The world has changed. Older readers—and I’m talking older than 18 or 20—may laugh at young people walking into a movie-rental store and asking “What is this place?” But that’s a good question for a generation raised in the cloud, more used to swiping at screens and instantly summoning just about anything they desire with […]
RYAN MILLER
Posted inNews
‘The Great Imitator’
Lyme disease, with symptoms that mirror numerous other health problems, seems to be much more common than initially believed
A Western blacklegged tick is like something out of a Ridley Scott-directed nightmare in miniature, all HR Giger joints and glossy exoskeleton. Adult females resemble burnt sesame seeds dipped in ketchup. Despite their miniscule size—with their eight legs spread wide, they’d pretty much cover Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s nose on a dime—they can have a huge […]
Posted inOpinion
You’ve got to read what you want to read
Demonstrate your trust in knowledge–and its application–during Banned Books Week
It’s at hand again: one of my favorite non-holiday, yet holiday-like celebrations of the year. Banned Books Week—described by organizers as “the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read”—is set for Sept. 22 through 28 in 2013. This year’s efforts come just days after a controversy in Ohio, where author Toni Morrison […]
Posted inNews
Blaze does almost $3 million in damages
Law enforcement officials and the D.A.’s Arson Task Force reported that the White Fire, which recently burned about 2,000 acres on Paradise Road near Santa Barbara, started “as a result of embers escaping an approved fire-use site at the White Rock Day Use Area within the Santa Barbara Ranger District’s Lower Santa Ynez Recreation Area.” […]
Posted inOpinion
Biff! Bang! Pow!
Celebrate your right to read comics by taking one–and not paying for it!
It’s hard, at first, to tell exactly what’s on the wallpaper in the photo. Maybe it’s swallows, swooping in repeated patterns? Are they airplanes? Retro space ships? Shapes resolve slowly, and then the theme becomes clear. Nothing is flying at all. Those are saddles floating amid clouds of horseshoes, gloves, riding crops, and other, more […]
Posted inNews
Catch my drift?
Locals believe clouds of pesticides made them ill, but the accused are all saying there’s no case
The Arreola family smelled something bad, like rotten eggs. Since they lived in Santa Maria’s St. Marie Mobile Home Park near strawberry and broccoli fields—literally feet away, in fact—they worried about chemicals, like pesticides, being applied to fruits and vegetables growing so close to their home. They noticed odd smells at odd times. Alejandra Arreola […]
Posted inNews
Air-quality-watchers want ships to slow down as they pass the county
When you put Santa Barbara County-based sources of nitrogen oxides into a pie chart, the slice representing marine shipping in the Santa Barbara Channel looks like Pac-Man opening his mouth really, really wide. The county’s Air Pollution Control District reports that 54 percent of the ozone-forming emissions come from vessels off the coast, dwarfing on-road […]
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For want of fish
Starving sea lions are maxing out the state’s rescue centers, and fishermen’s nets are coming up empty–but not everyone is worried
When large numbers of marine mammals suddenly and unexpectedly begin stranding on beaches and dying, the incident is described as an unusual mortality event. While that term may be scientifically efficient and accurate, it does little to convey—at least in the recent case of starving California sea lions—the startling sight of limp forms dotting the […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
A breath of fresh air
Singer Russell Hitchcock talks about the music of yesterday and tomorrow
Music acts have a difficult road to travel. Actually, when you’re a band like Air Supply—touring for about 130 to 150 shows a year—it’s more like scores of roads to travel. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges popular musicians face is striking a balance between playing the hits that first generated adoring audiences and continuing […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Fungi jumping
Attack these mushrooms–before they attack you!
This is a story of contrasts. Of gourmet food and wine paired with campy horror. Of a popular ingredient that can be foraged for in the wild or cultivated with kits from Costco. Of something that grows from rot and decay, transforming death into life. This is a story of mushrooms. “I like looking at […]
Posted inNews
Meet the mayor
Alice Patino made history when she was elected as the first woman mayor of Santa Maria
Though the first woman to get elected to the Santa Maria City Council did so in 1930, such a victory wasn’t repeated until 1999, when Alice Patino secured enough votes to do the same. On Dec. 18, 2012, Patino made an even larger mark on local history when she was sworn in as Santa Maria’s […]
Posted inNews
When you wish upon a coin …
Local nonprofits present their hopes for the season
Water sustains life and wears down mountains. It falls from the sky and bubbles up from the ground. From space, our planet mostly reveals its beautiful blue, and we, ourselves, are made almost entirely of it. Perhaps because of its mysterious and powerful nature, some cultures ascribed magical properties to water. In Europe, certain pools […]