Author Archives: Kit Stolz

Getting the Warm Arctic-Cold Continents concept

Occasionally on this site we have discussed the idea of "meridional flow" — a north-sound jetstream pattern, which tends to make for colder winters on the East Coast and in Eurasia. This appears to be the focus of a lot of new research, originating seemingly in James Overland's Warm Arctic-Cold Continents idea (described here by JeffContinue reading “Getting the Warm Arctic-Cold Continents concept”

The Wind from Nowhere: the first natural disaster novel?

J.G. Ballard, although slotted as a science-fiction writer, is in some senses a writer who has lost all faith, in God or man. Perhaps it's natural, then, that he was one of the first (perhaps the first) to write a novel about a natural disaster that overtakes the world: The Wind from Nowhere.  What's fascinatingContinue reading “The Wind from Nowhere: the first natural disaster novel?”

Earthquakes and fracking well issue brewing in Upper Ojai

As discussed in this piece from Scientific American, there is good reason to think disposal wells for fracking fluids can cause earthquakes. To wit: Earthquakes have become more than 10 times more common in normally quiescent parts of the U.S., such as Ohio and Oklahoma, in the past few years. Given the simultaneous uptick inContinue reading “Earthquakes and fracking well issue brewing in Upper Ojai”

Portlandia mocks aggregated “journalism” today

From a real honest-to-God pitchboard (for journalists) on a national site:  "Proposal: Daily series of trending news rewrites Publisher: Newsmax Media Fee: $160 Urgent?: No Description: Seeking writers for the section of our website that aggregates and rewrites trending news. Posts on average should take 25-40 minutes, be 300-350 words and we expect eight stories a day in a 6a-3p window (to beContinue reading “Portlandia mocks aggregated “journalism” today”

Fracking in Upper Ojai: the latest

Fracking — which as you all no doubt know is the injection of water and chemicals below ground at pressure, to break up rock formations and release natural gas and/or oil — has come to rural Upper Ojai and Ventura County. In truth, fracking turns out to have been going on in this area for aContinue reading “Fracking in Upper Ojai: the latest”

I think we are inside a flower, under a pollen of stars

Love this one, called Kauai, via the almost always worthy Poetry Daily:  We’ve come back to the site of   her conception. She calls it why and cries all night, sleepless, wild. It seems the way is always floating and the goal — to live so the ghosts we were don’t trail us and echo. I thinkContinue reading “I think we are inside a flower, under a pollen of stars”

Love as a force of nature: Jeanette Winterson

From an untitled post at Soaked in Soul: "I used to be a hopeless romantic. I am still a hopeless romantic. I used to believe that love was the highest value. I still believe that love is the highest value. I don’t expect to be happy. I don’t imagine that I will find love, whatever that means,Continue reading “Love as a force of nature: Jeanette Winterson”

Whispering in the ear of nature’s secrets: Harriet Monroe

In Nature's Altars, Susan Schrepfer looks at how much it meant to women of the turn of (the 20th) century to go to the mountains. She writes: "High altitudes…released [women], they said, from the requirement of being a consumer, from "clothes and vanities," from the corsseted, perfumed, and coiffured dictates of polite society. Of aContinue reading “Whispering in the ear of nature’s secrets: Harriet Monroe”

Why you don’t want to be drinking cyanobacteria: ALS

This story by a writing mentor, Wendee Nicole, just won a best science story of the year award from the Society of Journalists and Authors. It's horrifying (but fascinating too) to think that a bacteria could be paralyzing people, or giving them Alzheimer's, and the revelation of that story; well, it's jaw-dropping. A small sample:Continue reading “Why you don’t want to be drinking cyanobacteria: ALS”