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Death Beach

I found this dead harbor seal pup at the foot of a makeshift cross at Surfer’s Knoll in Ventura yesterday. Dead seals are fairly common on these beaches, particularly this time of year when algae blooms produce high levels of domoic acid, a neurotoxin that can kill sea mammals. Several groups are working to locate

Outlaw Activists Unite

MarkZen’s post at The Cleanest Line about the UK Little Big Voices conference brought to mind the Alloy 1969 conference (pictured above) recorded in the 1972 edition of The Last Whole Earth Catalog. Alloy was a gathering of “outlaw designers” who came together to hash out the realities and possible futures for intentional communities. Much

The Silence of the Bees

It’s been bad news for domesticated species this month. First we had the news about melamine tainted pet food. Next we had news that honeybees are disappearing, possibly because of cellular phone signals. But now there’s a bold suggestion from the Safe Pet Food blog that links these two stories, speculating that melamine might be

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Numbers

Chris Jordan’s photography is stunning, subtle and clear…and absolutely mind bending. In his most current exhibit, Running the Numbers, he uses crystal clear images manipulated in such a way as to tell startling stories about otherwise meaningless statistics. For instance, what does it mean that 426,000 cell phones are retired every day? Jordan shows us

Xbox in a Jeep JKL

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Brandon Wirtz (the Greatest Living American) pointed me to this Xbox experiment. Armed with a power inverter, laptop, Samsung monitor and Xbox, he found that he could take advantage of Google’s Mountain View wifi stauration and play Xbox live in the back seat of a 2007 Jeep JKL. I would think that if you had

Stephen Colbert…the Greatest Living American?

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I don’t know if I’d call him the Greatest Living American, I think that title deserves to be split 50/50 between Ben and Jerry. But if he isn’t the greatest living american, or even very nearly the greatest living american (because possibly someone else is the greatest living american) Stephen Colbert is certainly the pluckiest.

Cellphones Are Killing Us

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Perhaps it’s because cell phone technology seems too good to be true. You can’t go more than three months without hearing a news report about how cell phones are a peril to our lives. First came the notion that cell phones cause brain cancer…a notion that has been declared inconclusive by science. Then there’s the

Funding Cuts for Off Highway Use?

Zeke Barlow of the Ventura County Star writes about a battle over funding between environmentalists and off-road vehicle users. The nub is like this: the Sierra Club wants more money set aside for hiking trails. CORVA wants the money used to keep Hungry Valley and other such parks open. Representative Darrell Steinberg wants to increase

Google My Maps: A Boon to Wayfarers? A Bane to Entrepreneurs?

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Google just released “My Maps,” a Google Maps feature that lets you mark and annotate routes and save them as public maps. As an example of My Map’s potential, check out this oral history map of Route 66. (via World Hum) There’s clearly some social bookmarking potential here, for sharing maps and sharing local histories.

I Got My Mind on My Money and My Money on the Media

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Yesterday Norah and I were shopping at Trader Joe’s and we saw a couple of “reverse panhandlers.” A couple of handsome white-haired women, each armed with a fistful of dollars, were standing in front of the store passing out dollar bills. Un-begging. It was a brilliant piece of theater. People were clearly uncomfortable with the

Cache Stash: Viewtainer

From Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools site, the Viewtainer is a handy, useful way to stash tools and supplies. It looks like it would make a great, small, geocache as well.