February 2013 – Page 3

Unemployed reporter turns brewer, keeps sense of humor

You have to love a reporter who makes a joke — and beer — out of his unemployment. Best of all is his label, which reads in part: "Porter style beers were first popularized in the nineteenth century by merchant sailors and manual dock laborers. Unemployed Reporter is crafted in the same tradition, honoring aContinue reading “Unemployed reporter turns brewer, keeps sense of humor”

Falling love with a lone wolf — via a GPS tracker

Great op-ed yesterday in the New York Times about how GPS data is helping bring us closer to other species. In recent years, there has been much pontificating about how modern communications technologies are changing the way that we relate to other people. Less discussed is the way these advances are reshaping our relationships withContinue reading “Falling love with a lone wolf — via a GPS tracker”

The Superbowl: National Day of Capitalism

Hype is the point, writes Hampton Stevens: The Super Bowl is our National Day of Capitalism—a feast and party that's mercifully without the least bit of spiritual underpinning. It's a celebration of commercialism and consumerism, and consumption for consumptions' sake. Today we slurp and cho down as much food and drink as humanly possible. We payContinue reading “The Superbowl: National Day of Capitalism”

America’s largest crop is a lawn. Could it be a garden?

Mark Bittman, the amazing cook and bold columnist for the New York Times, tries to restrain his temper as he reports on how some suburban governments are citing homeowners for transforming their lawns into gardens. He grumbles: …several times a year we hear of a situation like the one in Orlando[1], where the mayor claims toContinue reading “America’s largest crop is a lawn. Could it be a garden?”

Rain comes to the desert: Chris Clarke

The ecologists never fail to describe coastal Southern California as a semi-arid region, which all too many residents transmute into "desert." It's not! Big difference between a land of some rain and a land of no rain. Trees, for one. As Chris Clarke, who has an interesting gig writing for KCET points out, rain oftenContinue reading “Rain comes to the desert: Chris Clarke”