March 2013 – Nullius in Verba

Managing That Wild Natural Look

In 1978, I was just beginning my career with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). I worked in the southern Sierra Nevada range as the Assistant Forest Manager at Mountain Home State Forest. The federally managed 1.2 million acre Sequoia National Forest surrounded the 4800-acre state forest. On most of theContinue reading “Managing That Wild Natural Look”

Weekend Postcard: Napa Valley Afternoon Light

I took this picture from inside a moving car looking east near Calistoga. I thought the sunlight striking a vineyard to be beautiful, even with the smudges on the glass.

What happens when we can find traces of everything everywhere?

It is easy to get worked up about toxic substances (especially, it seems, synthetic ones) being in our bodies, yet as Brian Dunning at Skeptoid notes, it is natural to have toxic substances there. He points out that plutonium is “one of the most dangerous substances known.” But because we live on a planet withContinue reading “What happens when we can find traces of everything everywhere?”