I was walking along Humboldt Bay when I heard, “Psst. Hey!” A Lewis’s moon snail (Neverita lewisii) was calling me from a shallow pool in the tidal mudflat. The snail said, “I want to enter the big baking contest. But those jerk-offs will never let a snail win. So, can you pose as me? Plus, […]
Life + Outdoors
Posted inField Notes
Coincidences (Not That Amazing)
“It is no great wonder if in the long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur.” — Plutarch “I’ve been looking for you my whole life!” I chortled, running around the table to give my birthday twin a big embrace. She reciprocated, but barely — she […]
Posted inSeriously?
New Food Pyramid FAQ
Since Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched our new food pyramid, we’ve gotten a lot of questions. As the architect of this pyramid, I’ve prepared a list of frequently asked questions, answered to the best of my ability with the time I have left. Why are we back to a […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Imagine Possibilities. Keep Them Real.
Do you already have a wish for your outdoor activities in 2026? In this column three years ago, I proposed to toss the word “resolution” in favor of “wish” (“Make a Wish Instead of a Resolution,” Jan. 5, 2023). While both require some work on our part, making a wish offers a more positive perspective. […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
No More Falls!
A journey to increasing bone strength Though I wasn’t very physical as a kid, I became an “adult-onset” lover of fitness in my 20s, and have enjoyed walking, running, hiking and exploring the outdoors ever since. So in 2017, when I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, I couldn’t believe it. Two years later, I fell and […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A Colorful Winter Garden
Winter is here on the North Coast, and with it come cloudy days, bare-branched deciduous trees, and a muting of nature’s hues. But we can still enjoy our gardens and yards throughout the year by making December through February more colorful and interesting with some carefully chosen native plants (and one non-plant). While most conifers […]
Posted inField Notes
New Year Miscellany
6174 Self-taught Indian mathematician D.R. Kaprekar (1905-1986) discovered this curious result in 1955. Take any four-digit number with at least two distinct digits, write the digits first in descending, then in ascending order, and subtract one from the other. Repeat with the resulting number, and again if necessary. Within seven iterations, you’ll always arrive at […]
Posted inGet Out
Listers and Big Years
One of the best films of 2025 was a documentary you’ve probably never heard of (unless you’re a birder). It’s Listers, a low-budget gem that raced through the birding community like suet through a Downy Woodpecker, though you don’t have to be a birder to enjoy it. The film, which takes its name from the […]
Posted inSeriously?
Hallmark Christmas-Romantasy Movie Pitches
Good morning. I’ll get right to it: The numbers are bad. We are losing our target audience of straight, white women in droves. Initially, we responded by dipping our toes into inclusivity: a couple of Ikea gays here, a light brown Santa there. But our crushing grip on the market from the first whiff of […]
Posted inField Notes
Superstar
This time of year, you’ll no doubt be seeing commentaries about the Star of Bethlehem, many of which will explain away the “star” as a conjunction of two planets, or as a comet, or even as a bolide (very bright meteor). Looking over my past writing, I realize I’ve been guilty of this in this […]
Posted inGet Out
The Titaneer
It’s still dark when I reach the trailhead at Jedediah Smith Redwoods. I’d hoped to be the first person at the Grove of Titans before dawn, but a single Subaru beat me to it. On the trail, in the blue-gray light, I spot a man moving mindfully along the trail with a trash picker in […]
Posted inSeriously?
Rejected Names for Pantone’s Color of the Year Cloud Dancer
As we do every year, we at Pantone spent the last months sorting through a storm of swatches — literally every color perceivable by the human eye — to name the color of the year, the hue that captures the aesthetic zeitgeist. The 2026 Color of the Year is Cloud Dancer, “A whisper of tranquility […]