Book Review: The Machine Stops by E.M. Forester

...ou can read it on a single webpage, hosted by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. (Those guys have a sense of humor!) Or you can download it for free in the file format of your choice here. Or you could pay 99 cents to put in on your Kindle . In print you’d find it as part of his collected short stories, as it is here. Also, I discovered that the story was adapted into a fifty-minute TV episode in the 60’s. You can watch it on You...

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So Cal Alert: Polyphagus Shot Hole Borer

...cer buergerianum) 5 Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) 6. Castor bean (Ricinus communis) 7. California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa)* 8. Mexizan sycamore (Platanus mexicana) 9. Red Willow (Salix laevigata)* 10. Avocado (Persea americana) 11. Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) 12. English Oak (Quercus robur) 13. Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia)* 14. London plane (Platanus x acerifolia) 15.Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)* 16. Black cottonwood (Populus trichoc...

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Build a vegetable prison to keep out raccoons and skunks

...row cover material if I want to keep out cabbage leaf caterpillars. If you’re a Sketchup user I uploaded the plans to the 3D Warehouse. Search for “Raccoon Proof Vegetable Bed” and you’ll be able to download it. This bed was designed for the narrow top slope of our front yard and is 3 by 8-feet. I would recommend increasing the width to 4-feet if you build one yourself....

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The Horror

...ileage indicates that he’s got the Kool-aid in those bottle cages), has smacked down Cato institute stormtrooper Randall O’Toole in an ongoing debate on cycling in the pages of the L.A. Times. Urban Velo #5 is available for download and it’s free. Lastly, Commute by Bike has some tips on how to ride in cold weather without opening the wallet for expensive clothing. Here’s this morning’s Vitus californica desecration (Vitus californication?):...

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