10 December 2008
The Morning News is releasing its first ever hardcover, a collection of old and new work by its many talented writers. I’ve got an essay in there on trying to unplug myself, and plenty of writers who are a lot funnier than I am have written original pieces for the book. Check it out at the TMN store.
07 June 2007
…On his 94th birthday, he leapt out of an airplane strapped to a skydiving instructor and free-fell for a mile. For his 95th birthday, he screamed up a stretch of the Columbia River in a jetboat. “Pulled 2 1/2 Gs,” he told us. He planned to fly a hot air balloon over Seattle; he wanted to market jewelry made from human hair to Playboy…
From Remembering Pop, a eulogy for my wife’s legendary grandpop.
27 February 2007
…Before my kids turn 40, the vast majority of the world’s coral reefs could be devastated. Before my kids turn 20, 135 million people worldwide may have died from diseases resulting from a lack of clean water. Extinctions are currently happening faster than they did when the dinosaurs died off, the world population is more vulnerable than ever to epidemics, and fertilizer run-off in the Gulf of Mexico has created a dead zone—an expanse of ocean without sufficient oxygen to support life—the size of New Jersey…
from Garbage Night, a look at the American capacity for garbage-making.
25 August 2006
…In the air, all through our little neighborhood, mosquitoes are dying, crumpling, falling from the trees. Even though this is high desert, we have plenty of them, emerging mostly from standing puddles on over-watered lawns. And a few of them likely are carrying West Nile, a virus that does not exhibit symptoms in 80 percent of the people it infects and gives something like a fever and headache to the other 20 percent. Still, it can be deadly: This summer it has killed a pair of 70-year-old Idahoans, and contributed to the death of a 13-year-old boy who had also contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever…
From Night Noise, the latest Letter From Idaho, on the city of Boise’s decision to spray Dibrom to help control mosquito populations.
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