Renowned science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson is an opinionated person. And a thoughful one. And a great researcher. But mostly he is a very fine writer. Of the many many books he has written and published since the 1980s, my favorite is "The Years of Rice and Salt", set in an alternate world where the Plague killed 90% of people in northern Europe leaving empty land to be resettled by people from further south and east. This book is a series of about a dozen novellas tied together by a cast of characters who get reincarnated in different parts of the world amid different circumstances and cultures. A most fascinating book!
But then, I also was mesmerized by his possibilities of Orange County's future in the Three Californias trilogy: "The Wild Shore", "The Gold Coast", and "Pacific Edge". What will happen in OC if (a) we start to recover from a nuclear war while the rest of the world decides that we are too dangerous to allow to re-build? or (b) we stop global warming but continue overpopulation in "an endless sprawl of condos, freeways, and malls"? or (c) we change our culture to a more ecologically-focused future and live in smaller places? These three award-winning books are also filled with fascinating characters.
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Another very interesting fellow that I met on After Hours is Tom Ferguson. He is retired from working for the city of Phoenix as a system creator, studio maker, and IT wizard. (Well, that's not the word HE used, but to me it seems like wizardry!)
The Ferguson family moved to Arizona when he was 10, and he has never found reason to leave. This is a fascinating interview sparked with bits of tech info and CUTE CATS!
Cats? Why cats? Well, it turns out that Tom has been a photographer for a long time and one of his favorite subjects are his cats. (That's them in the picture.)
His t-shirt reads: MY MIND IS LIKE MY INTERNET BROWSER:
19 TABS OPEN, 3 OF THEM ARE FROZEN,
AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE MUSIC IS COMING FROM. |
Nikki H is a "Creativity Coach" and her eddress tells it all -- FindYourDelight@gmail.com -- Her delight is helping others find THEIR delight. Her passion is fostering CREATIVITY in many ways for as many people as she can. Her Pinterst account says Nikki H is a: "Delight finder. Creativity coach. Content creator. Event designer & stylist. Dancer. Traveler."
She is also a lot of fun to chat with! Listen in as Nikki and Lois head for the wild blue yonder in this episode.
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"Cat Tales and Animal Stories"
That was what we called the zoom session where our friends came to reminisce about their pets -- current or former. Lois also collected stories that were told at Jim's last birthday party (also on zoom). A dozen people tell lots of tales about lots of tails!
Hope you enjoy hearing about the critters as much as we did.
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Ray Maxwell is a fascinating man. He has done so many wonderful things, we'd need a month to even summarize them! In this episode we touch on a few -- hot air ballooning, finding minerals by looking at vegetation from space, how wind moves over mountain peaks and what those aerial waves and ridges can be used for, changes in vision after cataract surgery, setting up a studio, teaching people to fly (motor planes, gliders, remote control planes, and drones), Vancouver BC Canada, lots of tech, and philosophy. Although Lois and Ray met thru Office Hours, Ray has many other years of broadcast experience -- radio, tv, podcasting, web streaming, and Youtube. You can see his face online at:
Maxwell's House -- "Stop by the house of polymath Ray Maxwell and see what he's investigating today. Ray is a teacher, color scientist, pilot, photographer, Photoshop wizard and raconteur who each week takes on different real-world applications of complex scientific notions."
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Rupert McRae !!!!! 'Nuf said.
Well, actually, that's not enough. Rupert is one of the great panelists on "Office Hours", which is where Lois met him. He has had a long, productive career in other people's companies and is now his own boss.
It's too complicated to try and describe everything in this summary. Better you should just listen to this show.
(Note: You can also SEE Rupert McRae on various episode of Office Hours on their website.)
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Author and journalist Anne Da Vigo joins Lois to talk about her books and her process.
Anne's journalism career (specializing in feature writing and crime reporting), spanned more than a dozen years at newspapers throughout California. Her latest -- Bakersfield Boys Club -- was loosely inspired by the Lords of Bakersfield murders of the 1970s and 1980s. Da Vigo covered the trial in the first of the Lords murder cases.
She is the author of a previous thriller -- Thread of Gold -- and numerous short stories. She is also part of the Blue Moon writers' group that meets weekly in Davis; and, as always, continues to write.
The finale of today's show is two Merle Haggard songs about Bakersfield.
(This aired two weeks in a row -- 2 Dec and 9 Dec 2021.)
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Author Barbara Meyer Link talks about her new book -- Chokecherry Girl -- and about writing.
Music by Jose Cabezas closes the show.
PS: This episode also aired on 10-28-2021.
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That's Life. That's Water and Soil!
Understanding our water -- where it comes from , where it goes, how it's used, and by whom -- is a vital to knowing what to expect in the future. Understanding how our soils were formed and how the various soil types interact with that water is the basis for many of our gardening and farming decisions.
Davis is in the Sacramento River watershed. It was either marsh or grasslands before Europeans arrived. Because we had annual flooding, our rivers and creeks developed natural levees which overtopped each year and deposited gravel, sand, silt, and clay on the surrounding land -- the lighter particles travelling further than the heavier material. So your yard might be sandy-loam, silty-loam, or clay-loam -- depending on where in the county you live.
Soils and water and other things are part of this episode, talking here to guest Don Shor (of Davis Garden Show fame!) about so many things we don't have time for there.
-- Lois Richter, KDRT.ThatsLife@gmail.com
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