For countless years winters have brought to the San Francisco Bay Area wind and rain and green hills and fresh air Not this year. Not yet. From the San Jose Mercury News: The main factor in the poor air quality, they said, is the relentless dry weather. Normally, particle haze in the Bay Area increasesContinue reading “Strange days: Winter dryness and smog in Bay Area”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
An environmental movement around “the Ambient”
While on the trail in early November, had a chance to read a fascinating essay in The New Yorker plumbing the depths of the informational world we live in today — what smartphones and related technologies mean (or don't) and how they should be regulated (or not). Included in the discussion was a new bookContinue reading “An environmental movement around “the Ambient””
Does fear of earthquake in Delta justify $25 billion project?
Last week California water agencies dumped a 34,000 page project report — on Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the need for twin tunnel project — on an oblivious public. The LA Times editorialized on the project without stating a clear opinion, but did mention that the city has become much much better at water conservation: ThereContinue reading “Does fear of earthquake in Delta justify $25 billion project?”
The pleasure of making sense of the world: May Swenson
Or trying to. To say something simply and well, is a pleasure like no other. Poetry magazine, a consistently wondrous publication, concludes their December issue, their last issue of the year, with an essay on May Swenson that could not be gentler, nor more sweetly loving. Example? Simply publishing a stanza that may be oneContinue reading “The pleasure of making sense of the world: May Swenson”
Tear down Hetch-Hetchy dam? Release a new Yosemite?
Two former attorney generals for the state of California, Dan Lungren, a Republican, and John Van de Kamp, a Democrat, together last week published an editorial calling for Congress to revise the Raker Act that allowed, back in l910, the flooding of a priceless valley called Hetch-Hetchy in Yosemite National Park. Hetch-Hetchy was deeply belovedContinue reading “Tear down Hetch-Hetchy dam? Release a new Yosemite?”
A leaf tells us: Prehistoric ice melting in Italian Alps
Great story from AGU. Officially this is a press release from Ohio State University. But really it's just a great story from Pam Frost Gorder, and deserves attention in its own right. SAN FRANCISCO—Less than 20 miles from the site where melting ice exposed the 5,000-year-old body of Ötzi the Iceman, scientists have discovered newContinue reading “A leaf tells us: Prehistoric ice melting in Italian Alps”
The lazy man’s guide to a classic roast chicken recipe
Both the LA Times and the San Francisco Chronicle gave Judy Rodgers of the Zuni Cafe a warm send-off and reprinted her classic roast chicken recipe, which has won big awards and international acclaim. Here's the obituary/recipe, and here (below) is an easy version of the chicken recipe for lazy people that still comes outContinue reading “The lazy man’s guide to a classic roast chicken recipe”
FREEDOM, by Yoko Ono and John Lennon
"Yoko Ono’s films tend to deal with themes of sexuality, intimacy, and the navigation of public life." "1969’s Rape is" [reports book/rock critic David Ulin] "her most famous work, a disturbing first-person perspective from the eyes of the film crew, who chase, harass, and assault a German woman as she flees through the streets ofContinue reading “FREEDOM, by Yoko Ono and John Lennon”
How the media covered Obamacare vs. Typhoon Haiyan
Amazing graphic from Pew Research: Advocates (even including myself, I'm embarrassed to say now) have in the past blamed the media for not rasing the global warming question — repeat, question — when it comes to vast storm disasters, such as Typhoon Haiyan. Look at that graphic and you realize that in the American mediaContinue reading “How the media covered Obamacare vs. Typhoon Haiyan”
Internet saint of the day: Joan Didion
In the Roman Catholic calendar, virtually every day is a feast day in honor of this saint or that, famous or not, and in a strange sense it's similar on the Internet — every day belongs to some famous secular saint or sinner. Today, Julie Cart of the LA Times reminds us that her heroineContinue reading “Internet saint of the day: Joan Didion”
Kit Stolz 