“There’s a working theory that within a year of residency, most newcomers are infected with a deep and abiding interest in this great place we call Humboldt.” So starts the introduction to Steve Lazar’s The Humboldt Project. Lazar’s passion is “deltiology,” the study and collecting of postcards. Over the past 15 years, thanks mostly to […]
Life + Outdoors
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Causing Ferment in the Kitchen
While the cold spring weather this year delayed growth of the vegetable plants in my garden, I am finally getting enough cabbage, garlic and radish to start making kimchi. Like yogurt and kombucha, kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish and staple of the Korean diet, has been enthusiastically adopted in the U.S. and is commonly carried […]
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What are the Odds?!
“Players aren’t buying an investment; they’re buying permission to fantasize for a couple of days.” — Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, April 2025 Neurologists recently figured out what gamblers have known ever since a savvy Sumerian grifter invented the shell game: You don’t have to win to be a happy punter. You just have to bet […]
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Riding All the Way
Three years ago, when I wrote about cycling from the Crannell Road exit of U.S. Highway 101 to the end of the Humboldt Bay Trail (“Cycling Along the Water,” March 10, 2022), I was not optimistic about being able to ride past the “End of Trail” sign in the foreseeable future. It wasn’t because I […]
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Milky Way Over Benbow Inn
The historic Benbow Inn keeps quiet watch along the South Fork Eel River, a century-old host lit in gold while the stars swing silently across the sky each night. In summer, the Milky Way takes its turn, marking time as it sweeps by like a clock hand through the night. I traveled down there the […]
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Birds of the Sea(sick)
A few weeks ago, I learned two very import things. First, the vast Pacific Ocean is home to numerous unusual and wonderful bird species. Second, they belong out there. I almost certainly do not. But when you’re on a quest to see at least 300 bird species in Humboldt County in a single year, at […]
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The Moons of Mars
In the first volume of his Mars trilogy Red Mars, science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson has the larger of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, destroyed after it had been weaponized. Which would be a tragedy IRL, since Phobos may well be a stepping stone to exploring the Red Planet. It could also give us information […]
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Bittersweet Championships and Players of the Year
It was an amazing run to end the summer for the Crabs. The Crabs hosted game one of the Pacific Empire League Championship Series, and the crowd of 1,400 fans was electric. “In all my years here, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this park like that. It was amazing,” said Crabs coach and three-time […]