Dan's Outside

I go, I see, I do, I walk, I think, I like…

Morning Light, Mono Lake

MonoDawnWaterBW2006|07|03: Dawn, Mono Lake. July 3, 2006. © copyright "G Dan Mitchell". keywords: dawn mono lake waves ripples tufa peninsula eastern sierra nevada california lee vining black and white photograph

Morning Light, Mono Lake. July 3, 2006. © copyright G Dan Mitchell.

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September 7, 2006 Posted by | Uncategorized | Comments Off on Morning Light, Mono Lake

SFGate Writer Slams Irwin

In an astounding example of poor taste (or lack of editorial oversight?), SFGate writer Debra Saunders slices and dices recently-deceased Australian “crocodile hunter” Steve Irwin (see “Crocodile Tears“):

… “I don’t want to seem arrogant or big-headed,” Irwin once told the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, “but I have a real instinct with animals. I’ve grown up with them … It’s like I have an uncanny supernatural force rattling around my body. I tell you what, mate; it’s magnetism.”

No, mate, it’s delusion. The real surprise is that a crocodile hadn’t finished off Irwin sooner…

Some of Saunder’s opinions about how to interact with wildlife have validity. An article about this would have been fine and there are ways that such an article could have linked to the story of Irwin’s death. However, using a man’s recent death as an opportunity to write a smarmy and condescending article about him shows exceptionally bad taste and poor judgment – on her part and on the part of SFGate.
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September 7, 2006 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on SFGate Writer Slams Irwin

Eureka! New tallest living thing discovered

THE CHAMPION: At 378.1 feet, Hyperion in Redwood National Park on North Coast towers 8 feet above Stratosphere Giant (SFGate):

So far, the group has found about 135 redwoods that reach higher than 350 feet, said team member Chris Atkins, the man credited with finding the Stratosphere Giant in August 2000 in nearby Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

The tallest of the three new finds, a redwood named Hyperion, measures 378.1 feet. Next in line, Helios, stands at 376.3 feet; Icarus, the third, reaches 371.2 feet.

Redwood experts say the discovery is a bit surprising considering that so much of the state’s redwood forests have been logged. Although officials decline to pinpoint the exact locations of the tall trees, the stand found by Atkins and fellow amateur naturalist Michael Taylor were protected less than 30 years ago by an expansion of the national park’s boundary.

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September 7, 2006 Posted by | Places | Comments Off on Eureka! New tallest living thing discovered