Tag Archives: California

Current Affairs, Food & Drink, Love & Relationships, Nevada, Politics, Science & Health, Travel

Don’t feed the bears! But birds OK, new Tahoe research shows | KEYE | CBS Austin

by SCOTT SONNER | Associated Press, Friday, February 10th 2023

This photo provided by the University of Nevada, Reno shows University of Nevada, Reno student Michelle Werdann feeds a wild Mountain Chickadee pine nuts at Chickadee Ridge in Mount Rose Meadows, Nevada, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.(Jennifer Kent/University of Nevada, Reno via AP)

Wildlife biologists and forest rangers have preached the mantra for nearly a century at national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite, and for decades in areas where urban development increasingly invaded native wildlife habitat.

But don’t feed the birds?

That may be a different story — at least for one bird species at Lake Tahoe.

Snowshoe and cross-country ski enthusiasts routinely feed the tiny mountain chickadees high above the north shore of the alpine lake on the California-Nevada border. The black-capped birds of Chickadee Ridge will even perch on extended hands to snatch offered seeds.

New research from University of Nevada scientists found that supplementing the chickadees’ natural food sources with food provided in feeders or by hand did not negatively impact them, as long as proper food is used and certain rules are followed.

Don’t feed the bears! But birds OK, new Tahoe research shows | KEYE

Current Affairs, Memories & History, Politics, San Diego, Science & Health

Air conditioning has a climate problem. New technology could help. | The Washington Post

By Shannon Osaka, (c) 2022, The Washington Post, Sat, September 10, 2022 at 7:01 AM·6 min read

Image
air conditioning unit, from article…

This week, Californians got a reminder of one of the most vexing paradoxes of global warming. With temperatures well over 110 degrees Fahrenheit in some regions on Tuesday night, hundreds of thousands of the state’s residents received beeping text alerts to notify them that the power grid, straining under the weight of millions of air-conditioning units, was about to collapse. Save power now, the text warned, or face rolling blackouts.

Consumers conserved, and the state’s electricity grid made it out of a record-breaking hot day relatively unscathed. Still, as temperatures rise worldwide, more people are going to need to install air conditioners. But as currently sold, AC units can actually make global warming worse: On hot days, they suck tons of electricity from the grid, and their chemical refrigerants can accelerate global warming.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/air-conditioning-climate-problem-technology-140155875.html

Memories & History, Travel

The Quest to Protect California’s Transcontinental Railroad Tunnels | Travel | Smithsonian Magazine

Built by Chinese immigrants in the 1860s, the caverns cutting through Donner Summit helped unite the country

By Shoshi Parks, Freelance writer, January 12, 2022

The Donner Summit tunnels and 13 others in the Sierra Nevada built by Chinese railroad workers remain a testament to ingenuity and industry.  Shoshi Parks

A summer hike led me straight to the yawning maw of the Donner Summit tunnels high above Donner Lake in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Not even the longer of the two, a man-made cavern 1,659 feet in length, appeared on my map. There was no historical marker, no plaque, no interpretive signs—no signage of any sort.

I had no way of knowing that I’d accidentally stumbled on one of the most important engineering marvels of the 19th century, the one that united America.

The Sierra Nevada, the 400-mile-long range of granite peaks that form the backbone of California, was the most formidable obstacle in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.

The only way past them was through. But in the mid-1860s, an era without dynamite or heavy machinery, the task seemed insurmountable. The granite was too hard, the mountains too steep, the 7,042 foot elevation where snow arrived early and stayed late was too treacherous for train travel.

Source: The Quest to Protect California’s Transcontinental Railroad Tunnels | Travel | Smithsonian Magazine

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Libraries, Memories & History, Pleasures, Travel

Academy Museum: Movie Exhibit Highlights – Sunset Magazine

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, set to open Sept. 30 in Los Angeles, offers much more than those famous ruby slippers.

By Jennifer Konerman  – September 13, 2021

Photo by Josh White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Saban Building. Photo by Josh White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation

Just as the 2022 Oscars season is beginning (in earnest) for awards-hopefuls, the long-awaited Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is set to open in Los Angeles.

The museum, first announced more than eight years ago, opens its doors at 6067 Wilshire Boulevard on Sept. 30 with several exhibitions and screening programs in store.

The collections vary from technology and the history of cinema to behind-the-scenes props from famous moments in film (like matte paintings that you probably thought were real life).

On display (so far) will include The Wizard of Oz‘s famous ruby slippers, a Cinerama camera from 1954, Nightmare Before Christmas‘ original expressive heads of Jack Skellington, Shirley Temple’s tap shoes, an annotated script of To Kill a Mockingbird, and the head from Alien.

Source: Academy Museum: Movie Exhibit Highlights – Sunset Magazine

Food & Drink, Pleasures, San Diego, Travel

Best Seafood Restaurants in San Diego: Oceanfront Spots to Eat At Now | Thrillist

It doesn’t get any fresher than this.

By Mary Beth Abate, Published on 8/12/2021 at 4:03 PM

Pacific Coast Grill

There are approximately 2,792 different seafood restaurants in San Diego, according to statistics that we just made up.

With 70 miles of coastline in San Diego County alone, along with Baja California and the whole Pacific Northwest, San Diegans enjoy a fresh seafood bounty that our landlocked counterparts can only dream of.

From sweet, ready-to-slurp oysters to yellowtail, mahi, and marlin tacos, and an abundance of crustaceans ready to be doused in butter and served with soft rolls or market fresh veggies, our choices from the briny deep are nearly limitless.

Of course, the only thing that makes a great seafood dinner better is a great view to go with it. We’ve rounded up a dozen of our favorite oceanfront spots, from Oceanside all the way to Imperial Beach…

Source: Best Seafood Restaurants in San Diego: Oceanfront Spots to Eat At Now – Thrillist

Memories & History, Pleasures, Politics

The California Dream Is Dying – The Atlantic

The once-dynamic state is closing the door on economic opportunity.

By Conor Friedersdorf, July 21, 2021

About the author: Conor Friedersdorf is a California-based staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.

Emily Haasch

Behold California, colossus of the West Coast: the most populous American state; the world’s fifth-largest economy; and arguably the most culturally influential, exporting Google searches and Instagram feeds and iPhones and Teslas and Netflix Originals and kimchi quesadillas.

This place inspires awe.

If I close my eyes I can see silhouettes of Joshua trees against a desert sunrise; seals playing in La Jolla’s craggy coves of sun-spangled, emerald seawater; fog rolling over the rugged Sonoma County coast at sunset into primeval groves of redwoods that John Steinbeck called “ambassadors from another time.”

–from article

This landscape is bejeweled with engineering feats: the California Aqueduct; the Golden Gate Bridge; and the ribbon of Pacific Coast Highway that stretches south of Monterey, clings to the cliffs of Big Sur, and descends the kelp-strewn Central Coast, where William Hearst built his Xanadu on a hillside where his zebras still graze.

No dreamscape better inspires dreamers. Millions still immigrate to my beloved home to improve both their prospects and ours.

Yet I fear for California’s future. The generations that reaped the benefits of the postwar era in what was the most dynamic place in the world should be striving to ensure that future generations can pursue happiness as they did. Instead, they are poised to take the California Dream to their graves by betraying a promise the state has offered from the start.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item...

Source: The California Dream Is Dying – The Atlantic