Lewis and Clark

Today is (exactly) the 200th anniversary of the start of the Lewis and Clark expedition, on May 14, 1804. Did anyone realize this? I almost missed this entirely, but for Reuter’s Oddly Enough RSS feed: “Lewis and Clark’s List: Opium and ‘Portable Soup’” lists some of the provisions they took on their expedition, including opium,… Continue reading Lewis and Clark

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Library of Alexandria discovered

This is big: Library of Alexandria discovered. Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the site of the Library of Alexandria, often described as the world’s first major seat of learning.   A Polish-Egyptian team has excavated parts of the Bruchion region of the Mediterranean city and discovered what look like lecture halls or… Continue reading Library of Alexandria discovered

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Oddly enough…

Since I subscribed to Reuter’s Oddly Enough RSS feed the other day, I’ve noticed that about a sixth of the odd news involved biting in some way. Weird? Yeah. Creepy weird.

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South Sister Quakes

Sweeping the local news this evening is the South Sister earthquakes: more than 100 shook the area three miles west of the South Sister today, with a magnitude of up to 1.5 on the Richter scale. Bend.com has the best writeup on the story I’ve seen online. The quakes were occurring in the northeast part… Continue reading South Sister Quakes

Water on Mars

Forgot to point to this the other day: Opportunity finds evidence of water in Mars’ past. Probably you’ve all heard this by now, but it’s still incredible. “Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry,” said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for… Continue reading Water on Mars

Bend Gridlock

Bend made the national headlines last week (CNN: Rush minute becomes rush hour) because it’s the largest city in the west without a public transit system. And we’re not going to get one anytime soon, unfortunately. From the CNN article: Public transportation advocates in the city are up against a steadfast car culture reinforced by… Continue reading Bend Gridlock

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Local Loser

Could’ve been worse, I suppose, if it weren’t so amusing. According to this article on Bend.com, Jodie Lynn Ackerman was released from jail last Wednesday (the 8th) due to overcrowding. By Saturday night (three days later), she “was booked back into the jail on charges of second-degree theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, first-degree… Continue reading Local Loser

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Fire Update

We’re all safe and sound from the 18 Fire, and we never had to evacuate. All is well. Here is a link to the Forest Service’s website on the 18 Fire; they have some really good images of the fire, better than anywhere else I’ve seen online. Pretty amazing.

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18 Fire

We were on evacuation alert last night as a 600-acre wildfire burned only 3 miles or so from our house. We didn’t have to evacuate, thankfully, as the fire was moving south, away from any developments, but it sure made for an interesting evening. Here’s two links to local stories about the fire: Bend.com and… Continue reading 18 Fire

Truth? Or Onion?

This is what passes for news in the Bend Bulletin, our local newspaper. I swear, this reads like it’s straight out of The Onion (excerpts, with my own commentary): Tuesday, June 25, 2002 Prineville man questions how the pyramids were built Alan St. John was reading the December issue of Popular Mechanics when he spotted… Continue reading Truth? Or Onion?