Before the last storm, we had barely over 2” of rain for the season as compared with 23” last year and a “normal” of 17.” Our risk of prolonged drought is real, but a study done recently that looked at the growth rings of old... Continue
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Preservation must come from the heart and is a community-based grass roots effort. Tourists come to Sonoma each year for a variety of events knowing they will witness dozens of incredible old buildings. Many may be interested in the particular histories of each building, but... Continue
Fine wine has always benefited from a goodly bit of snob appeal. The French certainly enjoyed being wine snobs and Americans, never to be outdone, have worked hard and long to catch up. Prestigious wine enjoys a particular cachet, equal parts snobbery, expense, rarity and... Continue
The 2013 Giving USA annual study reports that, on average, 21 percent of a nonprofit’s income comes from a combination of private foundations and corporations. This is good news for nonprofits because foundation giving is up 4.4 percent over the prior year and corporations are... Continue
I like bugs but I don’t like them crawling on me. In fact, when I find an insect on any part of my body, I shiver to the core of my soul. Many cultures throughout the world use insects for food. When animals eat insects they... Continue
Everybody’s talking “transparency” these days. I used to think that transparent meant nearly invisible, like glass is transparent, but its meaning seems to have morphed into exactly the opposite. So when we talk about transparency in government today, what we mean is making the operation... Continue
Valentine’s Day serves many purposes in the lives of people everywhere. It marks the beginning of little league. No, that’s not it. Oh yes, it reminds us to let that someone special know that they are still special to us. Let’s talk sex for a... Continue
What are we to make of our obsession with zombies? If one considers mass media as a window into our collective human consciousness, then the mass-media outbreak of zombies represents the expression of a symbolic neurosis emerging from modern society as whole. Human society in... Continue
President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech represents an attempt to reframe the political debate in an era of unprecedented obstructionist scorched-earth politics generated by a hardened extremist right wing faction, funded by a bottomless pit of unlimited corporate money, brought to us by... Continue
Blame Grand Central Station. New York was once ready to tear the Grand Dame down and replace her with a glass-clad skyscraper. I was horrified by the idea, and still am. Penn Station had already suffered the ravages of the wrecking ball, and it seemed... Continue