tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50999212024-03-07T15:24:52.865-08:00NCFocusStale blog offering
Perspective on ideas, issues and life from Nevada County, California - belaboring the obvious since 2003Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.comBlogger1173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-42436091209560313612020-11-04T01:23:00.002-08:002020-11-04T01:26:19.590-08:00NCVoices.us (the news etc aggregator) may be coming to an end.Well, thus is sad. The rather wonderful and reliable web hosts who've kept NCVoices.us up (along with journo101.com and warming101.com) for the last 12 years or so are transitioning their webhosting to The Cloud, which would raise the rates for the setup I have, which helps make it appear that an obsolete and rickety script like the one that builds those pages is more trouble to adapt than Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-10099653204318380742020-08-14T20:14:00.011-07:002020-08-18T12:14:19.114-07:00FYI, NCVoices is underperformingTuesday Aug. 18 update: It was *really* underperforming, it turns out I broke it late Sunday night (Aug 16; obvious advice: do not mess with software when sleepy) and didn't realize this until today (Tuesday, the day after the wildfire evacuations were ordered). Quite a tangle on Monday.Blogs that should be appearing on ncvoices.us, but aren't (and haven't been, for far too long), are Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-78577287370790537362016-05-02T10:12:00.000-07:002016-05-02T10:16:06.611-07:00Belated, sad E-bike update
Some years back I handed off my e-bike (UrbanMover Sprite electric-assist) on long-term loan to a friend of a friend who wanted to use it for commuting in Nevada County. She did, but then it got stolen, sans key, off of a very quiet Grass Valley street. I did see a bike that looked like it, being ridden in West Sacramento (by a woman) a few months back. If you should ever run Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-80685279416501203972016-02-25T00:25:00.003-08:002016-03-02T23:02:07.194-08:00The NCVoices.us scripts are not feeling well
I'll try to fix it this weekend.
March 2 update on fixing ncvoices.us: It's mostly working again, though there's still more to fix and get running. See its Bugs/Status page for updates.
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-18294338630542227742016-01-18T13:25:00.003-08:002016-01-18T17:40:01.927-08:002016 update
No, I don't live in Nevada County anymore. Yes, many of the posts in this blog are crap. (Whether they were equally so when I posted them, I don't know.) And yes, it's a very effing strange world.
Live and learn.
Some lessons learned from doing this blog:
1. Don't chase the laser pointer, and especially have the minimal sense not to do so when it's headed toward Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-12989174379500738832013-04-13T16:08:00.001-07:002013-04-13T16:45:39.178-07:00Livin' La Vida Verde: LWV April panel notes and commentary
Meeting: Sat. April 13, 2013, League of Women Voters of Nevada County (link); a 4-person panel presentation and Q and A on "living green" in Nevada County. Fairly exhaustive yet incomplete, mostly-substantive notes (and the occasional editorial aside and
assessment) follow.
Panelists were Martin Webb (solar KVMR energy host), Richard Thomas (sierra club), Nancy Weber (nid), Amigo Bob Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-56756322615157700362012-11-30T20:48:00.006-08:002012-11-30T20:48:53.642-08:00Drone assassinations, Beale AFB and civil disobedience on Sharon Delgado's blog... although you wouldn't know it from NCVoices, whose script isn't parsing her blog feed correctly (the post "Resisting the Reign of Death" may have a format error.)
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-11848989384580292652012-09-27T21:04:00.000-07:002012-10-08T20:35:53.502-07:00NaNoWriMo, OctoLearnMo(revised Oct 6,8)
You may know that November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, for those so inclined; according to this LA Times article, in 2009 it had 167,000 participants, of whom a little more than a fifth did finish their 50,000+ word novel.
I'm christening this October OctoLearnMo, for self study.
I intend to complete the 22-chapter Krugman/Wells Economics textbook, and David Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-20182319206490207442012-09-02T09:26:00.001-07:002012-09-02T09:47:39.823-07:00Excellent NYTimes op-ed on how horse-race journalists are falling short even in horse-race analysisWhy Campaign Reporters Are Behind the Curve
"This is why [even non-science parts of] newspapers are worth reading," - me (*)
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-8557673631298997402012-09-02T09:15:00.001-07:002012-09-02T09:49:10.484-07:00Worse than models projected: Record low arctic sea ice already, and still another couple weeks to goClick for the animation:
Uncertainty is not our friend. The risk can be greater than models suggest: for Arctic sea ice, the loss is happening much faster than predicted. So relying on the model projections to inform your decisionmaking may not be enough;
Water planners, there may be a lesson here.
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-9287664241560784322012-08-25T12:16:00.000-07:002012-08-25T12:23:15.435-07:00Lessons learned (or at least taught), #234567 and #234568 Lesson #234567:
When you submit a letter to the editor, suggest a title for it.
... or else it might end up with an inadvertently misleading one.
(And to help solve the problem more generally, also suggest to newspaper webmasters that they help other citizens avoid similar embarrassment by adding a "suggested title" field to the online "submit a letter" form; perhaps along with a "do youUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-15883527301838263172012-08-16T10:55:00.000-07:002012-08-16T15:14:05.929-07:00Solutions journalism sketch: Hirshman's Pond trail issuesI'm one person and there's too #$%^& much to do, most of it far more important than this, but I think it's worth at least laying out what "solutions journalism" coverage of the recent Hirshman's Pond trail issues might look like.
The last Nevada City city council meeting included airing of
landowners' grievances on use of the pond part of the trail. Overall, the trail goes from the Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-48275929013888421782012-08-14T10:28:00.002-07:002012-08-14T10:50:09.309-07:00EXCELLENT "climate weirdness" NPR Fresh Air interview with Climate Central's Lemonick this a.m.This is why NPR deserves our support - in an hour or so, asking good, open-ended Qs and then letting his guest talk, Fresh Air host David Davies let Michael Lemonick (with a new book) give the straight scoop on climate change.
... "We've had time to act — and essentially we haven't acted," says science journalist Michael Lemonick....
There'll be a recording up later today; download it, since Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-77996894469880790592012-08-11T09:44:00.002-07:002012-08-11T09:44:54.707-07:00Marooned in meatspace, more or less (PITA computers...)Apologies for any failures to attend or respond... connections are spotty, so please be patient.
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-82649593291299216412012-08-05T12:12:00.002-07:002012-08-05T14:09:03.969-07:00Nevada County environmental activists, it's past time for vision. Why so quiet?What does the future hold for our rivers? Are our river protectors aware?
From the [U.K.] Independent, Heatwave turns America's waterways into rivers of death.
"Significant tolls of fresh-water species, from pike to trout, have been reported, most frequently in the Midwest..."
Climate change is here — and worse than we thought, says James Hansen, the climate scientist who's Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-69826244932815696322012-07-27T11:56:00.000-07:002012-07-27T11:56:07.298-07:00A world without coral reefs
"we hear...an airbrushed view of the crisis... Coral reefs, like rain forests, are a symbol of
biodiversity. And, like rain forests, they are portrayed as
existentially threatened — but salvageable. The message is: “There is
yet hope.”
Bradbury says no, there isn't.
"...these forces are unstoppable and irreversible. And it is these two
features — acceleration and Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-7951611608155115592012-07-24T15:53:00.000-07:002012-07-24T15:53:53.505-07:00Bill McKibben on climate threat to localism; "we've got to work globally."Should local-first advocates also help tackle global climate change? On Sunday night in a taped discussion, Bill McKibben told us yes -- "The only thing that can derail this [localism] revolution is how we're degrading the planet."
He pointed out that the extreme weather which hit Vermont (in 2010(?)) "washed away the local farms" that had taken 20 years or more to build up. "So we've got to Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-27354261256036053572012-07-18T21:00:00.002-07:002012-07-18T21:00:45.827-07:00Nevada City hot summer nights, and the crush of humanityThe question we came up with in town tonight is, by what alchemy could you take our streets seething with human ferment and produce some kind of civic output?
("everybody out having a good time" is one civic output, but what others might be possible?)
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-84492099449209292762012-07-11T11:05:00.000-07:002012-07-11T11:36:17.582-07:00Explainer: "Obamacare" synopsis, presented neutrallyIt's here on Reddit.
In about 3 pages, Obamacare "explained like you're a five year-old... without too much oversimplification, and (hopefully) without sounding
too biased. ... What does it do? Well, here is everything, in the order of when it goes
into effect (because some of it happens later than other parts of it):"
It's a quicker read than the original. (pdf, huge)
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-77024076798764771612012-07-11T07:45:00.000-07:002012-07-11T07:50:58.499-07:00Welcome to the rest of our livesFrom Peter Sinclair.
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-8918507077948237402012-07-10T19:13:00.000-07:002012-07-11T07:52:08.379-07:00A precedent for the failure of a scientific consensusThe climate science consensus today, covering a range of views, says our policies are very much on the wrong track.
"... the [climate science] field, as represented by IPCC, rightly or wrongly is solidly behind a range of opinion [i.e., "enormously disruptive changes in the world’s climate in the lifetimes of people now living"] that, if correct, makes current policy toward carbon emissions Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-12229708710250354152012-07-09T09:31:00.001-07:002012-07-09T09:31:20.504-07:00Thoughts of 4th of July parade spectators on global warming and solutions.A little after noon, before Nevada City's (2pm) 4th of July parade, I started up Broad Street with voice recorder in hand, asking the earlybird spectators what came to mind when they heard the term "global warming", and then if they indicated it was a problem, what came to mind for solutions.
Most respondents did show concern about global warming. When asked about solutions, a Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-62269255558999987452012-07-06T10:07:00.000-07:002012-07-11T10:58:49.923-07:00How to report city and county issues that need fixingThis month's Nevada City Advocate (story not online AFAIK) reports that Nevada County has an online and mobile "citizen service request" app for reporting potholes, environmental hazards etc, that went live several months ago (link). (Update: The City of Grass Valley has one too)
Pros: no cost to county. Cons: Communication looks to be one-way; the browser version doesn't have a map &Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-91581207889148448492012-07-04T09:25:00.000-07:002012-07-04T09:25:48.772-07:00Jeff Masters: next week may be our turn
"Around July 11, a sharp ridge
of high pressure is expected to build in over the Western U.S., bringing
the potential for crazy-hot conditions capable of toppling all-time
heat records in many western states. "
- from Weather Underground co-founder Jeff Masters, in his post The June 2012 U.S. heat wave: one of the greatest in recorded history. He continues,
"The intense heat and lack
Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099921.post-3270951661917812862012-07-04T08:40:00.000-07:002012-07-04T08:42:45.950-07:00Kevin Trenberth: We're looking at the future (of global warming)
Trenberth on PBS, talking about the wild weather & record heat as a taste of the future under global warming.Anna Hayneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15176850465809297298noreply@blogger.com0