Columns

Solo Traveler: Screwed Up!

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Solo Traveler: Screwed Up!
By SHERRY HARDAGE

Not too long ago, I wrote about money security and how easy it is to lose one’s debit card in machines that “eat” them.

Well, now on a trip through Belize, I made the mistake of not retrieving my card, so I lost it. What a shock that was! But it’s just the sort of thing that can happen to anyone.

A few days ago, I went to an ATM in Ladyville, sandwiched between the bank and the grocery store. It was 4 p.m. I tried to get a thousand Belize dollars. The machine said I didn’t have enough in my account, which wasn’t true. I tried a smaller amount, then an even smaller amount, Read More

This Week at the Reel Deal

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Column by JIM O’DONNELL
Reel Deal Theater

This Friday, we will be opening The Monuments Men, The Lego Movie, and August: Osage County.

We will hold Labor Day for another week.

I tried again this week to get Philomena which was promised to me and I in turn promised to you, but the studio is still holding out hoping the Oscars will breathe new life into the film with a possible Academy Award for Meryl Streep. Then they will ask for a longer run. Regardless, we are still going to show it soon.                                               Read More

How the Hen House Turns: Hunting Dogs as Bird Sitters

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How the Hen House Turns: Hunting Dogs as Bird Sitters
Column by Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.

Of course our dogs do not reside in the Hen House. They have a huge pillow bed and a life-sized artificial bear rug to sleep on under my desk-door-resting-on-file-cabinets and a closet devoted to the double-dog-door system husband Don invented to prevent heat loss (into the closet, then outside.)

The dogs’ job is to watch and protect the birds while they’re out in the yard, even now at age 13 ¾, but only when it’s sunny and warm. They do their job effectively, except when the hungry hawks that nest next door Read More

Food on the Hill: Sweet Polenta

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This Week’s Recipe: Sweet Polenta
 
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com
 
Ingredients:
1 cup of corn meal for Polenta
1 cup heavy cream
2 ½ cup milk
¾ cup sugar
½ cup coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup each of three chopped dried fruits (I used cherries, apricots, blueberries)
 
Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, mix together the cream, milk, sugar and coconut. After the sugar has dissolved, add the corn meal by pouring it a little at a time while whisking.
 
 
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com
 
 
If you pour it slow while whisking, you will not
Read More

Column: Why Not Fly, Los Alamos?

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Councilor Steven Girrens
 
Why Not Fly, Los Alamos?
By STEVEN GIRRENS
Los Alamos County Councilor

By the time you read this column, I hope you will have seen advertising and banners circulating in our community promoting commercial airline service between our airport (LAM) and Albuquerque’s Sunport (ABQ.) Our new “Why Not Fly” ad campaign is urging residents to give New Mexico Airlines a chance to get you quickly, conveniently and safely between our community and Albuquerque, whether you fly for business or pleasure.

The service was launched last April with the assistance of federal Read More

Yang: Half Empty? Half Full? – Are they really different?

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Half Empty? Half Full? – Are they really different?
By ELENA YANG

Usually, we associate “half-empty glass” view with the “scarcity mode” of thinking, and “half-full” with “abundance mode.” However, even if one sees a glass is half empty, wouldn’t the next logic step be, “Fill it?” 

If we take only a snapshot of a situation, we may see it as either “half-empty” or “half-full.”  However, if we are driven by action, then both modes should compel us to fill the remaining space with water, or other tasteful morsels, to make it full.  In other words, an active mind wants to add value Read More

Education 101: Class Size – Does It Matter, and How Much Does It Cost?

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Education 101: 
Class Size:  Does It Matter, and How Much Does It Cost?
By Save Our Schools Los Alamos

As noted in last week’s column, small class size is the Los Alamos community’s top education priority, based on the very credible Community Survey conducted by the Los Alamos School Board in 2011.

With a sample size of over 700 respondents including elementary, middle and high school parents and teachers, and community members; every segment surveyed ranked class size as their most important preference when considering over 170 elements that impact the educational Read More

Column: Trinity Site Construction Issues

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Thick mud flows onto Miller’s Knecht Automotive/NAPA Autoparts property at 201 Knecht St. in November. Courtesy/Clint Miller

Trinity Site Construction Issues

Column by GREG KENDALL
Los Alamos Daily Post

A few weeks back, I was contacted by Sam Gardner, a local developer, about problems at the Trinity Site Smith’s Marketplace development. The issues involved alleged bad treatment of a couple of local businesses, slack enforcement of county construction policies and rude behavior toward a citizen who had a badly cracked car window from a construction truck near the site.

I decided Read More

Drug of Denial─Awareness and Impact: Part 2

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Youth Matters
 
Editor’s note: This column (the second in a three-part series) is sponsored by the Los Alamos Juvenile Justice Advisory Board. Columns will appear periodically with the goal of informing parents and the community about issues that impact local young people and their families.
 
Drug of Denial─Awareness and Impact: Part 2
By a Los Alamos Parent
 
After becoming aware of the recreational drug use and binge drinking by our son, the scholar and athlete, we overcame our denial and started to look into treatment options. There are limited options for residential
Read More

This Week at the Reel Deal: Theater Says Goodbye to Film Forever … Going All Digital!

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Column By JIM O’DONNELL                                 
Reel Deal Theater

Friday Jan. 31, we will be opening Labor Day starring Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet and Toby Maquire. Jason Reitman directs this film about a single mother, Adele and her son Henry, who give a wounded man a ride from the grocery store.

As local police search the town for an escaped convict, the mother and son gradually learn

Read More