What is the worst gift you have ever received? (And no bad stories about fruitcakes from your aged aunt.) In my case it is not hard to recall the worst gift I ever received, which I got from my wife (don’t worry, she already knows), for reasons which will soon become apparent. The gift was
Town Shuts Down Boatbuilder Over Zoning Disputes
Boatbuilder David Stimson is about ready to move to Belfast, four months after Boothbay officials shut down his boat shop for violating the local zoning ordinance. He’s been building boats for more than 30 years. Stimson and his wife, Tamora Goltz, are considering leaving the Burnham Cove home they built years ago for themselves and
Dance the Night Away… at the Library
Where do people meet for fun on cold winter nights in Maine? How about the library? Forget all that stuff about “Quiet.” These days in many Maine communities, libraries have become social-gathering places, offering up everything from sleepovers to movie nights. Some libraries even push back the chairs and reading tables and fire up the
Chasing Science, Art and Politics
How do you make a piece of art out of something most people think is about as interesting as watching paint dry? The movie “Chasing Ice,” is about watching nature work, in this case watching ice melt at time scales the human mind is not programmed to experience nor understand. Therefore, most of us do
Planning for the Unthinkable
A group of Maine forest rangers and other responders from Downeast headed for New York City on October 31st to help with the disaster caused by Hurricane Sandy. According to the maine.gov website, the Maine Forest Ranger Incident Management Team (MEIMT) was “requested through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), a mutual aid agreement which
Sea to Table
Dennis Henderson flicks the head off a raw pink shrimp with his thumb, deftly skims off its flimsy shell and pops it into his mouth, pronouncing it, with a smile, “sweet as can be.” Most people prefer their wild Gulf shrimp cooked, including the lady who returned her purchase to Henderson’s Beach Seafood market on
Vinalhaven Students Host Food Week Celebration
As part of their 2012-13 school curriculum, Vinalhaven’s middle school students spent the first quarter of the academic year planning and organizing Food Week, a celebration of local, affordable and sustainable food. Food Week is the first experiential education project for Vinalhaven middle schoolers in conjunction with the ARC’s Public Education Program. Highlights of Food
Seafood to Whet Appetites in “Food Deserts”
A new initiative seeks to form “food hubs” that will link Maine’s seafood producers with “food deserts.” The Wiscasset-based Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) and Wholesome Wave, of Bridgeport, Conn., have launched a two-year feasibility study to identify the best ways to integrate Maine seafood into the Northeast regional food hub system and make it more
Objects in Mirror Are Longer Than They Appear
The past year’s online columns have alternated between serious (not to say dull) and personal (not to say frivolous) topics. The serious columns are collected under the rubric of “The Long View,” while the others share the heading of “Objects in Mirror,” derived from the cautionary admonition engraved on the rear view mirrors of all
Science Potpourri for the Holidays 2012
New Understanding of Lobster Shell Disease The conversations on the dock and in the papers this summer about lobster focused on the quantity of softshell lobsters that arrived along the entire coast virtually simultaneously in July, and the resulting drop in price that led to tie-ups and concerns about fishermen’s ability to turn a