Last April I was invited to read one of the poems I had submitted to the 2008 Poets and Writers Celebration. This celebration, a performance celebrating original compositions by community members, students, staff and faculty of College of the Redwoods, is held each year at CR’s Eureka campus. A prize is awarded for the best […]
Life + Outdoors
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Fossils Alive
Living fossils" are living species that resemble ancient fossils. In some cases, an organism was thought to be extinct until a modern specimen was discovered. The lobe-finned coelacanth is an example. Thousands of free copies of a lavishly illustrated book by Harun Yahya have been distributed to many schools in Europe. Their purpose is to […]
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Straw Report
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about my new experiment in vegetable gardening. The idea was to build raised beds out of rice straw bales, creating a no-dig bed that would basically turn into one giant compost pile at the end of the season. I heard from several people who were interested in trying the […]
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Magnitude and Intensity
These terms are used in describing earthquakes. "Magnitude" is a measure of the energy released, so each quake has a single magnitude. "Intensity" is an indication of local shaking, which generally decreases with increasing distance from the source. For example, the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquake had a magnitude of 7.2 determined from seismograph recordings compensated […]
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Rebuffeted
Last weekend, Chook-Chook Hillman of the Karuk Tribe got in line outside of the 30,000-seat Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., at 1 o’clock in the morning and waited. The 23-year-old wasn’t hoping to catch a glimpse of his favorite rock star. He had a higher mission. He wanted to secure a spot in front of […]
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ArMack Maestros
Last Saturday night, the ArMack Orchestra hosted its 12th Annual Gala Dinner at the Arcata Community Center. When I told friends I was attending a "gala," they likened it to attending a ball, asking if I would wear taffeta and a corsage. Not quite. This gala’s theme was "Humboldt on the Bayou," and for $30 […]
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Straining Water
On a recent Sunday evening, Mike Zamboni’s old Toyota truck grumbles noisily down the pot-holed dirt road that winds through Redwoods State Park out to Gold Bluffs Beach, north of Orick. With the sun setting, Zamboni jumps out of his truck, engages the 4-wheel drive and unlocks the contentious gate that allows a handful of […]
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Symmetry
Crystal faces reveal symmetries which reflect the geometric arrangements of their constituent atoms. All inorganic solids are crystalline, except glass. The concepts of symmetry are essential also to the understanding of life’s architecture. Your right hand has no symmetry. Two hands in prayer are related by a mirror symmetry (biology’s bilateral symmetry). Rotate one of […]
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Bale Gardens
In the last few years, I have almost given up on vegetable gardening. When I moved to Eureka, I laid out my backyard with the intention of growing almost exclusively fruits and vegetables. Sure, there would be a border of perennial herbs and flowers, but I wanted the main attraction to be neat rows of […]
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Wiyot Winnings
On Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a compact with the Wiyot Tribe that would enable the tribe to gather $3-5 million a year in gaming revenue from a tribal casino in Madera County, in the Sierra Foothills. The casino, to be developed and managed by Station Casinos of Nevada, would be built on land that […]