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Dan Brekke

Berkeley, California

Still telling stories.

Interests: "I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use --silence, exile and cunning."

Recent Activity

Ali-Inoki and Clinton-Trump: Same Ring, Different Game

Read the post on the relocated Infospigot site: Ali-Inoki and Clinton-Trump: Same Ring, Different Games Continue reading

Posted Sep 27, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Oakland's Homicide Rate vs. Chicago's

Read the post on the relocated Infospigot site: Infospigot.com: Oakland's Homicide Rate vs. Chicago's Continue reading

Posted Sep 26, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Annals of Fine Writing: Craigslist Ads Remembered

Every once in a while, we have recourse to Craigslist to unencumber ourselves of some surplus piece of furniture ("What's that futon still doing here?") or other once-loved possession ("When's the last time you rode that bike?"). For me, the... Continue reading

Posted Aug 28, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Mapping a Mosquito

Recently, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC, for short) publicized statistics and maps on where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is found across the United States; or rather, where the species has been found in monitoring going... Continue reading

Posted Jul 3, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Welcome Back to the Ballpark

People wiser than myself suggest that letting go of the past is a key part of being a mature adult, or at least helpful in maintaining one’s sanity. And maybe baseball helps you learn that: You delight in your successes,... Continue reading

Posted Apr 6, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Road Blog: Battlefield Cemetery

Kate and I flew to Nashville Wednesday so that she could attend a national conference of science teachers and so that I could tag along. There would be plenty to do in Tennessee’s state capital, but as soon as I... Continue reading

Posted Mar 31, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Ron: Sorry for not getting to this sooner, but: The Humboldt County D.A. says that Daniel Roy Jones, the man mentioned in the story I quoted, entered a guilty plea last June 19 to one count of leaving the scene of an accident. The specific crime he pleaded to -- violating California Vehicle Code 20001 (b)(2) -- carries a sentence from virtually nothing to four years in state prison and a $10,000 fine. I haven't found information yet on what his sentence was.

Commented Mar 29, 2016 on Along the Road at Infospigot: The Chronicles

Angela: Sorry I didn't see your comment earlier. I"m really sorry for your loss.

Commented Mar 29, 2016 on Along the Road at Infospigot: The Chronicles

An Eye on the Eye of the Storm

A few weeks ago, I downloaded a Chrome browser extension that, when you open a new tab, shows a current (or at least very recent) view of the full disk of the Earth as captured by Japan’s geostationary Himawari 8... Continue reading

Posted Mar 29, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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The Control of Nature: Primitive Hydraulics

Sunday morning: Still raining. We’ve had .42 of an inch so far today (it’s 1:30 p.m. daylight-saving style) to go with the 6.48 over the past nine days. The rain has prompted me to return to an old wet-weather routine... Continue reading

Posted Mar 13, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Berkeley Rainfall: Six and a Half Inches in Nine Days

While I’m poring over state and federal databases and pondering what it would be like to live through a year with 145.9 inches of rain (Cooskie Mountain, in the King Range of southern Humboldt County, in 2006) or a month... Continue reading

Posted Mar 12, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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A Test Map of Expensive Bay Area Homes

I beg the public's indulgence for this map test. Continue reading

Posted Jan 19, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Talking About the Weather

"When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what they must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm." --Samuel Johnson, quoted in... Continue reading

Posted Jan 3, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Berkeley Love Affair: Free Crap

Among the slow-motion trends we observe in our corner of Berkeley is the proliferation of white elephant items left on the streets -- everything from ratty furniture to unwanted books to antique all-in-one office machines (complete with manuals) -- with... Continue reading

Posted Jan 2, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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2016, and I'm Thrilled to Be Here …

Science Friday filled its New Year's Day show with some greatest hits segments, including an excerpt of an interview that Ira Flatow did with filmmaker Werner Herzog, novelist Cormac McCarthy and physicist Lawrence Krauss in 2011. It's an absorbing 21... Continue reading

Posted Jan 2, 2016 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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It isn't exactly a New Year's Eve tradition, but the last few years Kate and I have wound up spending a good part of the last day of the year outdoors. The last couple of years, we took walks up... Continue reading

Posted Dec 31, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Ice, or The Grip of Berkeley's Frigid Winter Revealed

Dramatic evidence of the frigid depths of Berkeley's brutal winter: ice in the improvised backyard watering dish for the chickens. This has happened twice even though the recorded air temperature from a sensor about 6 feet off the ground in... Continue reading

Posted Dec 29, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Marmalade + Winter = Ants

It's been a little colder than normal here in Berkeley -- and as wet as the weather annals say we have a right to expect -- so ants are looking for warmer, dryer digs. They like it when you give... Continue reading

Posted Dec 28, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Gleanings from a Parish Register

Part of the family lore I absorbed long ago was the emigration of my mother's mother's family -- the O'Malleys and Morans -- from a place called Clare Island. I'll call it a speck of rock standing at the very... Continue reading

Posted Dec 6, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Above: From NASA's Worldview site, an image of California's first real storm of the wet season (click for a larger version, or check it out on Worldvew). Here's (a slightly edited version of) how the National Weather Service's San Francisco... Continue reading

Posted Nov 1, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Air Blog: New York

Just to note: A high approach to JFK about 5:15 p.m. on a beautiful early autumn Thursday. We flew over Scranton, Pennsylvania, then just north of the Delaware Water Gap and the New Jersey Meadowlands, then did a long, slowly... Continue reading

Posted Sep 25, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Coffee Stars (or Are They Flowers?): The Sequel

Here we are: It was midday Thursday in the middle of a week off, and I was still looking to make a mark on the world. While idly pondering what that mark might be, I behold the very end of... Continue reading

Posted Sep 20, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Could be. I've worked and lived around construction zones many times, as well as having grown up in an area with dirt roads and lots of farm activity, and the dust that I've seen settled in those areas looks like just that -- dust.

Commented Sep 19, 2015 on Mystery Clay Blobs in Berkeley Neighborhood at Infospigot: The Chronicles

Mystery Clay Blobs in Berkeley Neighborhood

About a month ago, Piero and Jill, our neighbors across the street, presented us with a mystery: the seemingly ubiquitous appearance of tiny blobs of clay on their cars, their front porch, and on cars up and down our block... Continue reading

Posted Sep 17, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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Non-Natives in California: Snails and Other Species

It's September, and just about time for the chrysanthemums we've been nursing through the summer with buckets of dishwater to enjoy their autumn moment. Looking at the hundreds or thousands of unfolding buds this morning, I noticed a familiar garden... Continue reading

Posted Sep 16, 2015 at Infospigot: The Chronicles

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