| Environment |
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Dinosaur Cave Expedition Kayak Style
I arrive at Central Coast Kayaks for the Cave Expedition, envisioning a trip akin to a Disneyland ride until someone hands me a helmet and I realize, that they don’t hand you helmets at Disneyland! Donning a wetsuit, life vest, and helmet, I head for the beach to begin the 2.5 hour trip of a lif...
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| Point of View |
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A Two Flight Meditation on Fear and Vodka
In January, 2007 I flew from SLO to Washington DC to join half a million other Americans protesting the Bush-Cheney regime’s hideous crimes against people and nature. I feared flying as much as I feared the president. This is a two flight meditation on how I overcame those twin terrors. Leg One: ...
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| The Arts |
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The Real Stairway to Heaven
For those who appreciate the local side of business, allow me to recommend Lightning Joe’s Guitar Heaven, celebrating 20 years in the Old Village of Arroyo Grande. This place… pretty much rocks. Anybody who’s ever touched a guitar will be challenged to keep their tongues in their mouths upon t...
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| Point of View | Publisher's Note
I’m in the swirl… againOn the cover is a photo of Yosemite Falls taken by my husband during a short visit to the Ahwahnee last month. This was our honeymoon site 20 years ago. It is a place we return to to remember and refresh our souls.One of the most beautiful sites in the world, Yosemite is w...
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| Point of View | What Do You Mean,
"No Money?” What do General Mills box tops, recycling inkjet cartridges, the California Lottery, and gift-wrap paper sales all have in common? They are all funding sources for California’s schools. School funding is taking a big hit with the economy’s slowdown. The state has fewer tax dollars...
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| Point of View | Legalize Marijuana
Legalization of marijuana would save billions. I used to grow marijuana in my garden each year for my glaucoma. I have now quit growing my own because Sheriff Hedges is after me and I'd rather go blind than go to jail. Let’s face it; our ‘War on Drugs’ has failed with this plant. The ‘War on...
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| Activism / Community | Mothers for Peace 40th Anniversary April 25
An anniversary provides one with the opportunity to reflect upon the events of the past and plans for the future. In the case of the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, it additionally offers an occasion for expressing appreciation for the complementary work accomplished by other groups and individua...
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| Health & Wellbeing | Live Long Better
Live better. Live longer. As some of you know, I have worked as a nurse for more than 30 years and have learned a few things I think everyone should consider.Most heart attacks and strokes happen in the morning, because people are dehydrated and their blood is thicker. Keep water or my favorite—wa...
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| Health & Wellbeing | Terraderma
Earthskin.I’m looking at a satellite image of Earth from space. Our planet looks unfamiliar and two-dimensional; its surface seems smooth, smooth as a ping-pong ball, smooth as a baby’s bottom. The surface looks like a skin that could be peeled off in one thin layer. Clouds, oceans, brown & g...
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| Health & Wellbeing | Something Stinks
about Canadian SeafoodMy husband and I are sitting around on the couch, miserably, having a no-you-do-it argument about who’ll go grocery shopping.Really, the argument is about who’s going to hand the store manager the Protect Seals customer card I’ve printed from an email alert by the Humane ...
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| Money Matters | Recessionista Rises!
The California Employment Development Department announced Friday that the state's unemployment rate had increased to 10.1 percent, 3 percent higher than the national average.Foreclosure signs dot our neighborhoods like Quarantine warnings of an economic plague. Like the plague and un-employment lay...
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| Money Matters | What Were These Women Up To?
The Civil War offered inventive opportunities to the thousands of women left in charge of households, farms, and businesses while men went off to fight. Notable war-related inventions were patented by: Martha Coston - naval signal flares; Temperance Edson - a “self-inflator” for raising sunken v...
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| Environment | Product Sustainability In the Automotive Industry
Automobile manufacturers have historically paid scant attention to the lifetime costs of developing, owning, and disposing of a car or truck. The domestic car industry in the past has failed to look beyond the next sales cycle when designing a new model. Basic safety features such as seat belts, fiv...
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| Environment | Sharing our time on the Earth
Consider the horse in the 21st century in urban/suburban America. What do you think of? Horse racing? Rodeos? Show horses jumping over fences? Circus horses? Police horses?What about abandoned horses, too expensive to feed with the current economy’s skyscraping fuel and hay prices? Standing in a f...
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| Government | Rooting for Rush
I’m pulling for Rush. When I saw Rush speak at the CPAC a couple of weeks ago, the whole scene triggered what I can only describe as a political epiphany for me. Think about it. There was Rush looking like Tony Soprano, black silk shirt opened at the chest; black silk sport coat; gold chains and a...
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| Society | Are We Looking at the Changing Face of Human Evolution?
I was watching one of those political shows on TV. They were talking about how President Obama has brought science back into the policy-making arena, about global warming, stem cells, and one of the guests started talking about the theory of evolution. It got me thinking about that chart they used t...
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| Activism / Community | May Day, May Day!
The De-Evolution of a Holiday May 1st marks a major holiday for the pagan peoples of Europe called Bealtaine, or Beltane. A cross-quarter holiday, Beltane falls halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. The name is thought to derive from the word for bale, as in bales of hay, which we...
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| Activism / Community | Walk in Her Shoes
On April 25, 2009 at about noon, men from all walks of life will walk one mile through downtown San Luis Obispo in women’s high heeled shoes to protest rape, sexual assault & gender violence. Proceeds from sponsored walkers in the event will benefit the Sexual Assault Recovery and Prevention (SARP...
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| Activism / Community | Mothers for Peace 40th Anniversary April 25
An anniversary provides one with the opportunity to reflect upon the events of the past and plans for the future. In the case of the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, it additionally offers an occasion for expressing appreciation for the complementary work accomplished by other groups and individua...
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| The Arts | Your Crack is Showing
'There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets through.' Leonard CohenApril is poetry month. I know from experience that one month is not enough time to sober up and get a passport and it’s absolutely not enough time to read and write poetry. Grab your absinthe, your tall boy, your 15...
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| Astrology | Astrology for April 2009
ARIES (Mar 21–Apr 20)HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARIES! Your astrological New Year is a period of growth; a time when you are encouraged to work at turning possibilities into actualities. You are apt to be thinking big and eager to broaden your horizons. Keep an eye out for any opportunity that could make yo...
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