In a recent opinion piece by Eva Soltes, Jennifer Collins, and Karen Lowe in the San Bernardino County Sun, the authors lay out how the Sequester will damage our local economies – especially those around Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park and the Mojave National Preserve.
From the article:
Examples of these budget cuts are as follows: Joshua Tree National Park has been forced to impose a hiring freeze on permanent positions including those that make up the backbone of operations (law enforcement, maintenance and interpretation divisions). The park has also had to delay filling some seasonal park ranger positions, including those that interact directly with the visiting public. In addition, Joshua Tree National Park has had to reduce the procurement of supplies and materials, which means they have little or no flexibility in dealing with road damage, the failure of critical infrastructure like visitor center air conditioning, or vandalism of buildings, bathrooms or picnic tables at campgrounds. Finally, the park has had to eliminate all employee travel and training unless it deals with human health and safety. This puts the park’s resources staff at a grave disadvantage — a staff that needs to continually obtain the latest scientific training in restoration, invasive species elimination, managing endangered species and preserving archaeological sites.
You can read the full article HERE.
In his keynote speech Saturday at uPublishU, former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki talked about his personal journey from traditionally published writer to indie author. He also provided 10 great self-publishing tips to the packed house (although, personally, I believe #10 – “Never give up” – should be #1!). Kawasaki is a prolific author of 12 book, including APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book.
The California State Parks Foundation’s Park Champions Program is seeking volunteers for the Park Champions Program. The Park Champions Program holds volunteer work days in state parks across California, and was created in response to the unprecedented budget cuts and closures that California State Parks have been facing. The Park Champions program provides consistent, sustainable volunteer support in the areas of park maintenance and beautification.
Due to high fire danger, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks are instituting fire restrictions inside the parks starting today.
Michael Crichton, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 66, wrote a number of books under pen names while studying at Harvard Medical School back in the sixties. While a student, he wrote eight books as “John Lange,” one as “Jeffery Hudson,” and he co-wrote another with his brother Michael as “Michael Douglas.” The guy had the enviable ability to write 10,000 words a day, and because of that, he needed multiple pen names.