Posted inRecreation

Photos of Banff: Johnston Canyon & Lake Louise

As shown in my Day 1 report of our first-time visit to Banff, Canada, we rain-habituated Oregonians hit a semi-wet period north of the border -- which made us feel right at home. Day 2 we headed to Johnston Canyon for a creekside hike, figuring that if we were going to get rained on it'd be better to be viewing close-in scenery rather than distant cloud-cloaked mountains. When we got to the Johnston Canyon parking area, we found that lots of other people were on the same wavelength. One guidebook says this is the most popular hike in the Banff…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of Banff: Day 1 of our first-time visit

Our vacation in Banff (Alberta, Canada) went great after a rocky start checking in with United Airlines/Air Canada at the Portland airport. Remember the good old days when, even though you were traveling in coach, you were checked in by a real live person who could deal with problems and questions on the spot? Those days are gone if you're traveling United/Air Canada out of PDX. We were forced to use an annoying electronic kiosk prior to checking our bags. It recognized my passport, but was clueless about my wife's reservation. The machine told her to pick up a phone…
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Posted inHome life

“Can you spare some gas money?”

Out in the south Salem (Oregon) suburbs, there aren't many people asking passers-by for money. But once in a while I see somebody with a cardboard sign standing on the sidewalk at the junction of Liberty and Commercial. He or she is easy to ignore if I stare straight ahead until the light changes.I try to avoid reading what the sign says. It might be "disabled veteran -- need help." Something like that. I figure it's probably a con job. Today, though, there's wasn't any avoiding possible. I was starting to get on my Burgman 650 scooter after shopping at…
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Posted inBooks Writing/Weblogs

Self-publishing loses its stigma. So…write a book!

Ah, the times they are a'changin, just like Bob Dylan said they would. What was shameful not so long ago has come out into the open, standing tall and proud. And I'm not talking about homosexuality. Rather, self-publishing. My print on demand (POD) loving soul was thrilled to read in a recent issue of Newsweek, " Who Needs a Publisher?" Until recently, reviewers and booksellers looked down on self-published authors the way Anna Wintour scorns Dress Barn. Now new writers and established authors alike are increasingly taking publishing into their own hands, and the publishing establishment is paying attention. According…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Oregon may follow California in legalizing marijuana

I'm 61 years old. Two weeks ago, at an outdoor party, I drank my first beer out of a keg. I had to watch the guy ahead of me to see how he filled his glass. I had no idea how the pump thingie worked. Yet I went to college from 1966-71 at San Jose State University, which at the time had a reputation as a party school. But during the '60s flower power era -- and the San Francisco Bay Area was the epicenter of it -- a large percentage of students had nothing to do with alcohol. Like…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Lessons of Salem’s Courthouse Square debacle

Who says nothing interesting ever happens in Salem (Oregon)? Well, I do, a lot. But ever since it was reported that recently constructed Courthouse Square -- a building that houses most county offices, along with the downtown transit mall -- is in serious danger of falling down, things have been popping in the local newspaper. Today the Statesman Journal ran a bunch of stories and opinion pieces about this debacle. The $34 million building, which takes up an entire block, is being vacated as quickly as possible. It might not be repairable. Yet it opened just ten years ago, in…
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Posted inHome life

Failing to balance my checkbook unbalances me

I'm a habitual checkbook balancer. For as long as I've had a checking account, some forty years, every month I sit down with the bank statement, my checkbook, a pen, and a calculator. I've never failed to balance the checkbook. But sometimes it takes me a while to find the error that is preventing me and the bank from being in perfect, to-the-penny agreement. (Invariably, those errors have been caused by me or my wife. As this person says in retgard to checkbook balancing, perhaps somewhat tongue in cheek, "the bank is always right.") Yesterday, though, was different. I'd made…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Arizona immigration law drives this leftie leftward

Before registering as a Democrat in 2008 so I could vote for Obama in the Oregon primary, I was "unaffiliated" for a long time. I like to march to my Independent Drummer rather than move in lockstep with what either the R's or D's are pushing politically at the moment.For instance...Back in 2005 I locked arms with conservatives on illegals, saying "The right is right on immigration reform."This being the holiday season, a time of brotherhood and good will, I’ve been searching my progressive soul for any political common ground that I have with the right-wing in America. I’ve been…
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Posted inScience Sustainability

Letter to editor shows ignorance of global warming deniers

Marcia Turnquist of Northwest Portland, you should send me a cyberspace gift basket. I was this close to titling my blog post, "Marcia Turnquist is a scientific freaking fool." But I thought that sounded just a tad impolite for a headline, so I demoted that sentiment to the body of this post -- though I still dearly hope Google manages to connect "Marcia Turnquist" and "freaking fool" for as long as the Holy Search Engine does its thing.As I guess is obvious, I'm losing my patience with global warming deniers. Also, with media outlets that treat their scientific illiteracy with…
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Posted inSalem

Photos of 2010 Salem Hoopla

There's something deeply enjoyable about parking my Burgman 650 scooter a few blocks from the Salem Hoopla three-on-three basketball tournament (largest event in Oregon), buying an icy Jamba Juice at one of the food booths, and then watching young guys/gals run around the many courts in 94 degree heat while I stand (preferably in the shade) with my iPhone 4's camera in hand. I love the energetic, music-pounding, youthful atmosphere. And it's good to see people at the state capitol arguing about bad foul calls rather than bickering over partisan politics. Appropriately, basketball courts stretch down Court Street for a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Dems give up on climate change legislation

Soon after I learned that the Senate Democratic leadership, surely with Obama's blessing, had given up on trying to pass any meaningful sort of climate change legislation, I got another email from Organizing for America -- asking for donations to support the Dems.Hah! I thought. Bad timing. I was so irked at the meek and weak "we give up without even trying" attitude of the Democratic leadership in Washington I vowed to put my financial support into Oregon politics. If we can keep Republican Chris Dudley from becoming governor and elect John Kitzhaber, that'll ease the pain of watching the…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Sustainability

9th Circuit reverses ruling that threatened Measure 49

Here's some good news for Oregon. Today the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 2008 decision by a federal District Court judge, Owen Panner, who opined that Measure 37 waivers were binding contracts -- so couldn't be overturned by voters' decisive approval of Measure 49 in 2007.I wrote about Panner's decision in "Federal judge complicates Oregon land use policies." Fortunately, the 9th Circuit has uncomplicated them. Here's the brief ruling by the 9th Circuit. Download Memo opinion cfcfRalph Bloemers of the Crag Law Center in Portland issued a press release about the 9th Circuit decision. Download Press Release -…
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Posted inSalem

Photos of the (controversial) 2010 Salem Art Fair

Ah, it's good to see people in sleepy Salem (Oregon) throw off their lethargy and get fired up over a controversial social issue: whether the Salem Art Association did the right thing in putting up a fence around the 2010 Art Fair and charging a $5 admission fee ($7 for all three days). Debate over the undeniably ugly chain link fence in public Bush Park, the fee, and a steadily declining percentage of local artists at this increasingly high-quality juried fair has raged in the Salem Statesman Journal, culminating in a front page story today. Download Salem Art Fair articleMy…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Wow, Steve Jobs and I think alike (about the iPhone 4)

I just finished watching a liveblog of the Apple press conference where supposed antenna problems with the iPhone 4 were discussed. Steve Jobs persuasively pointed out that all smart phones have similar problems, and very few users of the iPhone 4 are dissatisfied with it.In my recent post about how I like the iPhone 4 after playing around with it for five days, I said: When I put my finger over the crease on the bottom left side that Consumer Reports has identified as a lowered signal strength culprit, one bar appears to drop off. To me, that's no big deal.…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

iPhone 4 is working great for me

I guess every iPhone 4 should come with one of those legalistic disclaimers: "Your results may vary." Because I've been playing around with my new upgraded phone for five days now, and my review is pithily simple.Love it!The antenna/signal strength problem has been getting a lot of attention. Friday Apple is holding a press conference. Maybe they'll give every iPhone owner free bumpers -- which would be nice, since I forked out $29 for mine after I heard they solved the antenna issue (only to discover that the bumper keeps the phone from fitting correctly in my much-beloved Sirius satellite…
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Posted inEntertainment

Alex and Twitch’s dance message: “Get out of your mind!”

Sometimes great performances on So You Think You Can Dance touch a deep emotional chord with me. Last night my wife and I started to make our way through some recorded episodes. We came to Alex and Twitch's astounding hip-hop dance, "Get out of your mind!"We watched it twice. Today I saw it twice more, having been able to find it online. You'll probably have to wait for an ad to finish before seeing the video, but believe me, you need to wait. Then, enjoy.What's amazing is that Alex is an accomplished ballet dancer. Hip-hop seemingly would be way out…
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Posted inEntertainment

Photos of 2010 Oregon Country Fair

Last year, after a long absence, we returned to the 60's and had a great time at the Oregon Country Fair in Veneta (outside of Eugene). Friday we fired up our Prius and hybrid'ed our way down I-5 again, hoping the mid-90's heat wouldn't mess up our mellow. It didn't. Shortly after we parked our car and started walking across grassy fields (double entendre entirely appropriate), we came across a purple-tailed horse. I instantly felt at home. And wondered what it would have been like to come to the fair in my LSD-taking days. (I would have named the horse "Trippy,"…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Climate scientists cleared of wrongdoing

Ah, it's so pleasing to have been proven right. As was obvious seven months ago, when I wrote "Climate scientist emails show no fraud," several investigations have now concluded that the stolen emails of leading climate researchers leave the science of global warming as it was before:Proven beyond any reasonable doubt. The Earth is warming to dangerous levels, and humans are responsible for it.An article from a British newpaper, the Guardian, was headlined "Climategate scientists cleared of manipulating data on global warming."Announcing the findings, Russell said: "Ultimately this has to be about what they did, not what they said. The…
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Posted inSustainability

Oregon wolves saved from ridiculous kill order

I can't understand why Eastern Oregon ranchers are so afraid of wolves. There only are thought to be fourteen wolves in the entire state. They're on Oregon's endangered species list.Yet two of the fourteen were slated to be slaughtered by the inaccurately-named federal agency, Wildlife Services, after the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife issued an unnecessary kill order. Fortunately, on July 1 four conservation groups sued Wildlife Services for not conducting a required environmental analysis. After all, killing 1/7 of an endangered species population sure sounds like it needs some careful thought.But as I've noted before in "Ranchers overly afraid…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Progressives should support gun rights

Wow. I couldn't believe I was still on the Daily Kos -- a leading progressive blog -- when I came across a great post: "Why liberals should love the Second Amendment." Kaili Joy Gray persuasively argued that just as liberals support other individual rights in the Constitution, the right to possess guns should be added to the progressive agenda.All of our rights, even the ones enumerated in the Bill of Rights, are restricted. You can't shout "Fire!" in a crowd. You can't threaten to kill the president. You can't publish someone else's words as your own. We have copyright laws…
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