Category Archives: the beta

The virtues of walking vs becoming part of the mountains

Under the heading, To Age Well, Walk, a new study written up in the NYTimes tells us what we already knew (but sometimes choose to forget).  While everyone knows that exercise is a good idea, whatever your age, the hard, scientific evidence about its benefits in the old and infirm has been surprisingly limited. “ForContinue reading “The virtues of walking vs becoming part of the mountains”

Why the experts think the boy child will come this year

We should be properly skeptical of any image I suppose, especially in these days of Photoshop, and when an image purports to describe a before and after in colors demand to know even how the the satellite data was visualized, the colors chosen…but wow, this image knocks me off my feet, and at a gutContinue reading “Why the experts think the boy child will come this year”

PCT section A: Pioneer Mail to Warner Springs

Last week I completed the second half of the first section of the Pacific Crest Trail, through the Anza-Borrego Desert, which turned out to be a good little adventure. Pics and comments below for anyone who might wonder — what's it like to walk the PCT in SoCal just 50-100 miles north of the border? 

Let me start with a moment of mild drama…ran into this fellow hanging out in the trail:

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Fortunately he was very mellow, and hardly seemed to notice as I skirted him and the trail to pass, (after trying to move him on with a couple of chucked rocks). 

A spiritual retreat ruled by a cat: St. Barbara Monastery

Hidden in an oak woodland, across a bridge and over a stream, on Highway 150 not far from Thomas Aquinas College in Ventura County, can be found one of the least ordinary of sanctuaries for the traveler in search of spiritual renewal.

Rolling the dice on El Nino: Too soon to predict?

Given that this is the worst drought on record in California, it's natural for people to hope for El Niño and all the rain that a good strong El Niño can bring. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported: …even as hope dims for a March miracle storm, climatologists say weather conditions could change this year ifContinue reading “Rolling the dice on El Nino: Too soon to predict?”

Drought expert to Ojai: You have too many damned trees

JPL/NASA scientist Bill Patzert gave Ojai some hell this afternoon, as part of the Facing Drought Together event: From an excellent, may I say, story in the Ventura County Star by Anne Kallas: “Don’t expect a quick fix. Droughts are slow in coming, and they are slow getting out of. We need to change the wayContinue reading “Drought expert to Ojai: You have too many damned trees”

Walking with Cheryl Strayed on the Pacific Crest Trail

..because Strayed didn’t know what the hell she was doing, as she freely admits, she was kind of wonderfully dumb about it. To be blunt. This gives her story the drama of the sincere naif — in some glorious/awful sense, the story of youth versus experience.

What it looks like when a big atmospheric river hits CA

When an atmospheric river reaches California it's often a beautiful sight, especially in an infrared image drawm from NASA's AIRS satellite, explored in depth in this backgrounder from the Sacramento Bee:  The exciting part is that — according to Duane Waliser, a lead scientist at the NASA-backed Jet Propulsion Lab — five-day forecasts of these "PineappleContinue reading “What it looks like when a big atmospheric river hits CA”

A dirty secret — cauliflower w/pine nuts and anchovies

A couple of years ago Judith Thurman had a great piece in The New Yorker about pine nuts (sadly still not available to non-subscribers). She off-handedly included a great cauliflower recipe with a dirty secret. (Here's Gustiamo's version of that recipe.) She says the dirty secret is pine nuts: I say it's anchovies.  Regardless —Continue reading “A dirty secret — cauliflower w/pine nuts and anchovies”