James P. Lombard: Weblog Archives
March 31, 2004
Julian Marshall and Bob Edwards
This morning I woke up listening to Julian Marshall's BBC News Hour, followed by the first part of Bob Edwards' NPR Morning Edition. What a contrast in news coverage, both in geographic scope and reporting style. A striking contrast:
BBC reported on the OPEC meeting in Vienna on production, and interviewed an energy expert in England about the reasons for the production cuts. The expert said the heating season is winding down in the northern hemisphere and the driving season in the US is still some months away. He added that more oil is being used in the ramping up of manufacturing to produce "green fuels". So it takes energy in the short run to increase efficiency.
By contrast, one of the lead stories on NPR was a report that Interstate highway 95 had reopened in Connecticut after a week's closure from a fiery fuel truck accident. A national traffic report! Nothing on the OPEC meeting, reasons for rising gas prices, or any thoughts on America's "driving season" habits.
The rest of the stories concerned domestic news, with the obligatory body count from Iraq. Nothing about Médecins Sans Frontières worry that they are under increased threat of attack in Afghanistan, ostensibly from the local Taliban and Al Qaeda perception that the doctors are associated with the US Provincial Reconstruction Teams based in rural areas. I like to wake up early and listen to BBC. It gives me a glimpse of the world out there.
Posted by: jlombard at 09:38 AM | Comments 0)
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March 30, 2004
San Pedro News and Comment
If you are interested in the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona, the San Pedro News and Comment listserv is a valuable resource. The Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy distributes the “San Pedro News and Comment,” a weekly compilation of news articles pertaining to the following topics in the Upper San Pedro Basin: water, land use and growth, U.S. – Mexico border issues, science research, and weather and climate change. To receive this weekly newsletter or be taken off the listserv, contact Luis Migoni at lmigoni@email.arizona.edu. Visit the Udall Center's web page for an online archive.
Posted by: jlombard at 09:09 AM | Comments 0)
Category: Policies
March 26, 2004
Arizona Artesian Prize
In 1885, long before statehood, a $1500 prize was offered by the Territorial Government for discovery and completion of the first successful artesian well; the prize was claimed by settlers in St. David, Arizona. But the real winner could have been Apache Chief Esconolea, and old man who recalled, when interviewed in 1850, that: "The whole earth split open from one side of the valley to the other, sending forth a blue smoke (water?) heavenward for a mile. The same day it began to rain and continued for several days. When the storm ceased, all of the earth on this side of the San Pedro River had closed together again, while a crack in the earth a mile long, five feet wide, and from ten to twenty feet deep remained". Another earthquake in 1887, that opened a fissure 20 miles long near Benson, Arizona, was described in the El Paso Times on May 10, 1887: "The earth has sunk and at one place a long crack appeared out of which water burst forth, but afterwards ceased flowing. When the earth opened, water was thrown to a great height". Catastrophic eathquake-triggered groundwater gysers! What next?
Posted by: jlombard at 10:41 AM | Comments 0)
Category: Hydrogeology
March 09, 2004
Giant Trees
My kids are so creative, I love to spend time with them. Do you know any adult that could imagine genetically modified giant trees a mile wide shading Tucson in the summer, reaching their roots down to the groundwater table, and shedding leaves in autumn to admit the sun in winter? And, who would be so practical to think of using the fallen leaves as a shared resource for gardening mulch, fertilizer, and to feed bio-reactors to provide fuel for cooking, power, and transportation? Here is the home-run idea: trading some part of the leaf harvest for their energy value with other cities. Good thing there are some young people out there with visions for the future, and yes, I like to brag, that they are related to me.
Posted by: jlombard at 08:41 PM | Comments 0)
Category: Thoughts
Benson Narrows Gravity Data
Here is an excerpt from Halvorson's thesis, and a view of his interpreted depth to bedrock map transferred to a topo base, and gridded in UTM coordinates. This is mainly of interest to hardcore hydrogeologists that are interested in intra-basin groundwater flow in the vicinityof the Benson Narrows, along the San Pedro River, in southeastern Arizona.
Posted by: jlombard at 01:52 PM | Comments 0)
Category: Hydrogeology
March 07, 2004
Secret Sauce
Thomas Friedman's column in the New York Times is always thought provoking for me. Today he wrote about America's secret sauce, the multitude of factors that combine to make America "the greatest engine of innovation that has ever existed". His warns us to protect the institutions of education, government, finance, and freedom that are the foundations of this innovative environment. So I began thinking, 'Can my consulting work be considered a product that results from the secret sauce?' My best answer is with more questions. How could I do my work if: I had not been educated to think for myself? Information were not so freely available? Ideas and opinions were not openly discussed? Laws could not be changed or challenged? People were not free to choose how to spend money and own property?
Posted by: jlombard at 08:15 PM | Comments 0)
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