http://faultline.org Writing and Photography from the Mojave Desert en Chris Clarke coyotecrossing@faultline.org Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:57:12 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/10_random_things_i_remember/#60727 i am constantly shocked, and often sad, at this rapid passage of time. Partly because our Chris has been gone now more than three years - it feels like a hundred years and yesterday simultaneously. And also because that means we have had Jack now more three years and he’s already four or four and a half. I don’t want Jack to be even that old yet…. I want him to stay a young pup forever. It’s going by so fast and I don’t want to get back to that place with a frail old dog tearing my heart out again. In my brain, Zeke and Chris are linked together, Chris following Zeke’s road a year and a half behind him. Both wonderful dogs who walked out of a shelter into a wonderful life with people who cared deeply for them and who still mourn their passing deeply. Natalie Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:57:12 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/10_random_things_i_remember/#60699 Zeke Lives! Hang in there, dude. Jim Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:58:09 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60693 Send them a mirror so they can see what an arrogant, impudent, pseudo intellectual looks like. And the last crack about your book ,your writing, they should have half of your talent and intelligence. Wild_Bill Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:05:12 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/10_random_things_i_remember/#60692 Wonderful memories!  It is wonderful that you hold Zeke in your heart still.  There can be no replacement as there are never any adequate replacements in life.  Only new adventures, new friends, and new memories.  Best of luck to you! Wild_Bill Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:59:45 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/10_random_things_i_remember/#60690 Addendum: I evidently munged that first link in my comment (“if properly equipped”).  Here it is raw: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherwoodh/5437607570/ Sherwood Harrington Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:05:41 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/10_random_things_i_remember/#60688 Early February again. #1:  Kelsey is always clean, though he’s had exactly one bath in his life, and he always smells like corn chips all over.  Well, maybe not ALL over—there’s about a square inch that I’m not going to test. #2:  Kelsey’s variation on that: any knocking on wood will send him into a fearful, barking fit that takes him several minutes to get over.  People who know us ring the bell by our door when they come to visit; others only knock once.  While his distress pains me, it does come in handy for discouraging proselytizers. #4:  It is possible for dogs to engage in both behaviors, if properly equipped: #6:  It would take me several years before I’d put myself in that position, too, especially given #7. #8:  Whenever Kelsey has been separated from his faithful Lieutenant Jax for more than an hour or so, he will wash every square inch of the little dog’s face.  Not so for any other animal in the house, though, including me. #10:  It hasn’t come down to memory for me yet, but it will sooner than I want.  When it does, I don’t think I’ll be able to use the 12 inches or so between me and the edge of the bed when I sleep, the body memory will be so strong.  If my Diane pre-deceases me, my sleeping posture will seem oddly constrained to anyone who happens to see it. Sherwood Harrington Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:08:51 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/10_random_things_i_remember/#60687 What poIgnant memories. KathyF Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:52:34 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/rejected_susan_g._komen_promotional_copy/#60686 Call it as you see it, Amigo. Vern Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:08:16 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/rejected_susan_g._komen_promotional_copy/#60682 No.  It wasn’t over the top in the least.  We all know why these Nazi bastards are anti birth control and abortion.  They need live women to bear children that they can turn into dead soldiers.  Why else do you think they want to abolish aid to education for anyone but the 1%?  They only want ‘the lumpen’ educated enough to turn the wheels and flick the switches for them in those jobs that still exist that they haven’t offshored to China and India.  Health care?  They don’t care about that at all unless it’s for the 1% who can afford it, as for the rest of us, we can just up and die.  Without birth control or abortion there’ll always be more of us to replace the ones who die, either in the factories (look for a rise in workplace deaths once they get rid of OSHA) or in wars of conquest for an ever smaller slice of the resources pie, which in a few decades will include potable water.  Make no mistake, these fuckers are NAZIS!  The only difference is, mustaches (especially the little Charlie Chaplin type) are out this time around.  In fact, the last Republican I can think of with a mustache, of any national stature was Thomas E. Dewey, the former Gov. of NY.  It was not ‘over the top’, it wasn’t strong enough!  Laughter, even rueful laughter can be liberating, a nice relief, and hell, if it’s good enough it can be educational and inspiring.  As was written in the Talmud, “Who shall bring redemption?  The jesters!” Steve Gyetko Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:55:10 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/about_chris/#60660 Fluid, sensible thinking and writing in here. Tastes a bit like creosote.  I like that. Thanks to Mojave Desert Blog for pointing me to it. Ken Erickson Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:21:06 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60645 The Stupid!  It Burns! The saltpeter, eh, not so much.  As a famous rabbit from Brooklyn would put it, “What a bunch of maroons!” OmegaPet Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:10:09 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60640 So you’re saying Brievik was as much a farmer as the Keyes are writers? Chris Clarke Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:59:48 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60636 Of smaller importance, but perhaps worth mentioning: Anders Behring Breivik is no farmer. He did buy a farm to use as a cover for his operation (mainly buying a few tons of fertilizer and building a bomb out of it), but that is all. Harald Hanche-Olsen Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:50:35 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60608 OH!  OH!  OH!  <—highly corrosive exclamatory molecule fragments.  Radical, too. Thanks so much for providing a link to these good folks’ magnum (heh) opus.  Without it I would have gone the entire rest of my life not knowing this:  “The same thing happens when it comes to environmental issues. Don’t remove the brush from around your home in California to create a firebreak for the next Santa Ana winds. Because that brush is habitat for the Kangaroo Rat. What part of ‘Rat’ don’t you understand? There are millions of Kangaroo Rats all over the west. They ain’t endangered. But it is a neat issue for the lefty enviros to use to hassle their neighbors. And if those houses burn down because firebreaks are outlawed, too bad… ” Nah, these folks aren’t illiterate.  They’re just stupid. Sherwood Harrington Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:58:23 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60603 Look out Bill! You might explode! Chris Clarke Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:18:41 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60596 And all these years, I thought saltpeter was what they put in our food in navy bootcamp! Yep, that couple sure sounds like a couple of internet idiots to me. Bill Mcdonald Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:19:39 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60592 If only it were the other way around! We’re getting low on peanut butter. Chris Clarke Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:11:24 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60589 Don’t let the nutjobs grind you down! Larry Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:35:36 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60588 Whoa. Someone tell John and Erika Keyes that it’s about quality, not quantity. I browsed some of that “book” you linked to, and ... wow. If they really think of themselves as writers, I wonder how their first real book is coming along. The corporate shell game is worth worrying about, though, even if—clearly—in this industry it’s not a result of the Keyes’ rabble-rousing. Subsidiaries, affiliates, limited liability: these things matter. I wish it wasn’t people like John and Erika Keyes who were doing the digging and complaining, but there are others out there, better equipped to do the job, who are also taking it on. richard Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:30:14 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/on_exploding_saltpeter_a_correction/#60587 Holy crap, what an odious couple of people. I missed your original post in October, but am glad you took on the misinformation and that you are standing up for yourself, as well as the facts, here. Man. Meera L Sethi Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:29:35 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/i_hate_anniversaries/#60570 What a good boy he was…and a lucky dog as well in so many ways. Natalie Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:25:11 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/i_hate_anniversaries/#60568 Beautiful, in several different ways. Sherwood Harrington Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:52:20 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/i_hate_anniversaries/#60567 This was taken on the north bank of Alameda Creek in Sunol Regional Wilderness, just downstream from Little Yosemite. Zeke is standing on a trail that leads down to what was his favorite wading pool. I always pretended as we walked past that we weren’t going down that way, and this is the look he always got until I “relented”. Chris Clarke Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:39:08 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/i_hate_anniversaries/#60561 The older you get, the more of them you’ll find on your calendar. Where was this taken?  If I were a betting person, my money would be on Briones—although maybe not, since I don’t recognize the outcrop. Sherwood Harrington Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:18:24 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/i_hate_anniversaries/#60560 Oh, sweetie. I can’t believe it’s been that long. Thinking about you. nina Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:13:57 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60554 We are starting a new publication which deals with wildlife watching in the Greater Yellowstone Region. Published in print and online editions with an accompanying blog, we will post the latest information on Yellowstone wildlife spottings, etiquette, safety, political and environmental issues.  We firmly believe that this project will result in very positive advocacy for wildlife in the Western US.  We have a very preliminary web site and blog up. Www.thespottingscope.co.  I hope to get your comments and support. Currently we are tying to get start up funding together to launch this May. Any help you might be able to provide in getting the word out would be most appreciated.  We have set up a project with Kickstater to facilitate this fund raising.  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1574373108/the-spotting-scope?ref=live cheryl jones Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:29:08 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60552 Janine, thanks for your caution regarding FNW. Chris Clarke Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:08:01 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60542 “But functioning as a press release distribution arm for BrightSource goes beyond a good-faith difference of opinion. Casually spreading corporate-sponsored misinformation goes beyond agreeing to disagree.” Amen to that! I’m truly horrified at the lengths that environmental organizations are going to to justify ecosystem-destroying development of public lands. It’s a kind of collective delirium, a willful dismissal of reality, apologetically defended by the limits of “current policies” and the need to “accept certain costs.” And you cynical observation about “mitigation” is, unfortunately, probably all too true. So what to do? I say we need to hold our environmental groups to a different standard. Your earlier essay on The Problem With Wilderness made an important point. As long as a place is pretty enough to put on a calendar, we’re willing to wall it off and call it good. But all the creeping, flying, burrowing, pollinating world doesn’t exist within our boundaries. We need to upend popular environmentalism & shift focus to ecologies, not landscapes. Putting politics before science is always a bad idea—both for governments AND environment groups. Adrienne Adams Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:50:35 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60540 I’ve never understood how anybody could walk that 500 mile plus transmission route through the desert and not come away vowing to protect the land, other than he walked it too quickly. In 2006, I walked 78 miles of the original proposed route of the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line through BLM and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park lands. I did it much more slowly, over 10 days. That allowed me time to meet with community members, dawdle at sunrises and sunsets, play with little kids who were there on family campouts, and take a snooze under desert trees at noon. Had I just barrelled on through, I never would have understood why the area and the people who lived there were precious. Speed kills. Kelly Fuller Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:01:58 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60535 It sounds to me like NWP has been suborned. Who’s in charge there, whom are they affiliated with, and where are they getting their money from? Warren Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:58:34 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60534 Not so fast with the kudos to Friends of Nevada Wilderness. They, like the NWP you rightly chide, were part of the team that negotiated legislation with Harry Reid that secured wilderness designations they had sought by acquiescing to Reid’s mandated sale of tens of thousands of acres of public land in NV. One of the bills also provided a free ROW on public land for a 400+-mile pipeline to take water from northern NV to Las Vegas. (It is hoped that the recent economic changes in LV may have killed chances for that multi-billion-dollar pipeline). The Nevada Wilderness Coalition, of which both groups were a part, did express some disapproval of the “bad parts” of Reid’s bills, but would never consider opposing land-giveaway legislation because they knew it was the politically expedient way to get their wilderness designations. As the coalition said at the time, “[We] do not believe that defying political reality is effective for wilderness.” Their passive acceptance of “political reality” cemented a trend of quid pro quo wilderness proposals. Fortunately, except in NV (due to Reid’s power), grassroots activists managed to fight these bills off. But the trend is almost guaranteed to re-emerge, especially if the whole Congress goes Republican in 2012. Then the money spigot at the Pew Charitable Trusts will open up again and the quid pro quo wilderness groups will start fashioning more trades. Maybe this time around they’ll trade flat desert for solar plants for their mountainous wilderness. Janine Blaeloch Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:47:46 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60532 Thanks for this Chris, your voice on this is so important for so many reasons.  It’s happening everywhere.  It’s tempting to just throw one’s hands in the air, shake your head and write it off as some sick irony.  To be, as you put it, cynical.  These people need to be called out at every opportunity.  For those so compelled by vanity, shame is a mighty motivator - and what they are doing is shameful. Brian Ertz Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:01:48 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60531 Requisition pallet of bricks and bucket of mortar.  Construct wall.  Bang head. Karen Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:47 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60529 Stats on these Plants please?  The concept employed at dullsource is similar to Solar One at Yermo, a project of the 1970’s.  Why did the project at Harper Lake sit dormant for 15 years or so after the tax credits ran out?  And why did it need a 14” natural gas line?  I note the a natural gas line is also in the Brightsource project spec too.  Many times I pass Harper Lake and don’t see steam And then there is the nearly 5000 acre footprint.  If this were not public land, which I’ll guess they got at usual BLM insider prices, are these projects ever feasible in an economic sense? The 25 year lifespan would impress ancient Romans or Egyptians, eh? Seems to me we have an ample data set to stop future projects if we marshall the facts. I don’t honestly know what that data says, but my hypothesis is that it would not be supportive of future Ivanpahs. W Bowser Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:24:54 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60528 Just when you think people have scraped the bottom of the barrel, you hear stuff like this. Why am I not surprized? You are a true gentleman, I am not, let me just say that I hope that they choke on all that corporate money that I believe they are taking. I can’t prove it, but with this much smoke, there has got to be a fire somewhere. Absolutely disgusting, with friends like those guys, the Nevada wilderness doesn’t need any enemies. bill mcdonald Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:26:12 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60526 I hadn’t heard about that hike; how utterly appalling.  That’s as if Brower et al rafted down the Grand Canyon in order to celebrate the building of the dam! I too am feeling very tired by the greenwashing committed by supposed allies.  As you say, if you’re not interested in fighting a given fight, fine, don’t, but don’t go out of your way to cripple those fighters who are at least trying! Rachel Shaw Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:09:05 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/shame_on_you_nevada_wilderness_project/#60525 Incidentally, if you were looking for a wilderness group in the great state of Nevada that has so far refrained from completely prostrating themselves before the likes of BrightSource, check out the Friends of Nevada Wilderness. It may be a bit “People’s Front of Judea” to say so here, and they may well not approve of what I’ve said in the post, but they do good work. [Edited to add:] Though see Janine Blaeloch’s caveat, in comments below. Chris Clarke Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:57:41 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/thistle_again/#60512 I’m so glad to hear that Chris. :) We lost our almost-15 gray and white autistic kitty Gus last spring. He had lived in a large kennel in my office for the preceding couple of years, someplace I had to put him because he was soiling the house no matter what I tried. I felt terrible confining him and the original plan was that it was temporary. He, however, turned out to LOVE his kennel where he had his own little home and was safe and didn’t have to share with anyone. He got to where he really didn’t want to be taken out of it. So for those years I had my little office buddy who shared every work day with me. Never had a bunny and didn’t realize how delicate they can be. Natalie Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:08:24 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/three_announcements/#60506 Mazel tov, Annette and Chris and the whole sweet menagerie of your today and later family. If it’s in LA, might it be at the La Brea Tar Pits? Not that its recreation of a tar-trapped and dying mastodon ought be indicative of marriage or anything… I just love the bubbling weirdness of that site more than nearly anything in the area. And it seems so perfectly apocalyptic. Siona Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:38:05 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/thistle_again/#60505 Natalie! Thistle seems to be feeling a bit better in that he’s eating and pooping more normally, but he’s still grinding his teeth at me and a couple other things aren’t quite right. But he’s back to being a mainly happy guy for the time being. Chris Clarke Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:04:43 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/thistle_again/#60503 Just checking for news on how Thistle is doing. He’s the cutest little bun… in pictures he sometimes looks like a granite statue with that marbled gray fur. Natalie Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:39:14 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/self-promotion/#60498 BTW, I made a drop in your tip jar the other night; don’t forget to check it. Karen Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:53:49 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/self-promotion/#60497 Chris, I think it’s a good resume.  My only suggestion is that you include an internet address at the top.  I’d also suggest you get a gmail/yahoo/whatever account expressly for the job search.  As for the rest of it, you’ve made it sound productive and positive without going overboard.  I used to read a lot of resumes as an engineering manager, and the ones that annoyed me the second-most were the ones that made the applicant look like god incarnate.  (The ones that annoyed me most were those of people I’d known in previous jobs who *greatly* inflated their accomplishments.  Lying really frosts me.) Good luck on getting your grant funded. I have some proposals for you that I don’t want to write about in public.  One concerns artwork for your future endeavors, and the other one concerns artisanwork for your wedding.  Email me at the email I submitted for this comment, and we can chat.  Can if possibly hurt to hear what I have to say??? Karen Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:51:42 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/thistle_again/#60494 I had rabbits as a kid, and none of them lived very long, between a chronic stupidity about dogs combined with a cleverness about cage hasps (which afflicted the Netherland dwarves) and fragility of the sort you describe (for the lops).  But each one had so much personality, and I still think about them. I hope Thistle has more time with you; I think getting to be a pet of yours is rather like winning the karmic lottery for animals. *hug* for you and Thistle. Rachel Shaw Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:04:41 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/thistle_again/#60478 Your story of Thistle sounds too much like my Natasha-kitty… before her internal systems started to shut down (which is when I had her put down) her external world started to collapse inward.  She grew progressively less interested in anything but cuddling with me.  Though a couple of weeks before her death, we took her on vacation up to the Eastern Sierra, and she experienced snow for the first (and last) time.  She was fascinated. Dammit, it’s been over a year since her death, and writing about her still sets me crying. Karen Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:41:39 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/three_announcements/#60457 Congrats to you both! :) Natalie Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:48:52 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/thistle_again/#60419 Joyful about your marriage plans - Congratulations both of you! - and simultaneously cast down by this. My darling Maggie is losing strength in her back end (kelpie-Rottie-something black and tan cross.) She’s going on 12. I assumed she would live to 17 or thereabouts. Am going so see a super vet about stem cell treatment soon. Kids say “why can’t dogs live longer?“but then we’d still have the first animals we ever had. We wouldn’t know the ones we love so much now. It’s one of life’s implacable sorrows. Helen Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:56:28 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/thistle_again/#60407 Chris, I’m sorry to hear that Thistle is poorly.  I have two rabbits myself and until I became a “rabbit slave”, i didn’t really ever consider these guys to be more than “cage pets” like guinea pigs.  I have to say I’m glad I have them now and how much they’ve changed my mind!  I hope Thistle feels better soon, poor guy. I also wanted to suggest the book “The Relaxed Rabbit: massage for your pet bunny” by Chandra Beal.  It has techniques to help arthritic buns feel better and to help Stasis buns keep their little guts moving.  Anyway, thinking good thoughts for your little friend. *HUGS* Jamie A. Stine Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:11:41 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/dear_jesse_i_want_to_eat_my_stepchildren._is_this_normal/#60355 In answer to Deep-Thinking Hebephage, I would think the first and most important question to ask is whether his girlfriend is Irish, because eating Irish children has been perfectly okay for some time now. Susie Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:13:38 -0600 http://faultline.org/site/item/energy_waste_as_seen_by_the_international_space_station/#60354 Yes, it does.  We can be pretty dumb critters. Sherwood Harrington Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:44:59 -0600