Ever stumble across something — even something you’ve not thought much about — and then suddenly see it everywhere around you? This strange stumbling-into-obsession has caught me in the last couple of weeks with the concept of consciousness. What the hell? What is it? When do we have it? When do we have too muchContinue reading ““Biology we haven’t discovered yet””
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Thoreau: Craving Reality
The New York Review of Books posts in its entirety a spectacular essay from Robert Pogue Harrison, this time on Thoreau on his centennial birthday, and en or so books and exhibits about The True American. Thoreau (to my blinkered view) is that exceedingly rare writer/philosopher capable of seeing afresh the most fundamental elements ofContinue reading “Thoreau: Craving Reality”
The mercurial John Lennon: from 12/7/1980
A nice column from conservative Carl Cannon of the OC Register tells the story of what happened when Annie Liebowitz went to the Dakota to photograph John Lennon for Rolling Stone, back in l980: On the morning of December 8, 1980, Leibovitz arrived at the Dakota, the apartment building west of Central Park where JohnContinue reading “The mercurial John Lennon: from 12/7/1980”
Trump + Mussolini: Trussolini?
Countless commentators, from a Congressman in Utah, to the President of Mexico, editors and Twitter wizards like Marlow Stern to famous comedians like Bill Mahrer to the most admired of our publications have pointed to the frighteningly fascistic tendencies of Donald Trump and specifically his alarming similarity to Benito Mussolini, in looks and in language. But theContinue reading “Trump + Mussolini: Trussolini?”
PCT section L: Paradise Lake to Sierra City
Think this might be the shortest and possibly the easiest section on the entire 2663-mile PCT. That’s based on a personal knowledge of two-thirds of the trail in California. That’s all I know, admittedly, with some reading and searching, for instance such as Jeffrey Schaffer’s venerable and helpful set of guides on Wilderness Press. Still. Turns out the sectionContinue reading “PCT section L: Paradise Lake to Sierra City”
Buzzfeed takes on Trump
The most successful of the so-called “new media” is probably Buzzfeed, but the truth is, they have more to offer than cute cat antics. This week in two separate stories they called out Donald Trump for hypocrisy. In Florida, in a story called Donald Trump vs Sea Level Rise, reporter Peter Aldous points out thatContinue reading “Buzzfeed takes on Trump”
desert sunsets are the best (well, sometimes)
From the U.S. Department of the Interior, via sharetheexperience, via Instagram:
People of the PCT: Dirt Stew and Dormouse
About eleven months ago, I ran into a couple of thru-hikers as I approached Kennedy Meadows on the PCT. I was coming off the end of a super-hot section of the Mojave with little or no water, and they were south-bound. In SoCal, mostly hiking earlier in the year, heading north I hadn’t met manyContinue reading “People of the PCT: Dirt Stew and Dormouse”
Did avoiding fats make our obesity problem worse?
Could the misunderstanding about fat have made the American problem with obesity worse? That’s the understated implication — or an implication — of the latest version of the medical consensus on fats in the bloodstream, as defined by Frank Hu, head of Harvard’s School of Public Health, in a story by Jane Brody in the NYTimes with aContinue reading “Did avoiding fats make our obesity problem worse?”
“Hiker Trash” at Sonora Pass: Sec J of PCT
PCT hikers who passed through Sonora Pass this summer were fortunate to have available the mobile cooking center/store/community center Sonora Pass Resupply. For $50 this 21st century company will take your package sent by mail and have it ready for you when you arrive at the startof Section J. Plus proprietor KC has whatever else you mightContinue reading ““Hiker Trash” at Sonora Pass: Sec J of PCT”
Kit Stolz 