When I consider monumental works of humankind, I think of the Great Pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Saturn 5 rocket, the Panama Canal, Boulder Dam … and Perry Collins’ Overland Telegraph. The last mentioned isn’t usually included in those lists of "mankind’s greatest achievements" for the good reason that it was […]
Life + Outdoors
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The Big Spill
A couple of weeks ago — on Tuesday, Jan. 13 — Journal reader Rachael Brilbeck went for a stroll on the beach on the North Spit, right across from the Evergreen Pulp Mill, which is currently shuttered. Everything was normal when she set off on her walk, but when she returned an hour and a […]
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Naval Gazing
Yes, yes, there may be a few more bombs bursting in air, or something like that, out there over the big blue sea that flanks our Northwest coastline. More aircraft lobbing sea sparrows or sidewinders at each other, perhaps. Submarines dismantling fake underwater mines. Sonar testing. But will anyone in Eureka even know it? Will […]
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Ready for My Close-Up
On most days, the only way I get through my life is by reminding myself that it’s okay to have very relaxed standards about pretty much everything. The whole house needs to be vacuumed, but it’s not as if Good Housekeeping is coming over to do an inspection later this afternoon, and besides, nobody ever […]
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Pre-dawn Saturn
Trying to stargaze from downtown Eureka is a bit like someone suffering from agoraphobia setting up camp in the middle of Times Square: not the smartest move. Still, the optimists in our ranks can try to spot a few glimmers in the night sky, especially the most prominent ones. My shortlist would definitely include the […]
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The Change Card
Like countless other Americans, Anthony Mantova of Carlotta saw in the election and inauguration of Barack Obama an opportunity — not for something grand and abstract like restoring the world’s faith in the United States or breaking down racial barriers, but an opportunity nonetheless: Mantova is trying to sell Barack Obama’s business card on Craigslist […]
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Electric Cars and Stuff
The chattering strand of fourth and fifth graders snaked out of the bright yellow school bus, hustled through a gap in the cyclone fence and filed into the open door of Dow’s Prairie Elementary School. "Drop your backpacks and go straight to the library," their teacher instructed. "We’re gonna go watch the inauguration." A concentric […]
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Undamming the Klamath
When I’m kayaking the lower reaches of the Klamath, it sure feels like a one big river. Over 250 miles long, the Klamath drains an area of nearly 16,000 square miles, about four times that of Humboldt County. Yet it’s puny compared to its big brother on the west coast, the Columbia, which is five […]
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Dredge Fight
You can almost smell the whiff of burnt palm as gold bugs everywhere rub their hands together with ever-more-gleeful vigor. That’s because some predictions have it that gold will soar to yet higher heights this year, maybe $1,500 an ounce. Did it last year, in March, hitting an historic $1,023 an ounce. (Then it crashed, […]
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Beyond the Milky Way
It wasn’t all that surprising when a woman stopped by our office the other evening and said she’d just been over at Café Mokka — the place with the hot tubs in the enchanted forest — where she overheard that two guys there had discovered a spiral galaxy. All sorts of intellectual pursuits take place […]
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Bond Freeze
Everything — or a helluva lot — teeters in the balance in California as our leaders dicker and dicker over what to do. By February or March, we’ve all been told, the state will be out of cash. By June 2010, there could be a $42 billion budget shortfall. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the Democrat’s $18 […]
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Dirt 2009 To-Do
January never really feels like the beginning of the year to me. September, with its end-of-summer, back-to-school vibe, is the time of year that makes me feel like I’m starting over. January just feels like more of the same: more cold, more wet, more long, dark nights. But I can’t help but look ahead and […]