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North Coast News

The path in front of my house has been partially rebuilt and upgraded as the first project of the Astoria Path Wanderers Association (APWA). Work on this project is on-going. We will be adding some retaining blocks this summer, and doing some cleanup and beautification of the area.

The North Coast Puzzle Club (NCPC or NikPik) meets every Monday evening from 6:30-8(ish) pm at various pubs, restaurants and other venues in Astoria, and we have been adding members slowly. We are meeting at Fort George on the next to last Monday of the month in order to focus on our MathsJam membership. We may also join the Puzzled Pint organization this year. 

In addition to reading Bedtime Stories every other Sunday night on KMUN, I am also occasionally subbing on some folk music shows. It has been really fun to get back to music programming on the radio, which I used to do a lot of before my substitute teaching days.

I am still singing bass and on the board of the North Coast Chorale. Our next concerts of selections from Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horrors and Phantom of the Opera will be on May 17 and May 19. The kids at the Astoria Conservatory will be doing selections from Roald Dahl's Matilda at these concerts!

Latest Finds

This section will highlight the latest books, articles and websites that I've come across. I'm considering also having an archive, so don't fret if you haven't been to the site lately...

Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem – This is a 7-part series of podcasts about Zionism and the story of Palestine from the late 1800s to 1982. It is part of the Martyr Made podcasts, by Darryl Cooper. It is really informative, and changed my mind about Israel and many other things. Great storytelling! It's over 30 hours long all together, but well worth listening to!

Nationhood Lab – This center at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island works on "the big questions that have always bedeviled American nationhood: Who are we as a nation? Where did our nation come from? For what reasons do our states and regional cultures remain together as a nation?" Lots of interesting history and analysis. I got this site from a post on the Medium site, of which I am a member and look at just about every day. I encourage folks to check out Medium and maybe even look at some of my posts there (search for Astoria Bob).

Daydoku – Daydoku is a captivating daily puzzle that combines calendar-based challenges with the strategic placement of polyominoes. The game features a calendar grid (comprising days, months, and weekdays) along with 10 distinct polyominoes (3 tetrominoes and 7 pentominoes). Each day, players must skillfully arrange all the polyominoes within the calendar grid in such a way that only the squares corresponding to the current day remain visible. Engage your problem-solving abilities and spatial reasoning skills as you discover multiple solutions to this intriguing and ever-changing daily calendar puzzle. Perfect for my puzzle class and NikPik!!

The Kid Should See This – Smart videos for curious minds of all ages – Great videos! I came across it for their video on figuring out the day of the week for any date.

Play Scrabble Online – I love Scrabble, and for a long time, it was not available on the web. Well, it is now, and I just beat the computer (on easy setting), scoring 311 points!!

Future Materials Bank – The Future Materials Bank is an archive of materials that supports and promotes the transition towards ecologically conscious art and design practices. It is part of Future Materials, an initiative of the Nature Research department at the Jan van Eyck Academie.

Abakcus – Science and math curated websites, articles and more!

Compound Interest – Great site of chemistry infographics, articles and fun. Started using it when I taught chemistry at Clatsop Community College.

PHYS.ORG – Most science news websites don't have a lot of chemistry news, and of course that's my favorite kind of science! But this one does, and the articles it gleans from the web are mostly accessible but not childish, which is how I like it. Good site!

Titanic Lifeboat Academy – My friends Christopher and Caren have been running this site and accompanying homestead and educational programs for almost 20 years. They spend a good part of each day looking for great articles and resources on the subjects that really matter to everyone – geopolitical economic forces, environmental catastrophe, techno-socio milieu, self-reliance, emergency preparation and The Big Picture. If you're looking for some stuff outside the mainstream, these articles are well-vetted. And take a look at the rest of the site, it's really interesting! (I rediscovered the site because my friend Steve Berk is starting to write for them.)