Community service work is one element of my life that has grown larger as I've matured. I choose where to volunteer, and am more careful in where I give my energy. There are so many worthy groups, and I have so little time that is descretionary, I choose small tasks, small projects to avoid over commitment.

Some of the work that I've taken on aims to enable community video broadcasting, to give voices to folks who would otherwise be invisible. I've been working to bring this capacity to Marin, sometimes by individual action such as volunteering as a camera operator on a crew making a public access show about a local human treasure or a local issue. Other times it is supporting the Community Media Center of Marin, serving as a volunteer board chair, working with Marin Telecommunications Agency on Public Access issues, negotiating contracts and organizing the non-profit that now runs the local stations. Sometimes it's a solo project, something that I can do on my own initiative. Sometimes those projects become the seed for a project in another cycle.

Recently I took some photographs of a local event, the 2009 Planetary Dance at Santos Meadow, and posted a few on the web. I shared the images with some of the folks who participated, and a link went out to a group of folks. Out of the blue, I received an email from a person who I knew back in 1975 and hadn't seen for all these years. Nice complement on the photos, and a reminder of just how connected we are in this community. Our links are many times unknown until some serendipity releases a glimmer of light.

There were othe comments, and that was nice, a project "delivered", a promise kept.

When I made these photos, I knew that the group has some amazing people in it, some artists, some dancers, poets, drummers and musicians, singers and actors, writers, architects and crafts people, dabblers and masters, cooks and parents, children and grandparents, and many who are much more. It was a privilege to be able to take photos amongst folks who are comfortable with media, who embrace it and utilize it themselves, people who are comfortable enough with themselves ( for the most part) that a camera isn't a distraction from their focus on the performer or the audience. The performances were called "offerinigs" and indeed that was the spirit of the day.

Interesting to edit the photos, as I thought that I was taking a lot of pictures, but when I'm critical, there aren't that many good pictures. While shooting I'm working to get the best image every time, but I also know that with movement I must be both with the rhythm and anticipatory, and repeat often to ensure that I have made an image of the action at it's most expressive instant.

Still photos are by nature in tension with the fluidity that is the essence of dance, yet sometimes the still image captures something of the event that is evocative and true to the performance. This is what I seek when I make event photos.

The Nikon D300 is fast enough that I am regaining my sense of precisely how long it is between the time that I press the shutter release and the time that the image is recorded. This physical knowledge in my mindBody enables me to take thoughtful photographs rather than use the "hose" method of action photography. Even so, I need to make quite a few images to yield a few really outstanding images that convey what I envisioned, and what was going on with the subject.

Just a few years ago, digital camera's couldn't capture a good image fast enough and with a very predictable interval so for years I couldn't use the techniques that I'd developed shooting news and sports with my Nikon film cameras. You have to shoot thousands of images, working to make a good picture each time, before you have the proficiency to start to attend to another level of the art. It's a skill thing, enabled by hardware. It's a skill built by reviewing thoughtfully each image that I made, reflecting on what works, what I missed each time that I made an image.

It was fun this weekend to know that the ability to capture an image when I think/see that its the right moment is returning. I used two lenses, a 12-24mm zoom and the 18-200 VR lens. Some of my favorite images were made with the wide angle lens. I'm glad that I had both, there were even a few times when I wished that I had brought the 80-400mm VR lens along. The long lens is heavy, maybe 4 lbs, and I left it in the car. My mobility was very important.

Once back home, I transferred the images to a pc and used Adobe Lightroom to edit the days production. I selected a collection of about 112 images from over 425 that I made on Saturday. Each image was cropped, had it's histogram adjusted to ensure proper whites and blacks, then I adjusted the gamma curve on many of the images, adjusted saturation, applied sharpening. Next I dodged and burned some parts of images to deal with the excessive contrast outdoors.

Then I exported the non-destructively edited images to a web gallery using a Flash template. Next I wrote some minimal copy, and posted the 200mb+ ensemble to a web site. Sent out some links to folks after testing the web gallery to ensure that it "could work". This editing process took about 4 hours, at least.

It was important to complete the edit asap, to post the images before the glow of the event faded. This I did, and the process was very enjoyable.

It would have been even better to have collaborated with someone who could record and edit audio, as sound was an important element at the event. The stills are really abstract without sound, but they have a descriptive artistic power of their own.

Recently my 21+ year old cat friend Kiwi died, and while its hard for me to write, I want to share some of the lessons that came from the experiences at the end of her long life.

Kiwi had a change in her condition a few days before she passed, her circulatory system was failing, and even though her kidneys were ok, I noticed that she wasn't processing fluids properly. When I'd give her Ringers Lactate under the skin for hydration, it would pool in her legs instead of being absorbed in a few minutes. The vet said that her peripheral circulation was failing and he could hardly feel a pulse in her legs.

Sharon urged me to keep her at home unless she was really suffering. We considered "putting her down", and discussed it with the Vet, but she wasn't in pain and seemed to want to be with me. Even though it was hard for me, I took her home and decided to keep her comfortable.

Once she was home, she was wanting to be close to me, and I held her head in the palm of my hand, stroked her emaciated body, and comforted her. I took her outside and and put her on a bed that I'd brought on the table in the garden courtyard. She seemed to enjoy being in the sun, but after a while, it was too warm for her. I moved the table under the shade of the plum tree, and she was more comfortable.

It was time for her to get more fluids, so I hung the bag from a tree branch and inserted the needle under her skin of her back around the shoulders. I again held her head in the palm of my hand and stroked her flank as the life giving fluids flowed through the tubing into her body. She seemed weaker, but also enjoying this time in nature outside. After a while, it seemed as if she had enough, so I unplugged her and took her back inside.

She refused to eat, a change that signaled the beginning of her passing. She and I spent a lot of time together that Saturday, and I cried knowing that she wouldn't be with me for long. She was so weak, yet she responded to my touch. I was very glad that I brought her home, even though it was very difficult for me, it was also important to support this Kitty friend in her time of need.

The next morning, her breathing was labored, more or less like chen-stokes syndrome. I spent time with her, but had to go to the Community Media Center on my bike. Before I left I said good-by and told her that she could leave while I was on my errand. She wasn't responding to me, and her eyes seemed far away.

When I returned a couple hours later, she was gone.

Kiwi was such a loyal friend, and we had a great last few months together. Early this year she rallied, started getting up before me, going down the hall on her own to the kitchen to wait for me to get up and make coffee. She would hang out with our other two cats, Snowy and Carol. She'd bray for me when she wanted me to do something for her, like carry her back to her warm cat bed with the warm pad. She'd eat crunchies from Snowy's bowl even though she only had about three teeth left, pushing him aside to get a few bites. Carol snuggled with her most mornings, cleaning her head and sleeping with Kiwi on the warm pad.

I spent more time with her, took her outside more, and had her stay with me on the couch in the living room when Sharon and I settled in after dinner. Kiwi took quite a bit of maintenance, as I had to provide fresh towels ( she had some incontenance), give her fluids twice a day, and Lactulose stool softener. I gave her this care for over three years, every day. The cost wasn't insignificant, and she had to visit the vet a few times each year.

In some way, I felt joy at being able to provide the support that kept her going while she had the spirit and the will to be with me. She had been there as my cat friend through many difficult times, through the good times as well. All her life she was really good about comming when I called, and even though Alex and Alicia Star were my favorites, she would waddle along like the nerd kitty when we went walking along the railroad track.

Kiwi was there when my partner left way back in 1989, she was there during my difficult times in the early 1990's, and again when I lost my job in 1995, when my dear love Peggy died in 2001, and Kiwi stayed as my lap cat until her kidneys started failing in 2006. I thought it unlikely that giving her fluids would do more than make her passing easier, but she responded strongly to that early supportive therapy and made it though her crisis. Her willingness to endure the twice daily fluids under the skin with a needle made it possible to give her fluids without a struggle, and contributed to our success at supporting her health.

We had outstanding vet care, mostly from Dr. Bill Estheimer at East San Rafael Animal Hospital. Bill was willing to work with me with this old cat, and patiently taught me how to improve my techniques in giving fluids, injectons, etc. Dr. Estheimer and Dr. Michelle Rose helped Kiwi when she became blocked, and helped me to find a special diet that worked for a cat with megacolon disease.

Since I know that I did everything that I could for her, and that she appreciated her life and being part of the Skolnick-Bagnoli family, when she passed it was easier for me than when I've lost other cats. I had accepted that she would pass when she was ready for months, maybe even years. I was grateful for the time with her, but recognized that her time was at hand when she stopped eating and her circulatory system began to collapse.

Thanks Kiwi, you were a great friend and teacher!

A friend once said "White man make big fire, sit far away, Indian make small fire, sit close."
This phrase offers a wise observation from a culture that lived at least 10,000 years here in North America without devastating the ecology. A people who didn't talk about sustainability, but who were all about it.

Some supposedly "advanced" folks liked to talk down about "savages", but it now appears that they were advanced in some important ways. Some would argue that they didn't have the capacity to alter the planet, others observe that they thrived and lived in a sort of harmony with nature.

Our civilization may alter the climate in such a way that we loose a third or half of the species on the planet. If so it would be one of the worst mass extinction event in the future history of the planet. I've wondered what it would look like if we were 10,000 years in the future? With an asteroid, we can find an impact crater perhaps if it caused a geophysical event, but with CO2 driven climate change, it's a more subtle signal if viewed from a distant planet. A sad change, and one that we can yet mitigate.

Hopefully we will learn from the ways of the native Americans, from our farmers, foresters and ecologists, scientists and our best minds. Can we learn to live with our nature as the treasure that it is? Can our society learn to respect, protect, and conserve the wild spaces,? It is the diversity of life and the large habitat areas that are the most precious legacy we could give to future generations.

Sometimes it is so easy to help a species through the narrow point as they face extinction, and yet so difficult to get folks to support these efforts. Extinction is different from individual death of course, and it's so unnecessary to allow entire lines of evolution to stop just because some greedy fool wants a blip of profit, just because the values don't yet account for the environment, and our economic system hasn't figured out how to work effectively in the new ways that are necessary to adapt our society to the realities becoming apparent in global climate change.

With Perigrine Falcons, a small amount of money, some dedicated scientists and caring people, good luck, and they are now populating California again in sustainable numbers. This small triumph shows how we can make a difference, yet it is a fragile triumph as the species will need continued stewardship as the climate shifts and habitat is threatened.

I suspect that as the climate heating raises the ocean levels and unloads the glacier weight, the crust of the earth and the tectonic plates may flex a tiny bit, but make big news in the process. It seems to me that the distribution of weight on the plate boundaries (margins in some cases) may allow some things like large earthquakes and increased volcanic activity.

On the good side, volcanic activity can cool things, unfortunately we may be fooling with a system prone to catastrophic transitions to other parts of the dynamic map. Some "tipping points" appear within the horizon, a wake up call, an opportunity to conserve the heritage that we enjoy for future generations.

Climate Change and Nuclear Waste: Solve both with one stroke!

A new perspective on nuclear power is long overdue in the environmental movement and James Hansen's recent talk at U.C. Berkeley points the way ( see video of his presentation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ctTxZHosI). The urgency of developing a new energy infrastructure to replace the coal and oil based technology is understood, how to do it is the open question.

What most folks don't know today is that the current generation of nuclear power generation plants don't efficiently burn the nuclear fuel, and they depend on a continuous supply of new Uranium. The main reason that they only extract a tiny fraction of the available energy from the fuel is concerns over proliferation and technical limits that are intrinsic to the first three generations of nuclear plants. Current plants generate what is labeled as "waste" but it's really a resource that can power the planet for the next 1000 years, enough to heal the earth from the blast of heat we are just beginning to experience from the burning of fossil fuel.

With the current nuclear power systems, we must store the waste for 24000 years or more and are committed to something that just isn't realistic. The current systems produce waste that has long decay times and it's been known for a long time though not discussed in public very much that the storage of nuclear waste for the long term isn't likely to be a viable solution. The more practical solution is to transmute the waste into a less harmful and shorter lived form, extracting the energy locked up in the process. We have enough waste now to provide power for our civilization for 1000 years-long enough for the excess CO2 to come out of the atmosphere.

The key to extracting the energy from what we now call nuclear waste is the development of subcritical fast neutron reactors such as the systems proposed by the Nobel laureate Carlos Rubbia ( see for example: http://blogs.nature.com/climatefeedback/2008/07/nobelists_talk_energy.html or a more technical talk : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHs2Ugxo7-8) or the more recent Lawrence Livermore proposal with the market ready acronym of "LIFE" : https://lasers.llnl.gov/missions/energy_for_the_future/life/how_life_works.php)

We will need to invest in the Research and Development that will make practical the recycling of our present harvest of nuclear "waste" and the recent impasse on the construction of a nuclear waste respository gives us an opening to rationalize our policy, and to solve one of humanities biggest challenges.

The use of the new generation of fast neutron sources growing out of the laser fusion and the z-pinch fusion programs makes it possible to both extract useful energy from the waste that we now store at each nuclear power station, and to reduce the volume of the waste that will need long term storage and to do so in a proliferation resistent way.

Our current generation of environmental activists are repeating slogans, and not grappling with the scientific realities, stuck in an old paridigm that obscures the real potential of this avenue to restore the viability of human civilization without giving up the precious aspects of our society and to get back to living in harmony with the natural world.

We can develop energy sources that reduce the potential for toxic pollution now present in every nuclear station through reprocessing of the waste, and it's important to do so before the thousands of tons of waste now stored deteriorates and poisons the environment and the possiblity of making use of this precious energy source.

The US and the world scientific community should immediately launch a project to develop the family of reactors that we know are possible. Several tracks are necessary including laser and z pinch fusion neutron sources, Thorium energy amplifiers, liquid flouride fast reactors, and the engineering studies and test facilities that can bring this technology to the point where we can build thousands of modular power stations within the next 30 years.

I think that with leadership from the Obama administration, and a clear vision from the scientific community combined with public education we can do this!

Peregrine Falcons are still here, back from the brink of extinction and a case study that demonstrates how the endangered species protections can succeed. The saving of the Endangered Peregrine Falcon hasn't cost much, and has produced many unanticipated benefits.

This bird is off the endangered list, though it's still a species of concern, and it's instructive to examine what it took to get here. What is really needed to save a species or a genus from extinction?

It took a recognition that extinction was happening, it took a commitment by humans that these creatures survive this human civilization. Wildlife biology contributed a knowledge of the life cycle and habitat requirements for the birds.

Since Falcons have been kept by royalty for hunting for centuries, there was a lot of knowledge of how to raise birds, though these birds have some unique habits that made saving them more difficult, such as the tendency to nest on clifs, bridges, and skyscrapers.

The effort brought together lawyers who crafted legislation, legislation that created habitat protection, funding for the guardians at SPRIG ( University of California at Santa Cruz) who lead the program. The effort also included volunteers, foundations, private funding, public information, web cams, web discussion groups, web pages, power company mitigation measures ( technical support and retrofitting power systems to stop killing birds), special feeding and care techniques, protection of fledglings, public interest and support, media coverage, organization, facilities, cooperation from private landowners, public land trusts, being included in the mission of the fish and wildlife service, support for the Fish and Wildlife Service, documentary films, public education programs, and more.

The costs have been spread out over 25 years, and should go on for many more decades. Saving the endangered Peregrine Falcon from extinction also brought benefits to our society. We've learned what it takes, and we've done it. Saving species who have lived on earth for hundreds of millions of years from extinction is sacred work, a sacred duty for our civilization. Here is an example of the best of our society, a case where many segments of our society came together to do a compassionate act, and it worked.

The new knowledge of how the knowledge enabled a few dedicated folks to develop technology that could help with raising birds by humans who could successfully live in the wild. Life cycle studies, population studies, and looking at the cause of death for these rare birds was part of the successful save.

In the course of the quest to save the Peregrine Falcon from extinction, we've learned about how our ecosystem was shifting, exhibiting pathology, with the birds as a signal to pay attention, to recognize the shifts that were killing off beings who lived with us for so long. The simple act of putting a metal triangle on a power pole cross arm so that these big birds aren't electrocuted anytime they perch on a pole made a big difference in Peregrine mortality. The intervention of the Peregrine experts when birds have nests in an inappropriate site reduced the mortality of the babies, but will require an ongoing commitment if the "saving" is to continue, if we are to live together with our cities. Maybe the birds will adapt to cities more successfully, or maybe with enough birds in the wild it won't matter so much.

UCAL Santa Cruz biologists effectively utilized web cams to both monitor nests, and to stir up public support, volunteers, and even some funding. Web news groups are a way of coordinating, informing and mobilizing the Peregrine Falcon community. Telemetry has helped with tracking, that gave knowledge of how the birds travel, where they like to live, etc. Private land owners who protected nesting sites, who cooperate with University and wildlife care folk play an important role in this effort. Public education through documentary films or videos, tv specials, news releases, all help to develop the public awareness that makes this effort work.

The fact that these groups have effectively worked together is a bit of "intellectual or community capital", as this shared experience of successful cooperation is a model for other projects to emulate.

So while some bemoan or belittle the endangered species protection laws, the reality in this case is that a modest amount of resources from both public and private sources has been successful. None of the "job loss" or other "terrible impacts" have occurred, the restrictions on habitat conversion to human use haven't stifled the California economy.

Climate change is going to make such challenges much more frequent and even more difficult, and they make the life-affirming response even more necessary, even more important. We can help many creatures to transition to the new world humans have created with our release of greenhouse gasses, we can help them find new niches, we can create new niches for them if we are smart.

How tools become valuable.

July 2008

Tools gain value when kept organized and ready to go. You have to be able to efficiently put your hands on a tool for it to convey a real capacity, a capability that it alone enables.

It follows that grouping tools into functional collections or kits is one way to take these concepts, and add a few choice pieces of hardware or a component, put this in a tool box, label it, and store it where it can be found amongst the other toolboxes.

Once you've used a tool, clean it, put it back in the toolbox. Track when a drill bit needs replacement, when the Teflon tape runs low, and keep these crucial elements stocked.

The meta view then is to have toolsets that are complete for a set of actions. An example is a pop rivet toolbox. Has the pop rivet tool, a selection of pop rivets, drill bits for each size of pop rivet, reamer. Simple, but with correct drill bits, more likely to be ready to go to work immediately. The correct assortment of tools, hardware and container means that 80% of the jobs can be done without a trip to the hardware store.

Fortunately some older guys told me to organize my tools, and helped instill good habits. My father worked that way. As I've gained experience, I'm so glad that I've lived by these values and understandings. It's nice to be able to go to my shop and just do a task. Simple, but when I was very young, the acquisition of the tool was my priority, it took a while for me to appreciate how the organization multiplies the value.

The shop is quite small, and yet it functions well. Has lots of power, a data connection, phone, natural light, and privacy. I don't like to be bothered when working in the shop, though I do enjoy visitors and collaborators.

Good security for the tools and the shop is vital, best to have an alarm system. This minimizes the times that you have to start over on the workshop….a non trivial consideration as the collection grows and becomes more useful.

Anyway, as the shop develops, it adds to the value of the tools, the kits, and we have a system capability, a capacity to do things that results from the synergism. At this level we might see for example a fume hood/dust-exhaust system adding value, as the tools can now be employed in a wider variety of ways, and health is maximized. At this level we might see a jib crane or a bridge crane, forge, etc.

At the shop level, attention to the sources of energy and utilities adds value. Lots of electrical outlets is basic, with compressed air a common upgrade, data ports, and sometimes various forms of water ( cooling water, de-ionized water, distilled water, potable water), gasses ( natural gas, nitrogen, etc.), sometimes its cryogens such as liquid nitrogen. Various forms of sewer add value, including ability to handle silt, acid waste, or the ability to contain, these add value.

The national laboratories take this concept two levels higher.

Laboratories combine the specialized work spaces/work shops into ensembles that convey a sophisticated capability such as that needed to do materials research. The national system of laboratories delivers a capability to manage the technical capabilities and research fields in a coordinated manner.

Culture is ultimately what gives value to tools, and this includes individual behavior, clan or tribal values, dynamics and practices, social organization, and how education works. The culture of the craftsman, the culture of the laboratory worker, these are important meta level assets that must be passed through time via organizations.

The simple transmission from master to apprentice has a modern analogue in the way that a PhD is earned, how folks get a doctorate in experimental science. It's not much changed as a cultural practice, a way of maintaining our cultural intellectual capital since long before Jesus was the son of a carpenter.

At the basic level, it's a decision to adopt the craftsman's practice that was important to me. The cultivation of the beginners mind is also important, but informed by cultivated habits of care that express an understanding of how this all fits together.

Thanks