Drew Simmons of Wicked Outdoorsy makes an interesting point about Bike-to-Work week. Many of our urban bikeways are so poorly designed that people will feel lucky they survived the trek at all. I live in Ventura, a slow-growth community with a population of 106,000 some-odd people (some odder than others) but I fear cycling here.…
Al Gore’s media critique, Assault on Reason, excerpted in Time, lays a healthy dose of blame for our society’s apparent inability to exercise reason at the foot of television. Clearly, at least to some degree, the “consent of the governed” was becoming a commodity to be purchased by the highest bidder. To the extent that…
Now here is something to listen to while you’re camping in your yurt.
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
How to keep your GPS suction cup stuck to your windshield (MeFi)
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…
Available at Bernie DeKoven’s Deep Fun store.
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 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…
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…
