Columns

Home Country By Slim Randles: Reason To Get Up

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Home Country
By SLIM RANDLES

Mrs. Doc watched the dancers swirl around the cleared hardwood floor of the Legion hall, and smiled to see her husband, Doc, waltzing with Ardis Fisher. But Mrs. Doc was never one to sit out a waltz, so she looked around at the menu.

Over in the corner, smiling and tapping his foot, was Pop Walker. Pop and several other residents of the Rest of Your Life retirement home were there to enjoy the dance and celebrate the arrival of summer. Pop has a hard time with his memory, these days, but always forgets things with a smile.

“Pop,” said Mrs. Doc, “how about a dance?”

“Why sure … uh?” Read More

Food On The Hill: Watermelon Gazpacho

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Watermelon Gazpacho. Photo by Felicia Orth
 
Food On The Hill
By FELICIA ORTH
Los Alamos
 
Watermelon Gazpacho

I lived in Madison, Wisc., from 1980-1983, not long after an idealistic group of “flour children” hoping to effect positive cultural change opened the first of the Ovens of Brittany restaurants.

Elegant décor, a classical French menu, local natural ingredients, fine wines, fresh flowers, classical background music, hand-painted murals of European farm scenes and memorable baked goods made the Ovens a Midwestern phenomenon. One restaurant became six, plus five bakeries, Read More

Solo Traveler: Good Guides

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The slit in the mountain is the hole where the Agua Azul river emerges from underground. Photo by Sherry Hardage
 
Agua Azul waterfalls. Photo by Sherry Hardage
 
Solo Traveler
Good Guides
By SHERRY HARDAGE

I’m sure every traveler has some frustrating or angry story about taking a day tour and being funneled into a trinket store where the tour operator gets a kickback on whatever the tourists buy.

My own experiences in India and Thailand were so bad they caused me to stop taking tours altogether. That was a mistake.

Tour guides come in many ‘flavors’, just like the rest of humanity, and a Read More

Yang: No Escaping From Our Biases

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By ELENA YANG
Los Alamos
 
No Escaping From Our Biases

However, we can learn and reduce our biases.

When we make a decision based on our intuition, we are prone to be biased. Even when we are given all the warnings of a potential trap, all the principles of the “right” logic, or factual presentations, we still let biases slip through. This is true for both the general population and for “experts” in many fields.

Since there is no such thing as “perfect” information with which we make decisions (besides, how does one define “perfect information?”), it is inevitable that we need to rely on our heuristics, Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews ‘Inside Out’

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By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos

“Inside Out” is an exceedingly clever, 3D, Pixar (animated) film about what makes up one’s personality, what memories we treasure and why some are forgotten, and how our emotions work.

The story is about Riley, an 11-year-old girl who has had a happy childhood, is good at hockey, and has great relationships with her parents and a best friend. That is, until her family has to move from Minnesota to San Francisco. The first day or two make up most of the story—new school, new but empty house with the moving van stuck in another state, dad preoccupied with his job, mom trying Read More

Snodgrass: Economic Development – All Of The Above And More

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We got jobs! Greg Fisher, Los Alamos County economic vitality administrator talks to Kathryn Fulton, community specialist at Smith’s Marketplace about the company’s hiring plans. Photo by Roger  Snodgrass/ladailypost.com

 

By ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos

When thinking about the crisis of inequality in the United States, one doesn’t have to go very far out of Los Alamos to get some striking contrasts.

Kathy Keith, executive director of the Regional Development Corporation, summed up the overall situation in Northern New Mexico in a single sentence at a recent presentation at Read More

O’Leary: Update On Communication Improvements

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By SUSAN O’LEARY
Los Alamos County Councilor

In March, 2015, the County Council unanimously passed a motion to improve communications outreach with an aim of improving the Council’s structured engagement with the community. 

The objective is simple – to more fully involve the public in the Council’s decision making so that its decisions best reflect the interests and aspirations of the community. 

The actions planned include updating and expanding the Council’s strategic goals, making them more clear and actionable, and increasing efforts to link day-to-day Read More

Pastor Granillo: Unless

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By Pastor RAUL GRANILLO
Los Alamos

My father is a Mexican immigrant who came to America 40 years ago looking for an opportunity to reap the benefits of his hard work.

He raised us with the philosophy that a person should work hard and contribute to his family. Like millions of men everywhere, I try to implement that philosophy in my role as husband and father. However, there is one aspect of his philosophy that failed my father and his family—he tried doing it through his own will and strength.

Jesus’ disciples were average guys. They considered things like respect (John 13:8), loyalty (Mark 14:29), Read More

This Week At The Reel Deal

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By JIM O’DONNELL
Reel Deal Theater

Summer at the Movies” sponsored by Los Alamos National Bank continues on Mon, Wed, & Fri. at 10am. Doors open at 9:30 am so be sure to come early as these free movies have filled to capacity in the past. Film titles are listed at the bottom of this newsletter. 

Last weekend, Jurassic World shattered the box office record for the largest global opening in Movie history. I saw it Friday and it exceeded all my expectations. I enjoyed it as much as the original Jurassic Park. Hope to see you at the Reel Deal!

This Friday we are opening Inside Out (100% Read More

Review: So What About Jurassic World?

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Review of Jurassic World by Thomas Holtz
Submitted by Ralph E. Chapman, Los Alamos
 
OK Los Alamosians,
 
As I have yet to see Jurassic World because of other commitments (soon, I hope) and there is lots of stuff (and crap) circulating around the web, I have assembled the review of a good friend of mine – Dr. Tom Holtz, a.k.a. King of the Dinosaur Geeks – from his Facebook posts and submit them here for you to read. He gave me permission to send them to the LADP.
 
These days it is almost impossible to keep half up with dinosaur stuff unless you do it full time and
Read More