Archive of entries posted by jfleck
Black-crowned night heron
The rich are different from you and me. They have nicer socks.
Some months ago, I found myself at a speaking engagement at a posh resort in the hills outside San Diego, the sort with beautiful eucalyptus trees, and golf carts. I’d brought some business attire for my panel discussion (in our family we refer to them as “grownup clothes”), but realized I’d forgotten to pack socks. …
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Before there was Wikipedia….
For Christmas, my friend Alison gave me the 1928 Popular Science Monthly “Pocket Guide to Science.” It’s a treasure, including things like this: What produced the Grand Canyon of Arizona? It was cut down, during millions of years, by the Colorado River which still flows in the bottom of it. The sand and clay cut …
Stuff I wrote elsewhere: real water, real people
Three years ago John Leeper, then head of the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources, told me about the importance of the deal that assigns long-neglected water rights along with the money to bring the water to arid eastern side of the reservation: “Real water to real people in real time.” Last week Roberto Rosales …
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Rez Ball
It is said that Chinle, a Navajo community in northeastern Arizona, has one of the largest high school basketball gyms in the country. Basketball is very popular in Indian Country.
Under the street art
the China butcher
Here is an item I ran across this evening while reading old California newspapers. It appeared in the Daily Evening Bulletin of San Francisco,Tues. Feb. 15, 1876: Last week, at Jacinto, a Chinaman got his left arm broken between the wrist and elbow. He came to Chico for assistance and called upon the China butcher, …
The Windmill
“For certain specific purposes, and, primarily among them, for pumping water in moderate quantities, the windmill is not only a thoroughly reliable, but at the same time the most economical prime mover, and as far as judgment can now be passed, will hold this place for many years to come.” – Alfred R. Wolff, The …
Does drought matter any more?
In Southern California, the link between weather and water has been inextricably broken. Here’s Bettina Boxall on why L.A.’s driest year, ever, doesn’t matter all that much: Although this year’s No. 1 ranking makes for an interesting conversation piece, it has little practical effect. As anyone driving around Los Angeles can see, lawns are still …