13 minute read
Letters
from March 7, 2013
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Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.
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I remember when the prospect of getting laid that night was pretty much the only thing that could get me out of bed in the morning. Not these days. I’m pretty much excited about everything, all the time, and I can’t wait to get my day started. This weekend, I’m eager to work on my stand-up desk. Long story short: I built a desk out of PVC so I can stand up at work, as sitting at a desk all these years has irritated my guts, causing heartburn and other discomforts. After yet another expensive yet inconclusive medical test, my doctor suggested I get a standup desk. Well, you know me.
What would the perfect standup desk look like? Inexpensive, strong, tailored to my 6-feet-2-and-a-half-inch frame, modular (so that other people could build one even more cheaply, since almost everyone I know who sits at a desk for a living has the same issues). And since the whole idea was to make my work environment healthier, a manual treadmill. Don’t you dare scoff.
Finally, because things never get weird enough in my world, my friend Ky Plaskon suggested I figure out a way to generate electricity from the treadmill. Actually, it was Ky’s dad, a former NASA rocket scientist, who suggested the idea. So I came up with a design, and I’m going to run my music, charge my cell phone, and maybe power my monitor off it.
The desk works great. Right now, while I figure final dimensions, I’m standing on a platform, and I have my keyboard elevated on a couple reams of paper, but I stood here all week and worked and shook my ass. My treadmill arrives today. I’ll bet I’m out of bed before the sun rises tomorrow.
After the weekend: Everything works as I hoped. I still might have to adjust the desktop surface up one inch (for a sit-down desk you adjust the chair, for a stand-up desk you adjust the desk), but I burned 46.2 calories on my treadmill while I copy-edited A&C. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com
Bring your cart
Re “Dog Days of Winter” (Feature story, Feb. 28):
I read with interest your article on dog sledding in Truckee (Dog Days of Winter), but I find it sad that nobody in charge of these dog sledding events has thought of the obvious solution to the unpredictability of snowfall: Plan for both. Tell the mushers and the audience that the race will happen whether there is snow or not. Each musher will have to bring both a snow sled and a wheeled cart, which is a lot to pack and transport, but isn’t it better than cancelling the event?
Karen Inda Sparks
Troll dog
Re “Dog Days of Winter” (Feature story, Feb. 28):
I’m so sick of dogs I want to puke. Overrated, butt-sniffing, poopeating, barking, ugly-ass animals. Did you know dogs are an invasive species? All the common species of pets are. I love it when coyotes grab a coddled little dog and take it back to the den for a meal. Jennifer Tuttle Reno
Truth karma
Re “Dog Days of Winter” (Feature story, Feb. 28):
With all the dire predictions for the ecosystem due to climate change—mass extinctions, flooded cities, super-hurricanes, etc—doesn’t the esoteric hobby of mushing seem pretty trivial?
Don Manning Reno
Ashamed of government
Open letter to both the upper and lower houses of the legislative branch of the American government: As an American-born, Vietnam-era veteran just short of 64 years old, for the very first time in my life, I am both ashamed and embarrassed by the lack of partisanship and cooperation by our elected officials, both Democrat and Republican of my native land. The nerve; the audacity of our politicians to leave “The Hill” on a Thursday afternoon for a long weekend, without even an extended attempt to fix the sequestration issue at hand is mind boggling. We are no longer the greatest nation on Earth, and it’s going to be a long slide downward. I fear for our future and the legacy to follow. If there is a God in heaven, He will punish those who fail the people by their selfishness and inaction by personal self serving design. I can only, and will, pray for those unfortunate uncaring souls. Jon P. Gaits Reno
Water hazard
Yosemite National Park managers are the grinch that stole the vacation.
The proposed Merced River Plan, written to “protect and enhance the river,” would have the swimming pools at two hotels in Yosemite valley removed because they are “not necessary.” (Yet the pools are not as near the river as many buildings.) The ice rink and horseback riding would also go, along with rental rafts/bikes, because they are “not necessary.”
Is John Muir their role model? Muir got by with a fire, some tea and bread. With Muir as a NPS role model, tents and hotel rooms are also not necessary. Fun is not necessary.
Please help stop this nonsense before it spreads to other parks. Yosemite park is taking comments on the plan until April 18, 2013.
Go to the Yosemite National Park home page and click on Merced River Plan on the right hand side.
The direct link for comments is http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm. cfm?documentID=50778 Mary Donahue Campbell, Calif.
Dump the dump
Re “Nuclear energy is the bomb” (The Liberty Belle, Feb. 28):
Chanelle Bessette’s opinion piece, “Nuclear energy is the bomb,” is itself an explosion of misinformation. The idea that southern Nevada in general and Yucca Mountain in particular could be used for “the storage of nuclear spent fuels, reprocessing those fuels and generating power” is absurd. Yucca Mountain is an unsafe site for disposing of nuclear waste. The feds have walked away from it as being unworkable. It’s an even worse location for spent fuel storage (earthquakes, the dangers of transporting the stuff thousands of miles and through urban Las Vegas, etc.). And reprocessing, even if it were technically and economically feasible (which it is not) requires copious amounts of water (not available in the arid Great Basin) and produces copious amounts of radioactive and hazardous waste. Where reprocessing has been done (by the Feds for weapons purposes and at a pilot project in upstate New York in the ’70s), it has resulted in massive amounts of contamination. And a nuclear power plant in southern Nevada? Give me a break! Because of the earthquake potential, you couldn’t license one there. Even if you could, there is nowhere near the amount of water required for such a facility. What the Nevadans 4 Carbon Free Energy is selling is not something that’s good for Nevada. Joe Strolin Carson City
Good to know
Re “The Game” (Feature story, Feb. 7):
I don’t know if you had a chance to read KOLO’s story, http://tinyurl. com/b7rpcav, but if you didn’t, it talks about a trafficking survivor who is starting a Sex Workers Anonymous chapter in Carson City. Sex Workers Anonymous was first started in 1987, and has grown to be a worldwide program with chapters in the USA, and five other countries now. They are open to anyone of any age, male or female, gay, bi, lesbian, and/or transgender, with no restrictions on the religion, or lack of, absolutely free of charge. Their program has a hotline that’s available anytime at (888) 253-9619 and is answered confidentially by another survivor. SWA is not connected with law enforcement in any way, and it’s highly successful whether they’re working with someone who just wants to quit the sex industry, or a trafficking victim who needs a rescue operation put together. Because so many mothers are dealing with this issue these days—they’ve even put together a program just for their support as well. They have a radio show where you can hear from the survivors at http://stop traffictalk.webs.com/apps/podcast/ and have a Recovery Guide. They can be reached at www.sexworkers anonymous.net
Jody Williams Las Vegas
Pay as you go
Re “Back to the gold mine” (Left Foot Forward, Feb. 14):
Quid pro quo—something for something. Mining needs to pay a fee for every speck of gold, large or small, that they take from our state. Mining needs to pay for every drop of fossil water they drain as they drill—just as we all must do. Mining needs to pay for using our roads, government, schools, airports etc. Mining needs to pay for access and mining claims instead of participating in a land grab and by quickclaim converting public land to private property and private use. Mining needs to pay for the superfund site and other EPA sites that are dirty and need to be cleaned up. I’m only asking for mining to be responsible like I am as an American citizen. I pay when I use or take, and so must they. We need to stop allowing mining to hoard, hide, and stash the gold. There is money in this state, and we are tired of starving our systems so that billionaires can make huge unfair profits.
Angie Sullivan Las Vegas/Winnemucca
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This Modern World by tom tomorrow
Asked at Java Jungle, 246 W. First Street
Kyle Daters
Barista I’m not sure. I know the best license plate I ever saw was “Obiwan.”
Jason Rowden
Massage therapist “Get Lost.” It’s kind of how I feel sometimes.
Spring into action The best bumper sticker you’ve seen?
Daylight saving time is coming up on Sunday, March 10. Don’t forget to spring forward an hour. As Reno basks in the false spring of early March, though, it occurs to us here at the world headquarters of the Reno News & Review that false spring is a fine time to make and execute a plan for what you want to do with your personal environment this summer. Many of us will do most of our outdoor-work stuff in the early warm days, and so if chores don’t get done by Memorial Day, they don’t get done.
Here are a few ideas to get you started. Consider your outside world: Now’s a good time to think about how you use water around your home. Xeriscaping—use of water-efficient plants in your landscaping—is a great way to go, and installation is easier before you turn on the sprinkler system for the summer.
Going to plant a vegetable garden this summer? If you’re taking over part of your lawn, spread cardboard boxes or other organic materials over the area you want to cover now, and you won’t be tempted to use herbicides later in the season.
Speaking of lawns: While some staff members here particularly love their grass, most Renoites have to pay for watering it. Increasing flower bed areas allows for less broadcast irrigation, and they’re nice to have around. In Nevada, though, move the gravel or lava rock coverings away from the house as rock absorbs and releases heat. The money you save on water may just cause increased spending on electricity for air conditioning.
And speaking of air conditioning (and heating), spring is also a good time to replace the filters on the heating system and to inspect the air-conditioning system to make sure it is working properly. It’s a lot cheaper to fix it now than at the height of summer when everyone else’s goes bad, too. Even people without yards may want to do some things to get ready for an outdoor spring. Some vegetables grow quite well in pots or old five-gallon buckets. Tomatoes, for one, do great. Just cut a two-and-a-half inch diameter hole in the center of the bottom of a fivegallon bucket. Lay the bucket on its side and thread the tomato plant through so the leaves come out the bottom. Carefully pack dirt around the roots and hang the bucket from the handle from your eaves. When watering, just put water in until it begins dripping out the hole where the tomato plant hangs down. No land necessary. No bugs!
Another job that’s much nicer during the spring is installation of a line on which to dry laundry. (Although, yes, you can dry clothes outside in the winter.) Older clothes dryers can cost up to 25 cents per load, but hanging clothes and sheets outside is free and has the benefit of adding a great smell as long as you’re not hanging them during an inversion or near a fruit or berry tree that attracts birds.
And finally, not because we’re your mom or anything, but now is a good time to test emergency systems in your home to ensure they are working properly. Emergency systems might include a home alarm, smoke/fire alarm, overhead sprinkler system or carbon monoxide alarms. Change your batteries. Get a fire extinguisher or see where yours is in its life cycle.
You know you can’t wait to enjoy some sunshine after work. It’s the unofficial beginning of spring, so while you’re springing forward, spring into action. Ω Shannon Rowden
Massage therapist I can think of a bunch of dirty ones off the top my head, but none of them is my favorite. “My other car is a bike.”
Max Bryson
Bartender “Honk if you love cheese.” It made me laugh. It had a big piece of Swiss cheese, and it made me laugh out loud.
Dawn Cranfield
Writer “If it’s not grown, it has to be mined.” I liked that because my dad was a miner. And I write for a newspaper in Las Vegas, and I wrote a bunch of stories about the Comstock Lode.
