How to Keep Skunks Out of the Yard

...a one-way exit. (I’ll do a separate post on this technique.)t. This allows animals to leave but not come back in. You have to check the trap and reset it every day. I do this to avoid trapping animals in the crawl space–I’d hate to trap a poor cat down there. I also plan on using the one-way exit trap to evict the skunk or skunks that are now trapped in the backyard. I’ll rig up the trap by the back gate, put on George Noory, and hope for the best...

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Vote Yes on 2 (if you’re in Cali)

...oposition 2, a measure that would, “prohibit the cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to tum around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs.” Whether you are left, right, center, libertarian, carnivore, vegetarian or none of the above we think this measure is an important first step in reforming appalling and unsafe agricultural practices that have become all to prevalent since the disappearance o...

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Tolkien and Trees

...d human maltreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment of animals. #83 From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, 6 October 1944: It is not the not-man (e.g. weather) nor man, (even at a bad level), but the man-made that is ultimately daunting and insupportable. If a ragnarök would bum all the slums and gas-works, and shabby garages, and long arc-lit suburbs, it cd. for me bum all the works of art – and I’d go back to trees. #339 To th...

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Is Facebook Useful?

...book wants me to pay to promote posts. So instead I mostly use my personal page to promote stuff with limited success. But, worst of all, Facebook has distracted me from responding to comments on this blog and, instead, focusing on comment threads on Facebook. It may be futile, but it’s time to fight back. What I’ve resolved to do I’m not going to give up on Facebook just yet. I can’t really. As authors we have to use it to promote our work and ev...

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On Living in Los Angeles Without a Car: A Debate

...committing to the time it would take to maintain such a project and really making it happen, or are we just going to talk about it? This is getting pressing. I can get by for basic things without a car, but not having access to one has clipped my wings, especially when it comes to outdoor activities, which are important to me. I’ve already rented a car for a weekend outdoor skills course but I’ve also missed some interesting half day classes and l...

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