particularly when viewing meteor showers. April 22. We are always surprised to learn that there are still […]
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Black and White
Cover up the end of this column before reading on! 1. A friend has one black and two white balls. First, she puts one ball into a bag, not letting you see the color. Then she puts a white ball in, so now the bag contains either one black and one white ball, or two white […]
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What’s The Matter?
In the 2008 movie Ghost Town, dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) starts seeing ghosts after a near-death experience. For every “regular” person on the sidewalks of New York, he’s aware of maybe five dead people. This is something like the situation that astronomers now face. Lurking behind every part of ordinary matter are five parts […]
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April 14-20
April 14. To one and a half pounds of sprats, add a pound of raisins, a pinch each of lovage and oregano, a chopped onion, two glasses of white wine, and liquamen to taste. Thicken with corn flour and serve immediately. This “dish of small fish” was a popular meal in Roman times and remains […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
What’s the Matter?
In the 2008 movie Ghost Town, dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) starts seeing ghosts after a near-death experience. For every “regular” person on the sidewalks of New York, he’s aware of maybe five dead people. This is something like the situation that astronomers now face. Lurking behind every part of ordinary matter are five parts […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A (Board) Walk Through Time
Come take a stroll through time with me, all 13.75 billion years of it, give or take a week or so. Our walk will take 10 minutes, max, along Eureka’s quarter-mile-long boardwalk, from the east end opposite G Street to the center of the new map next to the C Street dock. A quarter mile […]