An interesting article came to my attention that sparked a bit of a debate over on the Pirates’ list. I thought you might be interested in what I came up with. This is the sort of story that could turn into a book. Are you listening LA Times SF Gate? Or is this doomed to be on indymedia forever?l
It’s now officially a big issue. A reporter for Marketplace, the most excellent show (with their very own sustainability desk) on NPR that explains business news as it pertains to real people (as it most sincerely does) contacted me about a story: how has the drastic increase in the price of food affected people’s actions and attitudes towards urban agriculture?
Oh, is there a topic nearer or dearer to my heart? You know there isn’t! (Read on …)
One of the best things about my job as a freelance writer is that I can do my own personal research on someone else’s dime, so to speak. As our plans to move to the 
south coast get closer to something like a cohesive permaculture design, I need to look into topics I’ve had only an overview knowledge of until now. Alternative energy (including solar, wind, geothermal and water power) is one of those topics.
To that end, I did a series of keyword content articles on all types of alternative energy a few months ago. I’m very intrigued by water and wind for that area. If there’s one thing Port Orford has in spades it’s wind and water. As always, keyword content articles can be a bit clunky, but I think I do a pretty good job of working some of the more difficult keywords in, if not seamlessly, not nearly as awkward as they could be.
I’ve done several articles now for a client in Polk County Florida. Though my words have actually 
been changed quite a bit to fit into a web format, they’ve survived at least partially intact.
The first crazy project was on sinkholes. This proved to be a bit more research intensive, in part because I like to fill my articles up with facts — I figure they’re more useful and likely to actually be around in a few years if there’s been an effort to get data from mulitiple sources.
The later two on Hurricanes in Florida and Construction in Polk County Florida have yet to go up. I’ll let you know when they do.
or, reality as we know it, anyhow.
I’ve been lucky enough to have written several articles recently on topics of science and para-science (ones that, sadly, I cannot share with you just yet — soon) that are of particular interest to me. A recent one that is a bit more of the mainstream science varity, though I cosndier the topics related, is about Quantum Computing.
Now - on to my rant:
It turns out that some people who identify themselves as “clever,” seem to believe in quite a few seemingly silly things — but are they? Take “The Secret,” for example. I’ve had reason to study this “movement” lately, and they claim to use certain aspects of Quantum Mechanics as a potential explanation for some theories that don’t entirely make sense when you sit down and do the most rudimentary mental math. Well, most physicists don’t care for the association much, but you’ve always got some wing-nuts who are more than happy to be interviewed for a film.
I still think anything that associates itself with a multi-level marketing venture is a bit shady, to say the least. However, I believe some of the people associated are actually sincere in their own way about it. If Wikipedia is to be believed, (Read on …)
So, you know we’re not talking about a small amount of money — US $30 million, in fact.
This particular grant is specifically designed to support clonally produced crops that the tropical world is especially dependent upon, such as taro and cassava. No matter how you feel about the edibility of any such crops, you’ll have to admit, it would really suck to loose the ability to cultivate the potato or onion due to an agricultural disaster.
I contnue to be impressed with the way Gates has redistributed income from the more developed world to less developed nations.
Check out the article I wrote for NewsETA
and more to the point, why it’s not in the current interest of the current U.S. Executive administration to support the science that’s mounting on Organics. It reminds me to a little controversy that people used to have about climate change.
In my new role as science blogger @ News ETA, I wrote another article, this time on a health related topic. It ended up a bit longer than I’d have liked, but my knowledge of organic ag and the science behind it is, frankly, pretty comprehensive (as it should be after 5 years of college); so I tend to be a bit long-winded, despite my best efforts.
I’ve been picked up as a paid journalist for a new, rated, citizen news site called News ETA. I’ll be in charge of 
contributing some high end content for the science and technology section of the website. My first article is on a space theme, discussing the controversy surrounding the spectrographic discovery of water vapour aruond an extrasolar planet in the Pegasus system, sometimes called Osiris.
I know, nerds have a warped sense of humour.
The site isn’t exactly live yet, but you can take a look at this article and rate it, in the meanwhile. Aside from two typos, I’m pleased with it as a first effort. Let me know what you think.
Nothing breeds success like success, eh? It looks as if I’ll be doing a June show of my 
photography and writing at the Roots Organic Brewery that I recently reviewed for wCities.
Not only am I excited about this as a photographer but also, because I’m looking forward to doing some writing on the virtues of organic wine, beer and distillates. As is my custom, my show will focus on the writing as well as photography in an interactive manner. I really look forward to it.
What’s even cooler is that I got the gig because of the review I wrote as well as having a wordpress blog that I can link to with my media. I cannot say how very happy I am that tools such as word press exist!
Well, I’m about 30 posts into it now, so I might as well tell you about my big news: I’ve gotten a gig as the blogger of a website about NASA’s Constellation Program.
Briefly, it is the successor to the Space Shuttle program (and pretty much everything else), thanks to a 2004 speach by GW. The stated goals NASA came up with in the next few months is a 200-point mission that extends out to at least 2024 and includes International Space Station service, orital tests, a manned mission to the moon, construction of a moon base and then manned missions to Mars. No timetable exists for the last item, perhaps because the first phase of moonbase construction isn’t due to be complete for 14 years.
I’ll be updating it 2-3x a day for the entire month of February. (Read on …)
