Not To Beat A Dead Chipmunk…

Posted inOpinion

Not To Beat A Dead Chipmunk…

Intern

Seems there's an issue about a feral feline at The High Desert Museum and the effect on the other species sharing its environment. Sound familiar?
 
Why do we always whine about the glowing ember while ignoring the raging forest fire we created behind us? Which species has destroyed and endangered more fellow creatures than any other, including feral felines? Who is wiping out wolves with helicopters and destroying the habitat, not to mention the polar bear species, of our northern regions? Who has destroyed countless species of plants and potential herbal remedies by clear-cutting rainforests? Who created DDT? Which species wiped out the cod fisheries off the east coast of our country?
Why don't we all just open our eyes, our minds, and put our mouths and pens to more effective, long-term gains than the future of chipmunks?Yep, I know this would require intelligence and maturity, which may be asking too much of the human species, but why not give the kitty some slack and start cleaning up our own (bigger) mess?
One who tries to see the tree from the forest.

Posted inOpinion

ID Theory Is Science

Intern

Sooner or later everyone asks the question, "Where do we come from?" The answer carries profound implications. Until this question is answered we cannot solve another fundamental question that is key to ethics, religion and the meaning of life (if any): "Are we here for a purpose?"
There are two possible answers: the universe and life and its diversity - natural phenomena - are the product of 1) a combination of only natural laws and chance (the "naturalistic hypothesis;") or 2) a combination of law, chance and design - the activity of a mind or some sort of intelligence that has the power to manipulate matter and energy (the "design hypothesis.") The latter produces purpose, the former does not.
The naturalistic hypothesis is supported by theories of chemical evolution (with respect to the origin of the universe and life) and by Darwinian evolution (with the respect to the origin of the diversity of life.) The design hypothesis is supported by the purposeful characteristics of exceedingly complex natural systems that are frequently described as "fine tuned." Each hypothesis is densely laden with philosophical and religious baggage, and clear thinking is required in order to separate the science for the philosophy, the evidence from the implications and reality from imagination.

Posted inCulture

Sisters Rode-Ode

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Sisters Rode-Ode
By Brad Lockwood
The "biggest little" rodeo is in town
"The Greatest Show on Dirt!"
According to JJ the Clown.
Imported princesses, Fort Dalles,
Umatilla, Jefferson…
Peer and praise until they're done.
Denim on denim, top to toe.
Wrangler pleats like rails,
U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co.

Posted inCulture

Washed Ashore: Netherland offers an outsiders perspective on the Big Apple

John Freeman

Outlegged by news networks that never sleep, outsold by the juggernaut of visual entertainment, the novel doesn't bring us the news as it once did. Or it's easy to think so until you read a book like Joseph O'Neill's splendid, "Netherland." This wholly unexpected novel turns the city once known as Nueve Amsterdam inside out with the tale of a Dutch banker clinging to his crumbling marriage and family in the aftermath of September 11th. It is a fabulous, deeply enjoyable New York story about the fantasies that prop up daily reality - in other words, a deeply New York novel about that deeply New York penchant: new beginnings.
 
The man we're rooting for - and it's impossible not to cheer him on - is Hans van den Broek, a six-foot five, 40-something equity analyst. He spends a good deal of this novel holed up at the Chelsea Hotel, the bohemian landmark where Arthur Miller wrote some of his best known work and Andy Warhol once called home. Something essential has jostled free from Hans' marriage, sending his ex-pat wife back to England with their son, Jake. Hans stays behind, and pours his restless, misbegotten self into a cricket league out on Staten Island, where he meets - and befriends - a Trinidadian entrepreneur of sorts, Chuck Ramkissoon. It is Chuck's dream to build a world-class cricket arena - he doesn't like the word stadium - in Brooklyn.

Posted inCulture

Tipsy Business: Flair bartending in Bend without Tom Cruise

Intern

more than just another drink. Forget everything you know about the 1988 movie Cocktail. Marshall Fox, bartender at Bo Restobar, is the real deal. While he may not be prancing around Jamaica with Elizabeth Shue or catering to New York City elites with silly poems, he's doing something Tom Cruise never does in the movie - actually making great drinks without spilling alcohol all over. And did I mention he lights stuff on fire?
 
According to the Flair Bartenders' Association (FBA), flair has been practiced for over 150 years in the United States. In the mid-1800s, bartender Jerry "the professor" Thomas would pour flaming streams of scotch and water from one bar mug to another while making his famous Blue Blazer. Popularized by chains like T.G.I. Friday's in the mid-1980s and then blown up by the movie Cocktail, flair bartending quickly became a global bar phenomenon. The FBA started in 1997 and hosts competitions throughout the world proudly spouting their motto of "Service first, flair second, competition always."
Fox is bringing this alcohol-infused competition to Bite of Bend this weekend for your viewing pleasure. Professional flair bartenders from Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle and even Bend will go head-to-head in a six-minute battle, during which each bartender must make two drinks. Between competitors, Fox will pull members from the audience to teach them some flair and give away prizes.

Posted inOutside

The Art and Technique of Surviving: Animals’ longevity gets hand from evolution

Jim Anderson

Sagebrush lizard in hiding. "It's right there… right under that sagebrush," I whispered to my friend. "See it?" I don't know why I was whispering; that beautiful sagebrush lizard I was pointing at couldn't hear me if it wanted to.
There is nothing more exasperating – or exhilarating – than trying to show someone a sagebrush lizard when said lizard does not want to be seen, as in the photo above.
Just about everything in Nature has some degree of camouflage going for it, either to hide it from predators, or to warn these attackers: "Hey! Lay off! I don't taste good, if you eat me I'll make you sick," like Lady Beetles and Monarch butterflies. Or just the opposite, such as Viceroy butterflies that in reality are delicious eating (ask any flycatcher), but mimic Monarchs for protection.

Posted inOutside

Hitting the Trails: Spring Fling adds more MTB trail miles, Dirty Half, more

Bob Woodward

The best riding is still ahead of usMore Techy Trail? You Bet
 
Thanks to the efforts of the 150 volunteers and 21 trail crew leaders who showed up to work during COTA's annual Spring Fling, there's a lot of new trail under construction as well as some revitalized existing trail and some promising reroutes.
One of the more interesting reroutes is on COD just above the Inn of The Seventh Mountain on the south side of Century Drive. There, a relatively boring and sandy section of trail has been blocked off and a reroute offering much more technical challenge has been added.
"The Forest Service was much more amenable to having a more technical section of trail when we walked the land to lay out the reroute," said COTA trail building and maintenance honcho, Chris Kratsch.

Posted inCulture

Bourne to be Wild: The Bourne Conspiracy

Shawn Wallbaum

I shoot you, you shoot me. We’re a shooting family. With three very popular books written by author Robert Ludlum and three very successful movies based on them starring Matt Damon as the amnesiac hero/spy Jason Bourne, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that this might make a really cool video game. Developer High Moon Studios has made a game for both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 that combines elements of the book and film series. As one of the best cinematic action series of the last decade, it would take a game developer a lot of effort to make a game that's as compelling and action oriented as the movies. But, for the most part, they have done just that.
The Bourne Conspiracy is basically a retelling of The Bourne Identity with a nice prequel that could be made into a game or movie. The creators went all out on this one with using Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy, Eric Lustbader - the author of the newer Bourne novels - and the late Robert Ludlum's estate to bring out the best of both the movies and novels for this game. Unlike Matt Damon's rendering, the game's Jason Bourne is hard edged. While more physically and mentally scarred than Damon's Bourne, the character is still recognizable as a sleeper agent involved in project Tredstone.

Posted inCulture

Not Happening: M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller is all scenery and no substance

Intern

mark Wahlberg and the world’s largest bowling bag on tour. M. Night doesn't make horror movies; he makes long Twilight Zone episodes.
Shyamalan is known for his narrative twist and turns and surprise endings, but he can't conjure his way out of The Happening's poorly executed script. Most of M's tricks are here but the gimmicks are starting to resemble an aging genre hack. Even his obligatory Hitchcock-esque cameo isn't onscreen-the credits are the only place you'll find him.
Unfortunately right when the film gets eerie, it also gets stupid. Underdeveloped characters are complemented by dismal performances from the actors. The initial scene with Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) and Julian (John Leguizamo) is about as phony as movie dialogue gets. And Elliot's marriage to Alma (Zooey Deschanel) isn't remotely convincing. Soap opera dialogue runs rampant with idiotic attempts at tension-releasing comedic banter. The relationship between the two leads is so cute and demeaning that I almost left the theater. Wahlberg plays a guy who keeps it together in the face of doom, but his wimp voice and crybaby attitude dominate the entire evacuation sojourn. He more or less just walks through the role. He had a few chances to chew up the scene. Instead he's a perpetual one-note grimace. Deschanel just runs around batting her baby blues like some kind of coma victim showing us vapidity gone wild. Responding to the theory that terrorists have devised a toxin to make people kill themselves, Alma utters the ridiculous line, "Just when you think no more evil could be invented…"

Posted inCulture

Edward Norton Pumps It Up: Who needs steroids when there’s gamma radiation?

Intern

all this just for a free blood pressure test?Edward Norton finally gets to play a Hollywood hunk, albeit a large green one. The actor's usual cool demeanor gets ripped in this film as fast as his muscles do, morphing from the research scientist Bruce Banner into Marvel Comics' super-conflicted-hero character, The Incredible Hulk. Not to be confused with director Ang Lee's 2003 take on the comic book character, this rendition is not a sequel; it's an entirely new version of the story. In what quickly evolves into a fast-paced paced political thriller, the first half of which bears resemblance to The Bourne Ultimatum, Norton's acting undergoes its own transformation. Not that he'll be an Oscar contender for this roll, but as Banner the actor's intelligence is infused with as much passion, wonder and determination as a film about a super hero will allow. While reinventing the Hulk, though, he's just kick-ass strong.
 
Following a secret US military science project gone awry in the nation's capitol, the action jumps to Brazil where Banner's earnest character draws us into what appears to be the life of an adventurous, backpack toting post-grad student. He hides out in a color-faded hovel with his loyal dog, while learning Portuguese, meditating for anger control, and working among the natives in a bottling company. I found this part of the film much more interesting-particularly visually-than I had expected. Like Jason Bourne, Banner is a fugitive trying to avoid the US government's radar, and eventually he's forced into a chase scene on foot, only instead of Bourne's Tangiers, we follow our man breathlessly as he races through a ramshackle barrio of Rio de Janeiro.

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