Yet More Buzz on Bees
Sharon Labchuck provides some anecdotal evidence that organic bees are not suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder. This news goes along with reports that wild Africanized “killer bees” are also avoiding the syndrome.
Santa Barbara Conference on Sustainability
Treehugger notes that just up the coast at UC Santa Barbara will be the 6th Annual UC, CSU, CCC Sustainability Conference, bringing together representatives from ten University of California campuses, twenty Cal State campuses and another ten community colleges. The program is designed ways to implement environmentally sustainable pracitices in large institutions, looking at things…
Phantom Buzz
Ever feel your cell phone vibrate…even when the phone is nowhere near your person? I’ve had this sensation once or twice a week for years now, a faint buzzing on my hip where I carry my cell phone. Before that it was a buzzing in my pocket (when I stashed my smaller phone in my…
When Plants Attack
After reading about cougar attacks and grizzly bear maulings I found myself completely unprepared for another kind of terror on the trails–the terrible flesh-eating Manzanita of Matilija Canyon. I was hiking through the thicket minding my own business when one of these vicious trees took a wicked 2-1/2″ bite out of my forearm. Interestingly enough…
Trail Notes: Matilija Canyon Hike
Summary: A hike up one of the most scenic canyons with year-round running streams. The first two miles are an easy walk on even surface with two easy water crossings. After two miles the trail becomes increasingly difficult to follow, with lots of boulder hopping and scrambling beneath overhanging branches. Numerous pools and a double…
Step of Faith
This weekend we went to Lake Hughes for a two day church retreat and I had the opportunity to try my hand at top-roped rock climbing. As you can see from this headless pic of my backside this activity isn’t one of my stronger suits. But it turned out to be a powerful application of…
Sticky Situation
How to keep your GPS suction cup stuck to your windshield (MeFi)
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…
$1.75 Anti-Terrorist Device
Available at Bernie DeKoven’s Deep Fun store.
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…
Reggie the Alligator Resurfaces in LA…Meaning Los Angeles
The LA Times reports that Reggie the gator is back after an 18 month absence. A couple of things make this a great story. For one thing, Machado Lake is a 40 acre patch of marshy wildness in the heart of a hard-bitten Los Angeles suburb. It’s a nature story in the middle of an…
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
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…
Brandon Wirtz is (Almost) the Greatest Living American
This is getting pretty silly, but Brandon Wirtz is neck and neck with Stephen Colbert in the race to be the Greatest Living American.