Capitol Couches Could Be Killing You
I rarely like to print press releases but the title of this one was too good. Sent by Senator Wielechowski’s office through the Senate Democrats e-mail list the press release below discusses the pervasiveness of a certain hazardous chemical that might be in children’s foam products and Juneau’s Capitol buildings couches. – Zach Capitol Couches Could Be Killing You Sen. Wielechowski Announces Results of Testing of Couches in the Capitol Building for Toxic Chemicals Senate Bill 111, legislation proposed by Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) and recently moved to the Senate Judiciary Committee, would limit the amount of a certain category of harmful…
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska USAToday – Snowmobiler suspected of hitting Alaska Iditarod dogs arrested after confessing A snowmobiler who said he was driving “blackout drunk” when he apparently struck and killed a sled dog competing in Alaska’s famed Iditarod has been arrested, according to multiple media reports. Phys.org – Alaska scientists continue researching seabird death mystery The common murre on Sarah Schoen’s examination table lived a short, hungry life. Measurements of its beak and leg indicated it hatched in June. Its stomach and breast showed how it died. The 3-inch-long stomach was empty, and the pectoral muscles that powered its wings, allowing it to…
We’ve got the Legislature we deserve
Want to know what’s really wrong with the Alaska Legislature? The voters who sent this crew into office. For a long time I have thought the citizen legislature is a really quaint and fine representation of who we are as everyday Alaskans. If that is the case, we are in more trouble than we think. I hope to heaven that our populus is in better shape than who we have representing us. This week there was a giant surprise to the very lawmakers who voted for that hideous oil legislation known as SB 21. Shock, I tell ya, shock! What?…
[Video] Inside the Cancelled Trump Chicago Rally
Energizing is exactly the word I would use for the Chicago would-be Trump rally. After a petition gathering over 50,000 signatures failed to keep Trump from holding a rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the people of the city decided to take the matter in a new direction. A Facebook event RSVP’d over 11,000 people, with 20,000 more interested. There’s no love for Trump in Chicago, no question. Being such a liberal city, it couldn’t have surprised him when hundreds of protesters slipped into the stadium seats at UIC pavilion, with large concentrations in a few sections. The…
Bird of the Week – Tree Swallow
Another seriously mis-named species, WC regrets to report. Despite the name, the Tree Swallow has little to do with trees and everything to do with open fields, meadows and swamps. Like its fellow Swallows, it’s an insectivore, a bug eater. Specifically flying bugs. And in Alaska, that means gnats and mosquitoes. Like Cliff Swallows, these birds are living mosquito magnets. A long term Tree Swallow study is underway at Creamer’s Refuge in Fairbanks. Conducted by school children under the supervision of ornithologists, they study the reproductive success of the species. Some of the kids who have worked on this project…
5 years on – Fukushima Still in Meldown
By Greg Palast Friday, March 11, on Democracy Now: Palast on Rubio, his Billionaire and their attacks on Argentina Also, the Fukushima facts “Completely and Utterly Fail in an Earthquake” The Fukushima story you didn’t hear on CNN On the Fifth Anniversary of the meltdown, the con continues I’ve seen a lot of sick stuff in my career, but this was sick on a new level. Here was the handwritten log kept by a senior engineer at the nuclear power plant: Wiesel was very upset. He seemed very nervous. Very agitated. . . . In fact, the plant was riddled…
Around the Lens Podcast – Violence in the Primaries
This week’s show featured photographer Dane Iwata and NPPA Director Mark E. Johnson. We spoke about the University of Missouri Professor Melissa Click finally getting fired and Time Magazine’s Christopher Morris getting body slammed by the secret service at a Donald Trump rally. During our Gear Talk segment we discussed the new 15mm macro lens from Venus Optics Laowa. Then we took a trip down memory lane discussing lenses and gear that we had to let go with advice from a Petapixel article. Picks of the Week: Mark promoted a elk hide camera strap from Wapiti Straps. Dane promoted the his favorite…
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska NYTimes – Nowhere to Go Amid Alaska’s Melting Ice Alaska’s Chukchi Sea was only just starting to freeze when Nima Taradji arrived at the Inupiat village of Shishmaref last December. Situated on a narrow barrier island, Shishmaref was founded over 400 years ago as a seasonal fishing settlement. Cold weather and natural ice barriers used to protect the shore, but now the municipal village, home to some 600 residents, faces the immediate threat of inundation. ADN.com – State faces tough questions in case over Native and federal land control in Alaska The state of Alaska got a rough reception from federal…
Shannyn Moore: Republicans Go From Clown Car to Carnival Freak Show
Reprinted from Alaska Dispatch News I need a serenity prayer to recite before these presidential candidate debates. “God grant me the serenity to accept that politics in my country is now about spray tans, small hands, penises, outspoken racism and how the will of the people can be thwarted come convention time.” (Apologies to Reinhold Niebuhr.) Yes, I’m talking about you, Republicans. The Democratic debates have been relatively boring, what with all that talk about economic and foreign policy, but you Republicans are awesome entertainment, better than a carnival freak show. Chris Christie, the bridge saboteur and failed presidential candidate, joined…
Bird of the Week – Cliff Swallow
Sure, they’re a messy nuisance if they build their mud daub nests under your eaves, but these are mosquito-eating machines. A Cliff Swallow foraging for its young eats about 60 bugs per hour, through all daylight hours. Both parents forage, so that’s 2 birds x 60 bugs per hour x 20 daylight hours equals 2,400 bugs a day, mostly mosquitoes and flies. The hatching of their eggs is timed for peak bug season, wherever they nest. So for a month or so, a Cliff Swallow pair are biological mosquito magnets. Except, of course, that these mosquito magnets cost us nothing…