In a development that has to make Republicans everywhere a little jittery, Rasmussen Reports has just released a poll showing that Jeff Merkley has narrowly pulled ahead of incumbent Republican Sen. Gordon Smith.
Poll Shock: Merkley Leads Smith
Posted inNews
All That’s Missing Is Snow White
Hallelujah — Bend has made another of those "Top 10" lists. This time it's NorthWest Crossing being hailed as one of the "Top 10 Cottage Neighborhoods" in America by Cottage Living magazine.
Posted inCulture
You Have Died of Dysentry: Five friends from Bend make a Flugtag flyer
Prepare to be Fluged.Imagine careening off a 30-foot deck into the Willamette River wearing nothing but a Speedo, life jacket and helmet in a covered wagon made out of aluminum, two-by-fours and children's bicycle tires while hopped-up on Red Bull (and probably trace quantities of alcohol). If you're Christopher Rosch, Kyle Dover, Robby Marshall, Kevin Mozingo or Pat Tyvand of Team Oregon Or Bust, this is exactly how you will be spending the first Saturday in August.
This group of five friends, all of whom grew up on the Eastside of Bend and attended Mt. View High School, decided that spending their summer floating the river with friends wouldn't be enough excitement this year.
"We saw the commercials [on TV] and every time we heard the music we would just get stoked," says Tyvand, who is currently housing the work-in-progress in his garage, "We just decided 'we have to do this.'"
Posted inOutside
That Ain’t No Hummingbird: Life among the sphinx moths
HEy Baby!"No, maam, 'baby hummingbirds' do not have antenna, multicolored wings and three body parts; those are the sphinx moths," I told the woman over the phone. Sure, sphinx moths hover like hummingbirds, poke their long "tongue" into flowers and slurp up nectar like hummingbirds, but they are insects, not birds.
Every summer about this time, phone calls and e-mails flood my home from people wondering about strange looking "baby hummingbirds" feeding in flowers, especially at night. As far as I know, there are no hummingbirds around here, or anywhere else, that feed at night. But "hummingbird 'moths'" do.
Moreover, we have a wonderful selection of these moths to watch and enjoy. The largest is the white-lined moth, and as I recently learned on a butterfly census at Big Summit Prairie in the Ochocos, the smallest may be Clark's Sphinx Moth.
Posted inOutside
Beating the Heat: Sea Kayaking, Skiing & More
Paddling at Hosmer LakeSEA KAYAKING THE HIGH DESERT
Who woulda thunk that Central Oregon could be a Mecca for sea kayakers? On a recent morning bike ride up to Mt. Bachelor, I was passed by approximately 30 rooftop kayaks enroute to various Cascade Lakes. Just a couple of weeks ago, some avid kayakers I know had to park along the highway and drag their boats across the snow to put in at Sparks Lake. Now, there is good access to all of our lakes and it is prime paddling season.
Sparks Lake, the closest lake to town for a decent paddle, is especially good in the early season. It is a shallow lake that dries up as summer progresses, but right now it is full and fun. It offers nooks and crannies to explore, paddle-up campsites and is a wonderful lake from which to watch a full moon rise behind Bachelor. I remember one magical full moon paddle when we were accompanied by a deer swimming across the lake. Hosmer Lake is another favorite of kayakers and fly fishermen alike. It is a beautiful sinuous lake filled with gorgeous yellow water lilies and reflections of South Sister, Broken Top and Bachelor. The water is clear and the fish are plentiful. There is a special treat if you manage to navigate the maze of reeds to the inlet- a sparkling waterfall. I also enjoy taking a lap or two around Elk Lake followed, of course, by an ice cream cone at the lodge. Other great lakes for getting your sea kayak wet include Cultus for a woodsy feel, Crescent if you like sandy beaches and Waldo if you're ready for the potential of bigger conditions.
Posted inCulture
In the Beginning…There was Genesis
After the video game crash of the early 1980s, Nintendo was able to dominate the video game market with its original Nintendo Entertainment System until the Sega Genesis was released in 1989. The Genesis was part of a wave of the first 16-bit game systems released that also included the TurboGrafix 16, Neo Geo, and the Super Nintendo.
The Genesis initially competed with Nintendo's 8-bit system and had trouble selling in both the U.S. and Japan. Sega of America made a smart move by dropping the price of the system and including with the system its own Mario-type mascot in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega also went head to head in print and TV ads with Nintendo, showing off the quality of the Genesis next to the NES, and the Genesis finally took off.
The biggest test, however, was to compete with Nintendo's 16-bit giant, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) which was released in 1992. Sega had a big advantage due to a two-year head start with its Genesis and a slew of games including big entertainment names like Michael Jackson and sports giants like Joe Montana, Arnold Palmer and Mario Lemieux. Having been labeled the "cooler" game system through marketing, the Sega Genesis had almost 50 percent of the gaming market in 1992 and owned the video game market through 1993. From that point, Sega started losing market share to Nintendo, which was releasing some fantastic games. To compete with the Super Nintendo, Sega introduced the Sega CD late in 1993.
Posted inCulture
What Happened, Man? New Murphy movie is a must miss
Eddie Murphy is obviously trying to hurt the world on purpose. Why else would he inflict this "movie" on the masses? (I say "movie" with quotation marks because stringing together one poop joke after another is not what I'd call a movie. I'd call that sixth grade.)
Remember Raw-era Eddie Murphy? The Eddie Murphy who shit-talked Bill Cosby and wore the tightest leather pants in the universe? Or remember Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop? Yeah, well, forget about that Eddie Murphy. All we have now is an Eddie Murphy who lazily fulfills contractual studio obligations by making stupid comedies about spacemen who poop money. I'm not kidding. This actually happens in his new movie. And it happens inside an Old Navy.
Posted inCulture
Burning Love: Hellboy’s campy twisted vision pummels onward
nuthin’, waddya you doin’?What is it this year with the superheroes? Bringing to life more comic book superhero blockbuster razzle-dazzle, we now enter the monster-dwelling realm of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The original showed Hellboy (Ron Perlman) as the demon-turned-super-hero battling present-day Nazis and inter-dimensional monsters, and the sequel continues pulling out all the stops.
The movie begins with a sickeningly cute Hellboy (as a boy) brushing his teeth, excited for his bedtime story. And the story is? Yep, the saga of the Golden Army, and told in wooden puppet form, it looks pretty cool. Cut to: the present-the bedtime story is now a reality. An evil prince has to assemble three scattered pieces of a golden crown to raise the evil Golden Army from its dormancy to unleash Hell on earth…here's where Hellboy excels. He likes to kick monster butt.
Hellboy resides in a paranormal research center that is actually the home of a bunch of human oddities that would fare well in a freak sideshow. Oh, and they fight crime. Everyone's back, including sidekick fish-boy Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), but without David Hyde-Pierce's voice. Stepping into the webs-flipper-gills, Jones brings some credibility. Hellboy's girlfriend, Liz the Fire-Girl (Selma Blair) returns as does their totally lame love story. Manning (Jeffery Tambor) is once again the head of the government funded super-freak hideaway.
Posted inFood & Drink
In the Raw: Forgetting the oven with Central Oregon’s raw foodists
Cooling out with the raw food gang. There is a group of people scattered around the globe that believe raw food is the key to their health. Over the last five years, celebrities like Woody Harrelson and Donna Karan have helped the “Raw Food” movement (as it is now being called) giving rise to a host of restaurants that specialize in “raw” menus.
Many of these folks are the followers of the “mother of raw foods,” Ann Wigmore, a holistic health practitioner, nutritionist, whole foods advocate, and a doctor of Divinity. Also at the forefront of the movement is fellow holistic health practitioner Viktoras Kulvinskas, who brought raw foods into prominence in the early 1990s.
A big part of their teaching is that food loses much of its nutrition once it reaches the chemical reaction most of us call cooking. That happens at approximately 110 degrees for many foods, which is why this has become the magic number among raw foodists. Raw food is defined as anything not heated over 110 degrees.
Posted inFood & Drink
In the Raw: Forgetting the oven with Central Oregon’s raw foodists
Cooling out with the raw food gang. There is a group of people scattered around the globe that believe raw food is the key to their health. Over the last five years, celebrities like Woody Harrelson and Donna Karan have helped the "Raw Food" movement (as it is now being called) giving rise to a host of restaurants that specialize in "raw" menus.
Many of these folks are the followers of the "mother of raw foods," Ann Wigmore, a holistic health practitioner, nutritionist, whole foods advocate, and a doctor of Divinity. Also at the forefront of the movement is fellow holistic health practitioner Viktoras Kulvinskas, who brought raw foods into prominence in the early 1990s.
A big part of their teaching is that food loses much of its nutrition once it reaches the chemical reaction most of us call cooking. That happens at approximately 110 degrees for many foods, which is why this has become the magic number among raw foodists. Raw food is defined as anything not heated over 110 degrees.