Category Archives: thinking out loud

Secrets of the PCT: Pinyon Point

This doesn't look like much, does it?

Trailnearpinyonpoint

This is a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, section F, heading north through the Mojave Desert.

Let me say I grew up far away from the desert and never thought I liked its lack of trees and aridity, but well, maybe I should have known better. Should have listened to my elders. For example:

Plazaatpinyonpoint

This is a sort of plaza, at about six thousand feet, overlooking the vastest desert in Southern California. This area, which I'm calling Pinyon Point,has numerous sites in which to roll out a pad in beauty and serenity (and perhaps wind, for at its height, it does experience weather — that's why, I think, the pinyon pines grow so well there).

Yet it's all but unused. I made a fire there a year and a half ago, after a snowfall, and near as I can tell, the campfire hasn't been used since. I confess I kind of like it that way, so I'm not going to reveal the exact location, although readers who would like to know can write me, and I'll probably tell.

I was rolling up my tent this past Sunday, and heard a pair of PCT walkers stop and chat on the other side of a rock, not fifty feet away, and yet completely oblivious of my presence.

Let me show you a little more —

Income inequality: Shocking facts, visualized

According to economic experts, for the first time in at least a hundred years, quite possibly ever, the American middle-class is losing ground. It's not just that the richer are getting richer, it's also "wage stagnation." Meaning that young people today cannot expect to surpass their parents, as young generations in the past could —Continue reading “Income inequality: Shocking facts, visualized”

Visualizing income inequality

This is a really good visualization of the theory of income inequality, as expounded in Thomas Piketty's best-selling book Capital in the 21st Century. But you don't have to read the book to get it! All you have to do is watch the infographic. From — of all places! — the Wall Street Journal.

Study: The “hollowing out” of the middle-class in CA

From a story in the LATimes business section about income inequality: California's low-wage workers are older and more educated than they were three decades ago — but they earn less, according to new research from UC Berkeley. The study, released Thursday, documented the extensive growth of income inequality in California since the late 1970s. TheContinue reading “Study: The “hollowing out” of the middle-class in CA”

A botannical moment from the Sespe

Went on a tamarisk-removal expedition down a Southern California tributary of the Sespe this past weekend with friends and with support from the Forest Service. Happy to do it and glad for the opportunity but know that the agency would rather us not post any on trips to protected places. So here's my allowable momentContinue reading “A botannical moment from the Sespe”

The usefulness of the random: Astrology

Astrology cannot be taken seriously, and yet I cannot entirely escape my daily sentence (aka "horoscope") in the newspaper. But I'm not the only one with mixed feelings about it. At times, for example, Jung scoffed: Astrology is a naively projected psychology  in which the different attitudes and temperaments of man are represented as gods Continue reading “The usefulness of the random: Astrology”

CA water bureaucrat disses federal weather scientists

How often does one see an outright confrontation between state bureaucrats and federal scientists? In my experience, well — never. But that's what I saw last week at the Chapman Conference on California Drought.  Organized by the American Geophysical Union, at a National Academy of Sciences center at UC Irvine, this conference brought together aContinue reading “CA water bureaucrat disses federal weather scientists”

James Baldwin on climate science

  Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.   James Baldwin wasn't thinking of climate when he wrote that, but if you think about it, isn't that the logic of climate policy efforts today? Isn't that the hope, the idea that drives our science – to win the publicContinue reading “James Baldwin on climate science”

California’s water demand: a look at the numbers

Nate Silver's datalab, aka 538, takes a fresh look at the numbers that show California's water demand. Leah Libresco digs up some real gems: California’s water problem won’t be solved by shorter showers or browner lawns. In Gov. Jerry Brown’s executive order setting California’s mandatory water reductions in cities and towns, he called for 25Continue reading “California’s water demand: a look at the numbers”