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…

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…

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…

This is getting pretty silly, but Brandon Wirtz is neck and neck with Stephen Colbert in the race to be the Greatest Living American.

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.…

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…

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 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.…

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…

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.

I’ve got the weekly supply-run down to a science. But meal planning has me whipped. If anyone has any pain-free ways to plan the weekly menu, I’m all ears. I now understand those meal-in-a-box TV commercials where the family has a religious experience at the supper table and the mother is beatified. Anyhow, here’s how…

Following up on my original question about topo maps: Singletracks has a nice review of Delorme Topo. GPS Tracklog has some thoughts about maps, particularly USFS maps. The map server that looks most promising is the Geospatial Data Clearinghouse. I can’t figure out what the Vector Data Gateway is or how to use it. (I’m…

Here’s a shot from the St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Dublin, as posted on the Dublin Community Blog. It makes me want to go back. Follow the link for more pictures of Irish mummery. And raise a Black Bush for me.