AboutItAll.com | Oregon

Yellowstone Super-Volcano

Yellowstone is the crown jewel of the United States national park system. Its mountain vistas, wildlife and geographic features are visited and admired by people from around the world. More than any of those, however, it’s the park’s thermo-geological features that make it unlike any other part of the globe. No place on earth has as many steam vents, hot springs and active geysers as Yellowstone.

To create these features requires two elements in abundance: lots of water and lots of heat. The water is provided by the generous rain and snow the region gets. The heat comes from deep inside the earth: volcanic heat. Though you might not be able to tell from just looking at it, Yellowstone National Park is built on an ancient volcano. Not just a regular volcano, either. It lays on top of what some people have started to call a “super volcano.”

Oh Oh.

Scientists eye unusual swarm of Yellowstone quakes

Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it’s very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.

“They’re certainly not normal,” Smith said. “We haven’t had earthquakes in this energy or extent in many years.”

My 9 year old and I will be sitting in the 200 level, enjoying the Celtics vs. Blazers tonight.   I sure hope the Blazers do better then Sacramento did.

Oregon Driver Busted With .469 Blood Alcohol Level

The Oregon State Police have preliminary figures on highway fatalities and DUII arrests… and it includes the arrest of one driver who’s blood alcohol level of .469 was nearly 6 times the legal limit of .08.

The unidentified woman was in a vehicle that slid off the road in the Crooked River Ranch area of central Oregon. After the blood test she was taken to a Redmond hospital and cited for DUII.

According to Wikipedia with a blood alcohol level of > .3 there is the possibility of death. Using the Blood Alcohol Content calculator from the Wisconsin Department of Public Safety we can see that a 150 pound woman drinking 10 drinks in 1 hour would “only” have a blood alcohol level of .29!

She’s lucky she didn’t kill anyone, and lucky that she slid off the road so she was taken to the hospital!

Stores in Oregon get ready for bottle bill changes

Starting Jan. 1, Oregonians will have to cough up an extra nickel when they buy a bottle of water.

Adding deposits for water containers is one of the major changes to the 38-year-old Oregon bottle bill that now covers beer and soda containers.

Legislation approved in 2007 law also allows customers to bring the empties back to any retailer that sells a particular product.

For example, if a store sells beer, it must redeem all types of empty beer cans and bottles. Previously the stores had to accept only the brands they sold.

“You can take it back everywhere, and that is a great advancement,” said Jerry Powell, a longtime advocate of the Oregon Bottle Bill and editor of the Portland-based trade magazine Resource Recycling.

I wonder how the deposit will effect the “corn plastic” problem?

Corn plastic sounds great, but it’s tough to recycle and may foul systems

Why? Corn PLA, made mainly by Minnesota-based Natureworks, composts only in high-temperature commercial composting systems, not backyards. It’s difficult to distinguish from regular plastics in the recycling mix. And a small amount can foul recycling of conventional plastic, one of the biggest-payoff items for recyclers nationwide.

“As a regular resident, you can’t compost it. You can’t recycle it,” says Lauren Norris, coordinator of the Portland area’s master recycler program. “Really, you’re giving people something that has to be landfilled.”

Like ethanol, biodiesel and wind power, PLA was widely lauded at first blush. Five years later, it’s moving into the consumer mainstream — and getting the critical second look typical when green breakthroughs scale up.

The scrutiny is particularly relevant in Oregon. Kroger, owner of Fred Meyer, QFC and other grocers, is the first national chain to carry Primo water, packaged in the first corn plastic water bottle intended for U.S. grocery shelves.

So remember! If you buy Primo water, be green. Eat the new deposit and ***throw it away***.

[Update] I have a call into OLCC to find out the scoop with corn plastics.  If/when i hear back (she’s on vacation until after the new year), I’ll post an update.

Getting sweet on local sour ales with Cascade Brewing’s Ron Gansberg

A few years ago, Gansberg began tinkering in the basement of the Raccoon Lodge with an assortment of new oak, used wine, used whiskey and all manner of oak barrels where he unleashed a menagerie of microscopic critters to take the general perception of “beer flavor” and stand it on its ear.

The results have been a continually evolving lineup of beers that have been slowly gaining notice from beer scribes, beer lovers and even the judges at the Great American Beer Festival, who awarded his Cascade Kriek a bronze medal for the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beers in his first trip to Denver’s annual organoleptic orgy.

At Tuesday’s tasting, he and his partner in grime Curtis Bain shared their Vlad the Imp-Aler, a hearty 10.3 percent alcohol blend of sour quadrupel and sour tripel, aged in a whiskey barrel then blended with sour spiced blonde. Now, sour may not be many beer drinkers’ idea of a desirable flavor descriptor, but a growing number of American beer drinkers are discovering what folks in Belgium have known for centuries: sourness from an assortment of wild, and or lactic fermentations can be as stimulating a balance to malt sweetness as hoppy bitterness.

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again – if you love beer, Portland is THE place to be!

As I’ve begun to restart AboutItAll.com | Oregon, I’ve gone looking for the some of the old promotional tools.   Orblogs is gone!   I found the “son of Orblogs” at Ignoregon.com.  Technorati is way different.  Oddly enough, although defunct for like 3 years – I see that 7 or 8 blogs still link to me!  (Thanks Guys).   I also see that Keri & Folks still have me linked on LeftyBlogs.

I feel like the 80 year old who’s back to work at Wal*Mart!   Things are sort of the same – but I just can’t see where all the buttons are anymore!

Oregon Governor Seeks Mandatory Efficiency Audits for Home Sales

Oregon’s governor, Ted Kulongoski, wants to require any owner selling or renting a home or commercial building in the state to obtain a certificate disclosing the property’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The mandate, part of his climate change agenda for 2009, would take effect in 2011 for new and existing homes and in 2012 for commercial buildings.

How is this different then disclosing the utility costs?   It feels like yet another bureaucratic plan which won’t really benefit Oregonians.

Weather Service issues flood warnings for Oregon

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for Lane, Coos and Curry counties Sunday morning and flood advisories for 16 other counties in Oregon and southwest Washington.

Aside: I apologize that my first post sends you off to OregonLive

I had a blog.  Aboutitall.com was something fun.   I would post daily – sometimes to the detriment of my offline life.    Over time, it became work, not fun.

So, three years ago, I shut it down.    I’ve dabbled with starting it up.   Once as a photo blog.   Nothing was “fun”.

But.   Maybe I’m feeling the itch again.   Let’s give it a shot.

If anyone’s reading, please leave a comment.    It’s kind of cool to be on the air again.