Re: Perspective- Basin - and other things (fwd)

[robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

Is the film mentioned the documentary that you wanted to see?  Or, is that
different?

 > From: Noelle <http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelleg>
 > Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 08:23:12 -0700 (PDT)
 >
 > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
 > Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 07:51:47 -0700
 > From: Michael Ellis <http://www.footlooseforays.com/~mjellis>
 > To: Michael Ellis <http://www.footlooseforays.com/~mjellis>
 > Subject: Perspective- Basin - and other things
 > 
 > > Subject: Perspective- Basin - and other things
 > > 
 > > August 4, 2010
 > > 
 > > Dear folks:
 > > 
 > > I just returned from two weeks in the northern Sierra Nevada - a glorious 
 > > part of the world to celebrate in mid-summer. The wildflowers were peaking 
 > > and so were the mosquitoesâ??they were a bit late this year due to the late 
 > > winter snow melt. Lucky me.
 > > 
 > > The following Perspective will air on KQED,  San Francisco's NPR station at 
 > > 88.5, this Friday, August 6. Which just happens to be my  birthday. You can 
 > > listen at 6:06am, 7:35am and 11:30pm and sometimes repeated on the weekends 
 > > at 7:36am and 8:36am. Of course it can be listened to in the archive section 
 > > of the website after Friday.
 > > 
 > >> Here is a link to the Perspective homepage 
 > >> http://www.kqed.org/radio/programs/perspectives/index.jsp.
 > > 
 > > *****************
 > > 
 > > and as usual I am sending  along a few interesting links that others have 
 > > sent me.
 > > The 2,053 Explosions: Every Nuclear Bomb 1945 - 1998
 > > 
 > > This video, by artist Isao Hashimoto, charts every nuclear detonation from 
 > > the US tests in 1945 to the modern era. Even if you're versed in history, it 
 > > still offers a perspective that's tough to entirely grasp in numbers alone. 
 > > It's a good place to understand the importance of the Test Ban Treaty -- and 
 > > the threat of both proliferation and the thousands of nuclear weapons still 
 > > held at full readiness by the US and Russia.. 
 > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lquok4Pdk
 > > 
 > > This astonishing site came up on darkroastedblend. 
 > > http://www.shorpy.com/dorothea-lange-photographs It is wonderful and amazing. 
 > > 
 > > Be sure to view full size.  Also wonderful shots by Ansel Adams of Manzanar
 > > 
 > > ******************************************************************************
 > > *****************************
 > > 
 > > Perspective
 > >
 > >  The Great Basin
 > > 
 > > By Michael Ellis
 > > 
 > > The word, basin, has many different meanings here in the West. The rivers of 
 > > the Eastern US erode mountains, carving valleys through which water flows to 
 > > major river systems and then on to the ocean, but in much of the western US 
 > > the underlying geology has created a different scenario. For the last 20 
 > > million years there has been significant stretching and thinning of the 
 > > Earthâ??s crust here. As the crust thins, mountain chains are uplifted and 
 > > the 
 > > valleys between them drop. Many of us have driven across Nevada on Highway 
 > > 50. The road goes up one mountain and drops into a valley over and over 
 > > again. Geologists refer to these mountains as Horsts, German for eagleâ??s 
 > > nest. And the valleys are grabens, German for ditch.  Most of Nevada and 
 > > parts of Ca, Oregon, Idaho, and Arizona is known as the Basin and 
 > > Range Province.
 > > 
 > > The last great-unexplored chunk of American territory was that huge piece 
 > > between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, south of the Columbia 
 > > River and north of New Mexico. In 1842 Col. John Fremont was sent by the US 
 > > government to map that terrain.  There was a persistent myth of the 
 > > Buenaventura River, which was said to flow from the Rocky Mountains to the 
 > > Pacific Ocean.  This of course would be a convenient way for immigrants to 
 > > get Ca. As Fremont searched for this critical passageway he found 
 > > that every single creek and river flowed into an interior drainage. He 
 > > explored both the Great Salt Lake and the Humboldt sink in Nevada. He soon 
 > > realized that not only was there no major river but not one flowed into the 
 > > ocean so he named this huge region the Great Basin.
 > > 
 > > The largest desert in the United States is the Great Basin Desert.  This 
 > > desert is defined by high elevation, very cold winters, relatively mild 
 > > summers, precipitation mostly in the winter and finally by the indicator 
 > > plantâ??the Great Basin Sagebrush a.k.a. Artemisia tridentata.
 > > 
 > > So we have three overlapping uses of  basin. The Basin and Range Province is 
 > > geologic, the Great Basin is hydrologic and finally the Great Basin Desert is 
 > > 
 > > the botanical.
 > > 
 > > This is Michael Ellis with a Perspective.
 > > 
 > >> South shore of Mono Lake tufa towers- a dropped valley (graben)
 > >> 
 > >> View from Wheeler Peak, Nevada. The 2nd highest mountain in the Basin and 
 > >> Range province at 13,064 feet.
 > > 
 > >> Great Basin Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) among other shrubs outside Ely, 
 > >> 
 > >> Nevada mine tailings