Cover Story
Making Wood Sing
They’re tucked away in workshops large and small, in converted garages and industrial parks all over the county. They’re Humboldt’s luthiers, skilled craftsmen turning slabs of wood into exquisite acoustic and electric guitars, banjos, mandolins and less familiar stringed instruments. Their market is international, ranging from world famous musicians to casual pickers. A few of…
Happening Now: One Billion Rising Flashmob on the Arcata Plaza
At 2:14 p.m. this afternoon, hundreds gathered on the Arcata Plaza for the One Billion Rising V-Day Flash Mob, part of weeklong V-Day Humboldt festivities raising awareness about violence perpetrated against women. (For the complete list of remaining V-Week events, click here.) Women (and some men) young and old performed a choreographed dance. We present…
Will There Be Red Panda Sex At the Sequoia Park Zoo Today? Fingers Crossed, Y’all!
There could be some red hot love is in Eureka’s air this Valentine’s Day. In a savvy, timely move, the Sequoia Park Zoo chose today to introduce a new female Red Panda to their resident fluffy stud Sumo. (Sumo’s previous fellow bachelor Shifu has moved on to the Detroit Zoo to seek some tail of…
Get Some, Humboldt!: Valentine’s Day Tips
Well, HumCo, the bad news is that the calendar gods have screwed you over again: Valentine’s Day is one of a string of recent holidays that refuses to conveniently fall on a weekend. The good news is there is still plenty of out-and-about fore-foreplay to be had. Make a reservation if necessary and get yer love on.…
Guns in a Cave
The gun cache found in a cave on Ryan Floyd’s property in southern Humboldt was impressive and frightening. One hundred and eleven rifles and pistols, many of them automatics, more than filled a table in a room in the Humboldt County Courthouse, with overflow piled on a couch and leaning against three walls. “Quite a…
CR Removed from ‘Show Cause’ Accreditation Status
In its struggle to remain an accredited school, College of the Redwoods just took an important step back from the cliff. CR President Katherine Smith this morning received notice that the community college has been removed from “show cause” status — the final stage before losing accreditation — and put back on “probation,” which is…
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Jimmy Kimmel Picks Up Kai the Homefree Hitchhiker (VIDEO) (UPDATED)
UPDATE 2/13: Well, it would appear as if Kai’s 15 minutes aren’t up just yet. Last night Kai was again on Jimmy Kimmel Live in what could conceivably be a recurring segment … Kai’s Korner Movie Review. In this first edition, Kai “reviews” the Oscar-nominated Zero Dark Thirty. (Spoiler alert: he mostly talks about fluoride…
Kai the Homefree Hitchhiker: The Early Years
UPDATE 2/11: Well, Kai made it onto Jimmy Kimmel. Watch that. # # # # # Let’s run through some logic. You are reading this blog using the amazing internet. Therefore, you are familiar with the internet. One could then also conclude that you are familiar with the overnight hatchet-wielding memesation known as Kai the…
Eureka Wages Going Up?
The “Fair Wage Folks,” a local committee working toward raising the minimum wage in Eureka, submitted petitions yesterday with signatures of approximately 2,700 voters. Depending on how many of those pass muster, the Eureka Fair Wage Act could be on the ballot in June. “We look forward to about 1,400 of Eureka’s workers getting a…
Faith in Justice
Editor: While we read headlines in the media of people dying in the city streets of Egypt to protest, among other things, the influence of their own religion on their government, we see the mayor of our county’s largest town arrogantly mixing his own religion with city government in the city of Eureka (“Blog…
Net Smart: How to Thrive Online
Howard Rheingold has a white moustache. He dresses like the prototype of an aging hippie, but he’s been involved in personal computer theory and practice for 30 years. His social network experience goes back to one of the earliest example, San Francisco’s legendary The Well. Younger readers may know him as the author of…
Cells vs. Cells
Editor: In the Jan 31 cover story, “Unspoken Dangers,” the doctors omitted an important and pervasive environmental risk for pregnant women: electromagnetic frequencies from wireless devices. Fetal exposure to cell phones and laptops pose a significant risk that a child will be born with health problems. But don’t take my word for it. A…
“A Billion Here, A Billion There…”
Historians quibble over whether the late Senate Minority Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen (1896-1969) actually said — on the Johnny Carson Show — “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” Of course, nowadays ‘real money’ has graduated to the trillions. At its first breath (welcome to the real world!), a…
Merciless Intensity
Reviews THE IMPOSSIBLE. The movie’s opening paints a placid, warm portrait of privileged family life. The attractive Bennett family arrives at an idyllic Thai beach resort, where they intend to spend Christmas. Then a wall of dirty water devastates the landscape and throws the family into a desperate effort to survive and reunite. …
The Joy of Handmade Pasta
When I watch Patricia Cambianica’s hands kneading, shaping and cutting pasta dough, I feel her hands are my hands too. And when I work at those tasks, I feel that my hands are also the hands of generations of women who have been bringing their personal touch to this timeless craft. There is joy every…
Squatchtastic
You hear the crack of a twig and catch a quick glimpse as he disappears into the brush. He’s big as an NFL linebacker, somewhat shaggy, walks with a lumbering gait. Could it be … Bigfoot? Nah, the trucker cap and big grin tell you it’s James “Bobo” Fay, dead serious Squatch researcher and…
Cultural Transformation
It’s happened again. The Morris Graves Museum of Art has been transformed. In December, Peter Santino took over the space, filling all of the upstairs galleries with his conceptual installation, “The Exhibition at the End of Time, at the End of the World.” Now “River as Home” has poured in, filing the museum from top…
Recycling Eureka Style
Recycling Eureka Style
Weekend Schmeekend
Aloha, amusement seekers! You know how you pick up the ol’ NCJ every Thursday (actually Wednesday) so that you can plan how best to utilize your fast approaching don’t-have-work-tomorrow evenings? Yeah, well you may have a problem this week. Consider taking Wednesday off. Because this coming Tuesday is the fattest of the year. First,…
Jesus, Take the Field
Will knows God prefers the sports team located geographically closest to him. He just knows it.
Remember, Part Two
Some mornings Poppa would skinny dip With his bar of Ivory before he went to work I used to peek through my bedroom curtains to see (you know) then Iʼd get shy and feel guilty for spying on my very own grandfather at seven in the morning. Iʼd chase lightning bugs by myself At night…
Sexy Brought Back
It’s OK to admit it, boys and girls. You’ve hit a bit of a passion dry spell. It happens. But as the merciless Feb. 14 holiday of love fast approaches, the holes in your datebook look ever wider. Here’s how we’re gonna fix your lacking love supply, Humboldtian. You just need an opportunity to gather…
Groupthink
Over the past few months, Humboldt County’s on-and-on-and-ongoing general plan update process has taken on a tenor that’s practically unprecedented in its 13-year history: harmony. This is a community with passionate disagreements over zoning and land use, with one faction advocating private property rights and laissez-faire regulation while the other promotes smart growth and sustainability.…
Cannabis Comedy
I met Ngaio Bealum waiting in line to buy a slice of pie at the Mateel. He was telling jokes at the Emerald Cup, definitely an appropriate venue for someone known as “the cannabis comic.” When he mentioned that he had a show coming up in Arcata, we vowed to keep in touch and later…
Arts! Arcata Febuary
1. ARCATA ARTISANS COOPERATIVE 883 H St. Prints and figurative assemblages by Elaine Benjamin; painting, watercolors, monotypes and ceramics by Linnea Tobias; polymer clay creations by Candace Miller. Wine served to benefit the Humboldt Community Breast Health Project. 2. ARCATA CITY HALL 736 F St. Photos by Angie Valetutto. 3. ARCATA EXCHANGE 813 H…
Clean Water Victory
Editor: In Benjamin Fordham’s “Reincarnating the Pulp Mill” story (Jan. 31), his statement, “According to a 1989 Surfrider Foundation lawsuit, the Samoa mill and a second pulp mill … used to dump a combined 40 million gallons of untreated wastewater into the ocean every day,” fails to accurately convey the importance of this history. The…
Charters Can Hurt
Editor: The appeal of opening a charter school where innovative teaching is encouraged is understandable (“Charter School Rift,” Jan 24). But proponents of charter schools would do well to take a realistic look at some of the negative effects of charter schools. First of all, charter schools are not required to have any unions,…
Guns Just Practical
Editor: Marcy Burstiner expressed interest in why people buy guns (“Recoil,” Media Maven, Jan. 24). For me, owning a gun doesn’t invoke either the mystic sexiness John Bennett describes or the fear that Burstiner posits. It’s more prosaic, more like “Well, yeah, what’s your point?” Most of my family takes guns for granted. My…
Worth a Try
Editor: I sincerely hope Betty Chinn’s daycare for the homeless on Seventh and C streets is a great success (“Waiting for Chinn,” Jan. 3). It will provide an opportunity for those who really want to get off the streets and lead a healthy and productive life. “Broken Eureka” needs some major fixin’ and at…
