Columns

Johnson: The Impossibility of Untangling Conservation and Development

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By DUSTIN JOHNSON
Los Alamos
(Currently doing an internship in Mongolia)

This is the first of a series of (roughly) monthly columns I’ll be writing for the Los Alamos Daily Post on international development, humanitarian aid, and related issues.

In the United States and much of the developed world, we primarily think of conservation in terms of protected areas such as national parks, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas. In these areas, human activity is usually limited to tourism and research. In such countries, only a small portion of the population earns significant income from Read More

Food on the Hill: Green Chile Bacon Cheeseburgers

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This Week’s Recipe: Green Chile Bacon Cheeseburgers
 
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com
 
Ingredients:
 
8 strips bacon, cooked – save fat
1 tablespoon bacon fat
1 1/2 slices white bread, crusts removed and torn into small pieces
1/4 cup milk1/4 cup of very finally chopped onion
1 1/3 pounds ground beef1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup chopped and very well drained roasted green chile
4 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
 
Directions:
 
Mix milk, bread and onions, until you make a paste.
 
Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews ‘Begin Again’

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By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos

“Begin Again” is a simple movie, motivated by the power of music – but it works. The story is about the redemption of two down-on-their-luck strangers and what they get from teaming up together.

Dan Mulligan (a scruffy Mark Ruffalo), was just dumped as a music producer from the company he founded. In his drunken sorrow, he stumbles into an East Village bar and hears Greta (Keira Knightley), a young woman who writes songs in her spare time, singing. Her soulful song inspires him (in a very clever scene adding imagined backup musicians) and he attempts to coax Read More

Essay: On Being a Kid

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‘Chris.’ Courtesy photo

On Being a Kid
By DIANA MARTINEZ

When Chris was 5-years-old, he underwent surgery to address partial hearing loss from an ear infection and resultant scar-tissue tumors.   

When he was 9, he lost most of his hearing after another surgery. Chris had been a “cool” kid with lots of friends and involved in sports, but when he showed up at school wearing hearing aids that in the technology-of-the-day resembled large music headphones, he felt different and was treated differently.

Sports weren’t fun wearing a large headset with a speaker box, Read More

How the Hen House Turns: Listening and Body Language

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How the Hen House Turns: Listening and Body Language
Column by Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.
Los Alamos

The bottom line lesson for conversing with birds–and dogs also, I suspect–is to repeat simple word phrases in context, add a simple motion with arms or hands, and note any response.

An example from the Hen House—at dusk, I enter the pen saying “Time to go sleeping,” then I say it again with an arm motion toward the Hen House or nest box, wherever those particular birds usually sleep.

In winter the phrase is, “It’s cold. Everybody to the Hen House.” The birds don’t hesitate, for they Read More

This Week at the Reel Deal

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Column By JIM O’DONNELL    
Reel Deal Theater

This week we are opening Planes: Fire and Rescue, Begin Again, and Jersey Boys. We will hold Planet of the Apes, and Tammy. Transformers,and Earth to Echo will end this Thursday.

We had planned on opening Sex Tape with Cameron Diaz and Jason Segal this weekend but Sony gave us the run-around again and told us we didn’t make the cut. Truthfully I don’t know if it’s a good film or not but now at least we have a chance to see how it opens and what the critics say. If it doesn’t live up to the hoopla Read More

Food on the Hill: Double Chocolate Brownies

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“Food on the Hill” by Sue York

This Week’s Recipe:

Double Chocolate Brownies

Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (*high altitude)
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups (12oz) chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup walnuts
 

Directions:

You can get the high altitude flour at Walmart. It is higher in protein, and a finer grind. This was the first time I tried it, and I think it did well. I want to keep trying it in baked goods to see if it out performs bread flour.

Photo by Sue

Read More

Healing Hands: Healing Touch

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Healing Hands: Healing Touch
By GREGORY BARTHELL
Los Alamos

Massage Therapy is effective because touch itself can be therapeutic. The literature from studies on touch repeatedly shows how important it is for us all to receive careful touch.

A most useful tool in the pursuit of healing touch is the ability for the therapist to be fully focused on the receiver; this is known as being present. The healing touch can be therapeutic because it gives the body a chance to heal itself.

The clinical results have shown that people experience less pain, reduced stress, and better quality sleep with routine Read More

Solo Traveler: Chihuly

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Installation by glass artist Dale Chihuly at the Denver Botanical Gardens. Photo by Sherry Hardage
 
Solo Traveler: Chihuly
By SHERRY HARDAGE

Once in a while, a trip is all about the photography. I’m not talking a photo-workshop kind of trip, though if you ever want to be a better photographer, a single day workshop could launch a love affair that will last the rest of your life.

No, I’m talking about a trip taken just to see the most beautiful things and photograph them. I just returned from such a trip to Denver where the Denver Botanical Gardens is hosting a series of installations by internationally-known Read More

How the Hen House Turns: Talking to Birds

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How the Hen House Turns:
Talking to Birds
Column by Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.
Los Alamos

After 12 years with Lucy goose and the miniature mallards, Kiebler and Ms. Ritz (Joy Drake named them since they were quackers – I think I told you that some months ago), I’m convinced that talking to birds is a matter of listening to them.

When I turn on the water to fill their dishes every morning, Ms. Ritz and Bobbi let out their loud quack quack quack and honk honk honk, respectively (always three in a row), which means “Hurry up and let us out of here.” They are locked in at night with latches secured with Read More