Life and all in Redding California
Spotted this poster at the Holiday Market at the corner of Shasta View and Hartnell.
“Frequents discount sushi bars and polka raves.” But then, who doesn’t?
On the other hand…I love my hometown, but soon I start thinking that seems awfully snarky and clever for a random poster at a Redding supermarket. So I Google “My imaginary Friend Steve” and get 89,000 hits. HERE is the top of the list. So much for originality.
What could it all mean, though?
The Redding Dragstrip is hosting a race for very powerful drag cars with skinnier-than-average tires, which makes for interesting and challenging racing. Also racing will be the street legal cars. Allowing street racers to run their cars at the strip helps keep them from racing the streets, and that’s a good thing. This kind of racing is really fun to watch. First one across the line is the winner. Plus, they’ve added a grudge match between two 7 second dragsters that should be breathtaking. Gates open at 4:30 and racing starts at 6 pm. Spectators pay only $5 each, and that’s an entertainment bargain, by any measure. If you’re a fan, you’ll be there, and if you haven’t been out to the track before, this is an opportunity for an experience you just won’t get anywhere else. The people running the track have made big improvements to the facility over the last couple years. Redding’s car culture has always found it’s full realization at this track since the 60’s. It is the longest continuously operating NHRA dragstrip in the US, and maybe the world. Come check it out. Be there!
We received news that our music is featured on Cool Streams in the Ambient Caverns section.
Cool Stream plays music over the internet that you can listen to while you work. Pretty, uh, cool!
This is our latest release on Lotuspike, Beyond the Portal. Featuring Redding’s ownCraig Padilla, Zero Ohms of Memphis, and me.
This gentleman was waving his sign on Churn Creek Road yesterday. He is a tilesetter apparently.
His sign says:
NO CHARITY HERE. Don’t insult me with money, but respect me with a job offer.
. Thank You. (916) 912 3619 Tilebiters@aol.com Honk for Support.
Considering how hot it was outside, and the fact that he’s wearing overalls, I’m thinking he’s a hard worker. I wish I had a job for him. Perhaps you do?
This little guy (or gal) sat still long enough for me to get in a few shots.
It saw me, but didn’t seem to care much. They seem to me to have quite complex behavior, especially considering how small they are, and how small their brains must be, they seem proportionally brilliant.
I caught one image as it was about to fly off, and thought that was a lucky shot.
So we have these two robots exploring another planet and one of them comes across this big rock lying exposed on a flat plain. Further examination reveals the rock to be a meteor made of iron. There it sits, perched rather improbably. What happened to the crater it must have left when it hit? Did it blow away, leaving only the meteor? It’s genuinely mysterious.
Okay this is not Really Redding, per se. But this is something we did. Are doing. This is happening today. We Reddingites, we Californians got together to send robots to another planet. Try saying it out loud. “We flew these robots to a distant Red Planet, and they wander around looking at stuff, and taking pictures for us.” Words fail, really. It’s amazing and awesome when you think about it. Which is probably not often.
Not often enough. It is still thrilling to me to be part of a species that explores places, and builds elaborate devices out of nothing but curiosity. We humans spend a lot of time talking about the mundane, but magic goes on all around us every day.
This robotic mission to Mars is one of the most magical things ever to consider and learn from. It stands as a complete highlight moment of our entire civilization. Click HERE for more. There is a lot of drama there, even if it’s couched in science terms at JPL. See what’s happening with the other robot. It’s drama and magic. Mostly it goes on unnoticed by the many, like so much of the magic in our lives….
We have had economic change over the years, just like everywhere. Our area was once mining based, and then railroad based, and then logging based. Today we are more or less medical services, and retail-based. Except for the substantial part that is government-based. And a big part of that has become the fire-camp based economy.
To those who criticize the Stillwater Industrial Park, I ask: what’s your plan to provide jobs in the Northstate? The fire-camp based economy seems like a bit of a dead-end road. We’ve seen dead-end economic plans here before…
We stopped in over at Kilarc Reservoir in eastern Shasta County for a look. It’s nice to get up out of the valley heat.
It’s a lovely picnic area and lake, maintained by PG&E, who run the electrical generation facility there. PG&E wants to abandon the project, which is one of the oldest in the county. They would demolish the reservoir, power house, and the dam on Cow Creek that feeds it.
The plan strikes us as a bit sad. This has to be one of the cleanest possible ways to make electricity. It’s been here for years, and seems to have had proportionally small impact. No hydropower comes without cost, but some projects seem to have reasonable cost/benefits, especially when already in place. Imagine the power replaced with a coal fired plant, and it offers some perspective.
On the way home, we stopped at a high country ranch we know. The owner let us pick some fruit. These apples are from trees more than 100 years old. Still productive. The people who planted that orchard 100 years ago are the same people who thought electricity made from falling water would be nice. 100 years later, they are still right about both.
