The End of the Strawberry As Some of Us Know It?

In my early teens I spent the early weeks of a few summers in the strawberry fields around Portland. I say early weeks because the berry’s season in Oregon is very short. In recent years the strawberry crop in Oregon has been shrinking, a victim of the flavor-intense ripe berry’s very short life and inability to travel far. Watsonville, California, meanwhile has been dramatically increasing its berry output. The California season is nearly year-round and the berries have a long shelf life. Oh yeah, not much flavor, either.

Gravenstein apples have suffered a similar fate in Sonoma County for similar reasons, with the additional pressure of vineyards taking over every patch of ground

What WPA and CCC Did For Us

Timberline Lodge 1937
Timberline Lodge 1937

My father, born and raised in Florida, settled in Oregon after World War II. When relatives came to visit, Timberline Lodge was at the top of his list of attractions to show them. There is irony here: a staunch Republican and FDR hater, he took great pride in showing off this Works Progress Administration make-work project. Franklin D. Roosevelt, creator of the New Deal bureaucracies, came to Mt. Hood to dedicate the Lodge in 1937. Continue reading “What WPA and CCC Did For Us”

Cheney Heart Factoid

This is not about the million-plus taxpayer dollars spent on Dick Cheney’s heart. This is about Internet security and privacy. Just kidding! We know – and have accepted – that neither exists.

It’s about the Internet of Things: “… devices that interact with the Internet, such as watches, refrigerators, pacemakers, robotic vacuum cleaners, baby monitors, video cameras at street intersections, and more. Security researchers have exposed security vulnerabilities in everything from Hello Barbie dolls, which allowed hackers to intercept a child’s communication, to cars that can be remotely hacked so their brakes and transmission are disabled.”

Hackers can even get into medical devices. This was enough of a concern that Dick Cheney’s physician turned off his pacemaker while he served as vice-president … to prevent his being attacked from within, so to speak.

Richard Nixon’s Other Legacy

Playing devil’s advocate here…

How evil was Richard Nixon? He resigned in disgrace. But he left us with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Oh yeah, he also initiated diplomatic relations with China.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and the Church of One Tree

ChurchRipley’s “Believe It or Not!” operates “Odditoriums” and other attractions in eleven states, Canada, Mexico and six other countries. These locations do not include his hometown, Santa Rosa California, where the “Church of One Tree” once housed a museum celebrating Robert Ripley. Continue reading “Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and the Church of One Tree”