Columns

Smart Design With Suzette: Sustainable Floors In Review

by

Wood floor in the living room. Courtesy photo
 
 
Smart Design With Suzette
By SUZETTE FOX

Sustainable Floors In Review

Almost a year ago, I wrote about sustainable choices for flooring…tile, bamboo, cork, wood, linoleum (not vinyl), terrazzo and stained concrete. I stated I needed new floors. Well friends, another full year has past and I still don’t have new floors.

Our puppy has literally put holes in most of the carpet and/or area rugs we own, as well as, adding a new stain or two due to ‘accidents.’ Therefore, new carpet will NOT be coming into our home. However there are new carpets Read More

Solo Traveler: Day Of The Dead

by

Day of the Dead in Oaxaca. Photo by Suzanne Barbezat
 
A ceramic incense burner used in a home altar, from the Anthropology Museum in Palenque. Photo by Sherry Hardage
 
Solo Traveler
By SHERRY HARDAGE
 
Day Of The Dead

There are two celebrations that Mexico is famous for: Cinco de Mayo and Day of the Dead. Cinco de Mayo is essentially an American holiday designed to increase sales of Mexican beer. It’s barely noticed in Mexico.

Day of the Dead however, is a defining Mexican holiday, celebrated over several days with lots of fanfare. The markets, in the weeks leading up to it, are packed Read More

Pastor Granillo: Honoring The Saints

by

By Pastor Raul Granillo
Los Alamos

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews is often referred to as The Hall of Faith. It is called so because it contains the names and accounts of many of the people in the Old Testament who exemplified a life of faith in God.

It is certainly not exhaustive—by its own admission (v. 32)—but it does serve to remind the reader of the many that have gone before and the many that continue to journey down a path of faithfulness to God.

Nov. 1 is celebrated as All Saints Read More

TALES OF OUR TIMES: The Leftover Parts Tell Truths

by

Tales of Our Times
By JOHN BARTLIT
New Mexico Citizens
for Clean Air & Water

The Leftover Parts Tell Truths

 

The silvery toy in my early years was an Erector Set. The set had trays of assorted parts needed to build a child’s tractor, a movable seesaw or a Ferris wheel.
Political dialogue works much the same way. By choosing which parts to use and which parts to ignore, stories can be shaped to suit one’s fancy.
Shelves are full of samples to see.
 
Insights are found in a homely work problem assigned to student engineers in olden times, that is to say before clean water had evident value. 
Read More

PEEC Amateur Naturalist: Honeycomb, Dragonfly Eyes, And Lava Columns

by

The eye of a dragonfly. Photo by Rudi Gunawan

 
 
PEEC Amateur Naturalist
Honeycomb, Dragonfly Eyes, and Lava Columns
By ROBERT DRYJA
 
The comb of honeybees has fascinated people for centuries. Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar, proposed in 36 BC that hexagons with equal sides would take the least total perimeter when dividing a surface into regions of equal area.
 
Stated differently, bees do not have to produce as much beeswax for storage containers when compared to square or triangular containers if the containers are hexagonal in shape.
 
Bees need to consume
Read More

Felicia Orth: Cappuccino Cupcakes

by

Cappuccino cupcakes. Courtesy photo
 
By FELICIA ORTH
Los Alamos
 
Girlfriend Judy Bentley and I traveled to Ruidoso a few weekends ago for recreation, and I was reminded on our way out of town that one of my favorite bakeries in all of New Mexico is there: Cornerstone Bakery, on Sudderth Drive, the main street through the Village.
 
All of their baked goods are scrumptious; over the years of traveling occasionally to Ruidoso for work, what I found myself packing back to Los Alamos to share with the family were the “Cappuccino Muffins.”
 
I was pretty consistent over the years
Read More

This Week At The Reel Deal

by

By JIM O’DONNELL
Reel Deal Theater

This Friday we are opening Burnt and Sicario. Bridge of Spies and The Martian will hold another week. Goosebumps will end Thursday.  

Movie poster for ‘Warren Miller’s – Chasing Shadows.’ Courtesy Reel Deal Theater

Warren Miller-Chasing Shadows: Don’t miss our special, one-night-only fundraiser for the Los Alamos Ski Club 6:45 Thursday, Nov. 5. We will show the new Warren Miller’s- Chasing Shadows. This is a popular event so I suggest arriving no later than 6:20 for seating and refreshments by Bathtub Row Brewery Tickets Read More

Yang: Action – The Ugly Cousin Of Strategy

by

By ELENA YANG
Los Alamos

Like the topic of leadership, “organization strategy” is over-played, over-emphasized, over-analyzed, and woefully undermines the actions necessary for making improvements or breakthroughs. 

Engaging in strategic planning appears to be intellectually stimulating and appealing to senior management, while implementing and executing seem pedestrian and mundane. And – you guessed it  – the former is a luxury while the latter is a necessity.

I am not claiming that strategy is a total waste of time, but given that the correlation between strategy and Read More

Gray Matters: Tom Brady And The Orange Flush

by

Animas River. Courtesy photo
 
GRAY MATTERS
 
By Larry Johnson
Los Alamos
 

With apologies to the non-football fans, I wish to contrast the problems of Tom Brady and the under-inflated footballs to the recent three million gallon spill into the Animas River near Silverton, Colo.

I call that spill of acid mine drainage the “Orange Flush”, not to be confused with the Denver Bronco football defense, the Orange Crush.

The purpose of this short piece is to examine the facts regarding the spill and the environmental impacts.

But first the connection between the troubles of Tom Brady

Read More

Solo Traveler: Big Mistakes

by

Solo Traveler
By SHERRY HARDAGE
Big Mistakes

When I look back on the last five years of traveling I find that I now make fewer mistakes. It’s helpful to think about what the worst mistakes were and what I started doing differently as a result.

The Biggest Mistake of All – Too Much Stuff

On a three-month trip to Europe I took summer clothes, plenty of warmer clothes for fall, and a heavy winter jacket because I would be in Turkey and Italy in December. I packed hiking boots, shoes, sandals, a pair of dressy shoes and a nice dinner dress. I had enough underwear for two weeks and a small backpack with all the stuff Read More