Posted inFamily

“The Hiltons” is a book about my great-uncle, Conrad Hilton

I consider myself genetically lucky. While I had nothing to do with being born as Conrad Hilton's godchild (he was my mother's uncle, and my grandmother's brother), I got to read 443 pages about the Hilton family courtesy of J. Randy Taraborrelli's book, "The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty." Few people are able to have a book describe a relative in such tantalizing detail. Taraborrelli must have put a heck of a lot of work into his research, which included interviews with people who could cast light on the life and times of Conrad Hilton, the famous…
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Posted inHome life Salem

PGE tree clearing crew were artists at what they do

Yesterday a Portland General Electric (PGE) tree clearing crew was working in our neighborhood prior to the restoration of power following a massive ice storm. We and our neighbors had been without electricity for 11 days at this point. So it was a joy to finally see PGE repair activity occurring. Laurel, my wife, had noticed a PGE truck in the driveway of our neighbor to the south on Lake Drive in rural south Salem, where a tree was in contact with an electrical line. She walked over to talk to the crew to make sure that they knew about…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Neighborhood Salem

Ice storm conversation highlights

Tonight our monthly Salon discussion group met via Zoom. Laurel, my wife, was able to host the meeting even though electricity is still off in our rural south Salem neighborhood, thanks to our generator and the Starlink satellite internet system. Not surprisingly, most of the conversation centered around the recent ice storm and resulting power outages. We all shared our stories of how we're coping. Here's some themes that emerged in the course of our 100 minute discussion. How to prepare for no electricity. Some people favor going the green route. Others the fossil fuel route. Since we live in…
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Posted inHome life Salem

PGE getting well-deserved ice storm criticism

First off, I want to say that I'm as thankful as anyone for the PGE crews that are working to restore power to the hundreds of thousands of Oregonians who are without electricity after the recent massive ice and snow storm.  But I'm a believer in the middle way: give credit where credit is due, and assign blame where blame is due. PGE deserves some of each. (PGE stands for Portland General Electric, not to be confused with PG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric, a Calfornia utility.) My main gripe with PGE is their decision to stop giving estimates for when…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Our dog is enjoying no electricity. Me, not so much.

Out here in rural south Salem, Oregon, we've been without electricity for two days after a big ice storm caused trees to topple and electrical lines to crumple. My wife and I sleep in different bedrooms. We have a wood stove, but the heat from it doesn't reach to where I sleep. I toughed out the first night without electricity, though naturally my room was much colder than usual, Last night I decided that I'd sleep on a blow-up bed. I put it in the living room, which is close to the wood stove in our open-plan house. Our Husky…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Photos of the Great Salem Ice Storm of 2021

l've lived in Oregon for 50 years. I've seen plenty of freezing rain. But I've never experienced anything like the ice storm that struck northwest Oregon yesterday.  Here's photos that I took this morning as my wife and I surveyed the damage to our property in rural south Salem, which was considerable. The ice was amazingly thick. Up near Lake Drive this twig had ice the width of my index finger, about 5/8 of an inch.  The walkway outside our front door was littered with fir branches. Trees and shrubs were bending over from the weight of the ice. There…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Mark Cuban is right. National Anthem is way over-played.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, is no longer playing the National Anthem, a.k.a. The Star Spangled Banner, before home basketball games. Good for Cuban.  UPDATE: Bad for Cuban. He gave in to the NBA.  The National Anthem has nothing to do with genuine patriotism. Neither does the Pledge of Allegiance. Neither does the American flag.  We could get rid of all three, except for very special occasions, and our country not only would be just fine, it would be even better. Why? Because nationalism is divisive. Also, ridiculous. People in every country believe that they live…
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Posted inHome life Web/Tech

USA broadband sucks. In rural south Salem, it sucks more.

Having fast internet no longer is a luxury, if it ever was. A year into the Covid crisis, it's clear that access to genuine broadband -- defined by the FCC as at least 25 megabits per second download (25 Mbps) and three megabits per second (3 Mbps) upload -- is a necessity.  Distance learning can't happen without it. Working from home can't happen without it. Keeping in touch with friends and family can't happen without it. Streaming entertainment can't happen without it. OK, I've exaggerated a bit.  Those things can happen with slower internet. However, I speak from experience when…
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