Oral Histories Demonstrate The Limitations Of Memory
Heather McClenahan
Los Alamos Historical Society
“The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened.” –Mark Twain
Modern day historians have developed a near reverence for “oral history interviews,” recordings of people who lived through a historic event or time period. Details that can be derived from such interviews add to the historical record and can enrich a narrative with otherwise unknown details.
Unfortunately, the interviews can also be wrong.
A graduate of the Los Alamos Ranch School stated in an oral history that J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director Read More
Home Country: Circulational Quandary
Home Country
By SLIM RANDLES
Alphonse Wilson here, jest celebratin’ a nice day with poetry. Yessir. I thought I’d do some poetry today just to see if you’re in the mood. Well, if you ain’t in the mood, I guess you could go fix a cup of coffee or something and wait for me to finish, but that would hurt my feelin’s exponential-like and you’re not the kind of person to do that, are ya?
Thass right. So Windy, you’re prolly askin’ yourself, how do you go about writin’ a poem? You were? Good. It really ain’t so very hard, you know. You just gotta sling yerself into a artistical mood. You know, like them Dutch masters Read More
Jimenez: Despite Oil Boom, State Must Diversify Revenue Sources
By JAMES JIMENEZ
Executive Director
New Mexico Voices for Children
ALBUQUERQUE — While the state is currently flush with revenue from the booming oil and gas markets, as well as federal recovery funding, one advocacy group is recommending that lawmakers not lose sight of the need to diversify the state’s revenue sources in order to protect future budgets.
A policy brief, released today by New Mexico Voices for Children (NMVC), outlines the top five reasons revenue diversification is necessary for the state’s long-term fiscal sustainability and ability to invest in programs crucial to family Read More
Yoga Therapy – Breathe To Regulate Vagus Nerve
By JACCI GRUNINGER, MS, C-IAYT, ERYT500
Los Alamos
Regulate my what? You might not even know that you have a Vagus Nerve. However, when you have stress or chronic pain your sympathetic nervous system activates (unfortunately, NOT like the Wonder Twins!) and causes all sorts of changes in the body.
Changes like dilating your pupils, raising the hair on your arms, making your breath more shallow, making you sweat and moving the blood from your stomach to your extremities. All these responses are to support you in fighting or fleeing. Now we even know that your systems might choose to slow down or “stop” Read More
Benson: ‘I Voted … I Made Freedom Count In Los Alamos’
By JODY BENSON
League of Women Voters
Los Alamos
You know that sticker you get when you cast your ballot, the one that says, I VOTED I Made Freedom Count in Los Alamos County?
I love that sticker and its American-flag’s Red White and Blue patriotism! Wearing it shows I made the very most basic effort to participate in American democracy.
I’m so proud of us. We who have that sticker took the time to:
- be educated about how government works;
- be informed about issues both global and local;
- research the candidates’ experience, character and commitment; and
- singularly, participate in choosing who will
Fr. Glenn: Choosing Allegiances
By Father Glenn Jones:
If you’ve ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you’ll remember the episode when the Nazi collaborator receives from a number of cups the one he thought was the Holy Grail—the cup of Christ at the Last Supper—and drank from it, expecting to receive immortality. Whoops; wrong one. He aged and was pulverized immediately, upon which the ancient knight quips: “He chose…poorly.” Yeah … thanks for the tip. (VIDEO)
We all make a gazillion choices during each day—what to eat, what to wear, work decisions, etc. We decide by what we believe benefits us the most. Will this route Read More
Amateur Naturalist: The World Of Small Canyons, Part 4
By ROBERT DRYJA
Los Alamos
Small canyons can provide a variety of microenvironments that are close to one another. A small stream along the bottom of a canyon provides a moisture laden environment. But the adjacent canyon sides can be much dryer just 10 feet up.
Sections of the stream may have small ponds with water skippers on their surfaces. But the stream may be without water in between the ponds. The water from the ponds has percolated down into the stream bottom rather flowing from one pond to the next.
Coyote willow and mullein are two plants that use different strategies for survival even though Read More
