Tag Archives: “John McPhee”

What if they can’t plug the well?

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Doc Searls

When news came on April 21 that Transocean‘s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig had exploded — killing eleven, sinking the rig, and leaving an open oil well gushing a mile down on the ocean floor — my first thought was, What … Continue reading →

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GTFO

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Doc Searls

Anybody who refuses to leave a mudslide evacuation area needs to watch this video: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/W4KWxglDL3o” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] It’s a live recording of the slide that killed ten people in LaConchita, California, on January 10, 2005. We know … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, Life, News, Past, Photography, Places, problems, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Living on Borrowed Land

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Doc Searls

Why do mature redwood trees have trunks that rise two hundred feet before branches commence, live for centuries and have bark that’s a foot thick? Because they are adapted to fire. Why does the silver-green chaparral that covers California’s hills … Continue reading →

Posted in Future, Geology, Ideas, infrastructure, Life, News, Past, Photography, Places, problems, Science, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Updike at rest

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Doc Searls

John Updike was a writer of astonishing gifts, discipline and scope. The sum of his work — novels, essays, poetry, criticism — is enormous. Besides his sixty-one books (including 23 novels), for more han half a century he was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ideas, Journalism, Life, News, Past | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Giving good wait

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Doc Searls

I’ve been reading John McPhee’s Giving Good Weight, the title essay of his book by the same name. That last link (to McPhee’s own site) calls it “a story of farmers selling their produce in the Greenmarkets of New York … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Geology, infrastructure, Life, Past, Places, Politics | Tagged , | 2 Comments