THE KILL IS TOO WIDE

MOST AMERICANS HAVE NO IDEA

     Tom Knudson's investigative series in The Sacramento Bee this week is highly recommended reading.

      Link here to the read the 3 series.

     Knudson writes about the little known Wildlife Services

branch of the Department of Agriculture.  The Wildlife Services branch is a killing service funded with an annual budget of $72.5 Million.

      As Knudson writes

"Sometimes wild animals must be destroyed-from bears that ransack mountain cabins to geese swirling over an airport runway. But because lethal control stirs strong emotions, Wildlife services prefers to operate in the shadows."

       In my view, it is the information about the manner in which they "operate in the shadows" that is, in the least, troubling if not damning.  Animals that should not be destroyed, are.  Policies and operating procedures are violated, information is hidden or often covered up and humans have been injured as well.  Link above for an eye opening and well done journalistic effort. As one of the sources in the piece is quoted "99% of Americans don't have a clue about this agency."

     Those of you who have followed this blog may recall one of our areas of interest since moving to the far west is watching this area of human and wildlife interaction.

      Link here for a June 2011 post about the killing of mountain lions and the balance of big horn sheep in the Sierra.

DAY BOOK

CAPTURED MOMENTS

 

See you down the trail.  

THE WEEKENDER :) COOL

GETTING FAMILIAR WITH MOTHER NATURE

Grinding the Crack

    There are a lot of ways to get it done, but we offer up a 

WEEKENDER :) video sent to me by my eldest who has been

a wilderness guide, canoeist and helicopter/rafting leader.

This is something I hope Kristin is not thinking about doing,

but it does offer some thrills. Hang on for this one.

     Now we'll offer up a less harrowing way to interact with the elements.  Here's a taste of what many of us Central Coasters have been doing, watching for whales.

IT'S A NEW TRACK RECORD

     It was always exciting when the late Tom Carnegie, track announcer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, boomed those words.  The phrase was so famous in Indianapolis it became a kind of buzz word cliche for any manner of "record setting" activity.  Today the Friday Lunch Flash Mob set 

a "new track record."  We had FIVE picnic tables.

    Kind of amazing when we recall it started with about five or six sitting up on the deck.  Big kids like to have fun too!

     Have a great weekend.  See you down the trail.

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER

AN ENCOUNTER OF
THE EXPLOSIVE KIND

     Scientists and meteorite hunters are scouring over Lotus Park California in El Dorado County. They are looking for debris of a minivan sized meteorite that exploded Sunday night over the Sierra foothills.  

     The blast had what is said to be one-third the force of the Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Recovered pieces are reported to be 4-5 billion years old.  It is a trove for scientists and maybe writers too.

     Remember all of those B grade Sci Fi movies of our Boomer youth?  They always seemed to play out some place in California.  (Of course we grew to understand that is because it was close to the studios and cheaper to film)

      Still, there may be a plot brewing as the search for 

meteorite pieces continue.

DAY BOOK

SPRING BOUQUET

Iris grew well in Indiana, but this is the 
first year we've had an Iris bloom here.

See you down the trail.

A FEDERAL CASE & AFTER THE CATCH

YOUR TEXTS AND TWEETS COULD BE EVIDENCE

     The federal charges against a former BP engineer, alleging he deleted 300 text messages which seemed to indicate the leak of the Deepwater Horizon was worse than the company was saying is important for many reasons.

       The impact on the case is obvious. What is says about personal responsibility in a corporate crisis is another subtext and so too is the disposition of all those texts and tweets that millions send through the ether every day. When is a message yours, and when does it belong to others, your employer or a federal prosecutor?

        When I was an investigative reporter all our work got a legal review before broadcast.  One of our attorneys advised that once we cleared legal and broadcast the program, all our notes relevant to the investigation should be destroyed, putting them beyond the reach of a subpoena, should litigation result, as it would occasionally.  It made you think.  Some times I dumped notes, other times I kept critical files. Later of course those files became debris for later staff people to discard, though many of my files are in curated collection at an historical society.  I'm sure the statute of limitations has run on all of that work by now.

SPEAKING OF WORK

       Here are a few seconds of watching a fisherman work,

after the catch of the day has been hauled off the boat.

See you down the trail.

A NEW ERA IN CALIFORNIA MUSIC

THE PAINTED SKY IN HARMONY

     Jazz, blues, acoustic, Celtic, bluegrass, country, western and classical musicians sought out the famed Painted Sky Recording Studio in Cambria. 
      A frequent reader of this blog is more than likely familiar with the extraordinary history.  
      One of the last concerts at the old venue featured Jude Johnstone and Ray Bonneville which you can read about by linking here.
       Another extraordinary night featured Inga Swearingen, often heard on NPR  and it was powerful the night Michael On Fire played.

       All those years and countless great nights are history and prelude for the New Painted Sky, located in the old Creamery

in historic Harmony California, about 5 miles south of Cambria on the Pacific Coast Highway 1.

    Concerts at the Painted Sky are intimate affairs, like a house concert.  Artists who are in the studio often put aside a night to entertain small and appreciative crowds.
     It has become an institution for California and other musicians and for the music lovers of the Central Coast.

     You may recall the circumstances by which producer, sound engineer Steve Krimmel and music fans lost the old location for antique storage. A point of view here.

    It is still a work in progress, but Steve has the sound about
where he wants it. The touring of a sensational young
group of guitarists The New West Guitar Group

   provided the context for a the launch of the new Painted Sky, in Harmony.  

    Your intrepid blogger/correspondent, armed with iPhone provides about a minute's look at the dawning of a new

era.

See you down the trail.

THE GREAT ONES

REMEMBERING GREATNESS

     Reading of the election difficulties of two long time US Senators, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Oren Hatch of Utah renewed a nagging thought.  From where are the new "Lions" coming?  Generally, and this is a purely subjective take, the quality of upper chamber, the US Senate, has been in steep decline over the last decade.

       There was a time when men and women of conviction and deep political differences could legislate. There was a time when our Federal legislature was not mired in a morass of gridlock, petty interests, cheap hustles, and political gamesmanship above all else.  

        If you doubt that, then regard those times in our history when we recovered from war, helped Japan and Europe rebuild and re-tool, led the way in manufacturing, education, medical research, science, when the economy grew, and there was a sense of prosperity and hope.  It took an obliging, motivating, visionary Senate and even House.

       Here's a way to spend a few educational moments.

Link to this historical list of members of Senate. 

       Some of the names will recall history lessons. Others will remind you of people of skill. Here's just a few names, from our era, to say nothing of the historic Henry Clays or William Jennings Bryans, etc.

       Everett Dirksen, John Foster Dulles, Margret Chase Smith, Lyndon Johnson, Estes Kefauver, Barry Goldwater,

Mike Mansfield, Stu Symington, Alben Barkley, Clifford Case, Jacob Javits, William Promire, John Tower, Edward Kennedy, Abe Ribicoff, George McGovern, Birch Bayh, Edward Brooke,

Mark Hatfield, Harold Hughes, Robert Dole, Richard Schwieker, Robert Taft, Lowell Weicker, Hubert Humphrey, Sam Nunn, et al.

      These people were not saints, nor necessarily towering luminaries, but they were legislators, capable of working, achieving compromise and serving the interest of the Republic and the Senate.  Do you think some of the newly elected, or those circling to get in are of this calibre?  Perhaps some are unless they come in as "true believers" in an ideology over the common good of all. 

REMEMBERING A JAZZ GREAT

A CAMBRIA LOCAL

FOR JAZZ FANS

   Our unique village said good bye to one of our unique 

citizens, Red Holloway a jazz and blues legend.  Here is a 

five minute video with just a few of the highlights from

what was an extraordinary jazz and blues tribute Sunday

afternoon.  

       I shot this with a IPhone, so you are not going to see

a master production, but it will give you a taste.

      I suggest you click the youtube icon and watch it in a larger format

LOCAL COLOR

     And here in less than 30 seconds is a glimpse of 

the famed Morro Rock-one of the Great Icons of the 

central coast.

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) JUST FOR FUN

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

     Perhaps you've read recently that the system you are reading this on, and the technology base of all of our computing may be rapidly out of date.  

     Apparently designers are close to building processing technology, chip high rises if you will, that will accelerate computing time to near warp speed. We are told the glue that is required to hold chip circuit boards in a vertical stack has been improved and there could be exciting news in the near future.  Of course that would mean all of our current technology will become slow, glacially so, by comparison. But in that cloud is the silver lining of potential business opportunities. 

      In the meantime I am fascinated by how creative minds are putting current technology to use. Here's an example.

It is a presentation made at MIP, a production and media trade show held in Cannes France.  When I was ceo of a television and media production company I made twice annual trips to this event.  It is a place where you see cutting edge uses of technology.  Enjoy this wonderment with IPads.

       Thanks to my friend Will Murphy for spotting this 

and sending it along.

THE CAMBRIA LOCAL

      An apology upfront. This is just plain silly season stuff.

It was in the mid to upper 70's under brilliant blue skies

and the Friday Lunch Flash Mob was out in force enjoying a perfect day.

       "Oh, look at all the crows", someone said.  "I wonder if

they'd like some of this extra food", someone else offered.

Well, before long it was show time.

       I hope wherever in the world you are, you can

find some reason to smile this weekend.

       BTW, the same Will who tipped me on the IPAD display has requested a longer Pacific Moment.  That's coming 

next week to LightBreezes.

       See you down the trail.