You might think of birding as a pursuit of pleasurable relaxation, a gentle, spiritual connection with nature that reduces stress and boosts feel-good hormones. It’s not. It’s a physically and emotionally challenging activity that demands strength, endurance, flexibility and mental toughness. Want to get the most out of your birding experience? Practice the following exercises […]
Humor
Posted inSeriously?
Our Democracy is Crumbling Before My Eyes and Women Still Won’t Sleep with Me
First of all, let me just say this is not what I voted for. In 2024, many young American men like myself were primarily concerned with our economy, immigration, geopolitical conflict and not voting for a Black lady — that’s not a race thing, by the way, because I would not have voted for a […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Dry January Mocktails
Whether you’re taking a break after the holidays or “dry curious,” many are forgoing alcohol for Dry January. But as you look at 2025 so far, you may be thinking you’ve made a huge mistake. You’re not alone facing our hellscape without even the thinnest veil of numbing booze between you and reality’s horrors. Plenty […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Is Zopissa Right for You?
Always take Zopissa as directed. Like the people in this ad, while laughing in a park with a non-threateningly diverse group of friends in colorful clothing. Or in full makeup with a glass of water in your sunny, spotless kitchen as you smile mysteriously at a cabinet. What’s in the cabinet? That’s your strange and […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
An Invitation from All-Alpha Pack Coaching
Being an Alpha male was simpler when early Homo sapiens man threw on an animal skin, grabbed a cool club and hunted for survival. He had one skin, maybe like, two. And women responded to him — the hot ones who’d already developed two distinct eyebrows. The modern world is complicated. With limitless options, can […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Wishful Weed Strains for 2023
Weed Who Must Not Be Named. Who knew we’d need a Patronus against J.K. Rowling? Here to aid you in the defense against dark transphobes is a Potions Master’s concoction of three magical strains: TERF War, Neville Bongbottom and Strawberry Snape. Soon hateful takes, like those of a children’s author turned fascist cheerleader, will fizz […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Gardening as a Moral Conundrum
Who’s the dimwit who promulgated the idea of gardening as some kind of idyllic activity that will connect us to our loving, nurturing, higher selves? Surely, this person never put spade to earth, nor hand to weed. The truth is, gardening is fraught with moral ambiguity. With no more training in ethics than their own […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Dead Blonde
“You found me!” He did not look happy to have found me, which I thought was strange. He was looking for me, wasn’t he? Isn’t that why he was here, in the brushy highway median, with a shovel in one hand and a USB microphone in the other? Wasn’t searching for my body the point […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
NCJ Preview: Native Boarding School Deaths, COVID Update and More
As the U.S. and Canada face a reckoning over the abuse of Indigenous children in their forced boarding school systems, researchers in Oregon have been working to document the deaths of children at the Chemawa Indian School. Some of those children were from here in Humboldt County. We’ll talk about the effort to bring their […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
COVID-19: An FAQ for Asian Americans
Greetings, fellow Asian Americans! While we prefer to discuss community issues at our secret monthly meetings, where we tackle such topics as whether it’s time to reclaim Tiger Woods or if we should tell people what their Chinese tattoos really mean, the issues surrounding COVID-19 (aka coronavirus 2019) are urgent. Asian Americans are going through […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Welcome to the Launch of MDVL
Hello and welcome! Thanks so much for joining me here in this muddy field for the launch of MDVL. I’m sure some of you rolled your eyes when you got our press release — another wellness site! And I’m the first to admit the industry is crowded to the point of collapse, with gurus and […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Witch/Fossil Hunt!
I apologize in advance to anyone who didn’t want to be transported to this alternate universe just now. But you can relax because the only difference between this new universe and your old one is that I was elected president of the United States in 2016. My presidency started out OK. But then someone noticed […]