This past Saturday, the Phoenix Mars Mission’s Science Operations Center had an open house. Being a space geek of many years standing, I couldn’t stay away from that one. As of Saturday, the Phoenix Mars Mission was up to Sol 88 — that’s mission-speak for the 88th day on the Martian surface. The plucky little…
Southern summer mornings are misty times. The combination of airborne moisture and early morning light makes the piney woods into an eerie place. This is scene is from Caswell Springs, which is located near Wade, Mississippi.
A fountain that lacks a continuous water flow soon turns into an interesting biology lesson. I don’t know how long this fountain had been idle, but it was growing quite the crop of algae when I happened upon it with my camera… In addition to the algae, the standing water was attracting at least one…
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Tucson Lobos have basketball practice at the Northwest Center. The Tucson Lobos are Tucson’s only community-based wheelchair basketball program. They strongly believe that if you use a wheelchair, or if you’re missing a limb, you can still play sports. The Lobos play against teams in the western U.S. and northern…
Do you have some old stock certificates laying around the house? Well, don’t throw them away! They could be worth a lot of money. Stock Search International has helped investors recover millions of dollars from old stocks and bonds thought to be worthless. This Tucson-based company has been a Web design client since the late…
This past Tuesday, communities all over the United States gathered for National Night Out Against Crime and Drugs. Tucson’s festivities included a get-together at the Northwest Center in Mansfield Park. Severe thunderstorms kept attendance below the usual triple digits. They also forced the cancellation of several other NNO events. Weather notwithstanding, we enjoyed some high-quality…
This past Saturday, the Watershed Management Group helped me get my yard into better shape. Permit me to explain… After I moved in here, I set about the task of planting a xeriscape so I wouldn’t spend a fortune on water bills. In addition to planting low-water use plants, I tried to contour the property…
Changed planes in Houston a couple of weeks ago. While I walked from one terminal to another, I encountered this statue of former President George Herbert Walker Bush… Among other things, I told the statue that the elder Bush was no John Adams, and that the son certainly doesn’t measure up to John Quincy Adams….
Looking for something interesting to do while visiting a small Southern town? Well, how about a walk around the cemetery? Yes, it will be quiet, and you may well be the only live person there, but, oh, the stories. Some people’s lives just read like a good book. Take, for example, this rockin’ Army veteran…
Just returned from another week of post-Katrina reconstruction in Mississippi. Although much appears to be back to normal, there’s still quite a bit of work to be done. Take, for example, this house. Almost three years after the storm (local people rarely call it Katrina), the owners are still living in a trailer. Since drywalling…
Went past a former place of employment a few weeks ago. The place has been out of business for almost eight years, and it’s been six years since any other business occupied the space. The landlord’s attempts to lease aren’t going very well. It’s been for rent for a couple of years… Before it rents,…
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina came ashore along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It proved to be one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history. Although cleanup and rebuilding efforts are well underway, much work remains. San Diego-based International Relief Teams (IRT) is helping to rebuild Katrina-damaged homes in southern Mississippi….
A few days after I moved to Tucson, I heard that my neighborhood was having a July 4th parade. Being the new kid in town, I was curious to see what a parade in 100-degree heat would be like. So, I ventured over to the corner of Camden Street and Palo Verde Boulevard to see…
Last Thursday, my part of Tucson received .70″ of rain in less than an hour. The water has had a chance to soak into the ground and revive the plant life, including this dinner plate cactus… March 2019 update: Oops! Looks like that photo went bye-bye when I had this blog redesigned. But, never fear,…
March 2019 update: The photos associated with this post are now part of my Tucson Event Photography website. They are linked in the text. This is a continuation of my previous post on the Summer Solstice celebration at the Arizona State Museum. The festivities included a Tucson-based group of fire dancers called Flam Chen. Here…
March 2019 update: The photos associated with this post are now part of my Tucson Event Photography website. They are linked in the text. Saturday was the longest day of the year. So, how did we Tucsonans celebrate the Summer Solstice? With an outdoor festival, of course! The triple-digit temperatures didn’t stop thousands of people…
March 2019 update: This website is no longer online. Here are a few of the many accomplishments of Leon E. Barstow, Ph.D.: Created the world’s first commercial DNA synthesizer, which is now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Developed and commercialized new products with sales totaling $200 million. Raised more than $35 million…
Note: The following post refers to content that I have removed from my website. Reason: Flash is not supported by mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. This Flash slideshow uses photographs that I took on trips to the Mississippi Gulf Coast during November 2006 and July 2007. While in Mississippi, I worked with International Relief Teams,…
April 2015 update: This site was redesigned by the university. On this project, I worked with Terence Monks, Ph.D., head of the University of Arizona Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. My job was to design an attractive, fast-loading website that combines the natural beauty of the Tucson area with information on his lab’s research and training…
Remember when going to college meant leaving your home and job to study on a faraway campus? Nowadays, college can come to you. It’s as simple as logging on to your computer and enrolling in a distance degree program. Established with a $2.06 million gift from University of Arizona alumni David and Edith Lowell, the…
On this project, I worked with Sheila Tobias, a Tucson-based educational consultant who wrote the best-selling book, Overcoming Math Anxiety. Sheila collaborated with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to establish the Professional Science Master’s degree program. The Science Master’s is an M.S. degree that prepares students for work in fields such as consulting, banking, insurance,…