Monday Mailing
Year 20 • Issue 6 14 October 2013 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
5 Ways to Become the World’s Happiest Commuter Pendleton, Ore., Tries to Tempt Drone Industry Fill Your Pantry’ With Locally Grown Staples OWEB Accepting Land Acquisition Grant Applications Thin Ice – Exploring Mount Hood’s Glacier Caves What Multitasking Does to Your Brain See What Your Favorite Brands Really Would Look Like Under a Socialist Regime Farm Commons Webinars More Than 50% of City Freight Could Shift From Truck to Bike A Mesmerizing Interactive History of the High-Rise Dayton’s Diamonds
1. 5 Ways to Become the World’s Happiest Commuter You don't have to be a National Geographic fellow like Dan Buettner to know that one of the things that we Americans hate most on a daily basis is our commutes. "If you can cut an hour long commute each way out of your life," he told NPR, "it's the [happiness] equivalent of making an extra $40,000 a year if you're at the $50,000 to $60,000 level. It's an easy way for us to get happier. Move closer to your place of work."
Quote of the Week: “If we are to succeed in saving the planet, the battle will be won or lost at the local level.” ~Governor Tom McCall Oregon Fast Fact #21: Spirit Mountain Casino eclipsed Multnomah Falls as the most visited Oregon traveler destination in 1998.
Yet it's not just the length of the commute that makes you enraged--or maybe even happy--but what happens on the way to work as well. While the average commute in the States lasts 25.4 minutes, what happens along those miles may vary. For evidence, take in what a year on the New York subway looks like To access the full story, click here. 2. Pendleton, Ore., Tries to Tempt Drone Industry PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — Pendleton is trying to land the drone industry. The East Oregonian newspaper reports the city hosted the Northwest's conference for unmanned aerial vehicles on Wednesday and Thursday in hopes of becoming a leader in the industry. Pendleton economic development coordinator Steve Chrisman says the city offers both open airspace and a skilled workforce. Twenty-five National Guard soldiers at the Pendleton base are trained with the RQ7 Shadow, a drone used primarily for surveillance. Chrisman announced economic incentives available through Umatilla County and the Horizon Project to drone technology companies who locate to the city.
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Umatilla County would grant $100,000 to a company that meets economic and employment benchmarks, while the Horizon Project loan would have an interest rate of 2 percent or less. 3. Fill Your Pantry’ With Locally Grown Staples Back by popular demand, Ten Rivers Food Web will be hosting its 4th Annual Fill Your Pantry event on Sunday, November 3rd in Corvallis. This annual storage-crop farmers’ market will allow consumers to learn about and buy bulk quantities (at bulk prices) of fresh, locally grown staples to use throughout the winter. It also provides a huge opportunity for local growers and producers to move large quantities of product before the winter season while demonstrating the ability to raise edible staples across the Willamette Valley The event will be held on Sunday, November 3rd from 2:00 to 6:00 pm in the Community Center of the First United Methodist Church at 1165 NW Monroe Street in Corvallis. In addition to shopping, customers will also learn how to best store their bulk crops through displays by the OSU Master Food Preservers. They will be available to answer questions regarding storage and maintenance of grains, beans, and storage crops. This event is sponsored by Ten Rivers Food Web. Local hot cider and baked goods will be available for purchase—eat local while supporting local food systems across Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties! Proceeds benefit Ten Rivers Food Web. For more information, click here. 4. OWEB Accepting Land Acquisition Grant Applications The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) is accepting applications for the land acquisition grant program, which allows cities to purchase land from willing sellers in order to maintain or restore watersheds and habitats for native fish and wildlife. Land purchased with grant funds must continue to be used for watershed and habitat purposes. Applications must be submitted online and are due October 21. In order to access the grant application forms, applicants must obtain a log-in ID from Mirium Hulst at mirium.hulst@state.or.us. For more information about the program and application requirements, click here. 5. Thin Ice – Exploring Mount Hood’s Glacier Caves On the slopes of Mount Hood, six explorers set off in a line up the Sandy Glacier. Eddy Cartaya pulls ahead of the group, a stony expression on his face. He’s wearing a white helmet with his name and “Cave Rescue” printed on it. Cartaya is worried because the sun is starting to rise and hit the ice. His climbing partner Brent McGregor follows at a more reasonable pace. The bearded 60-year-old takes in the morning and smiles. “One of the best sounds in alpine mountaineering is the sound of crampons and ice axes on good firm snow,” he says. To access the full story, click here.
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6. What Multitasking Does to Your Brain In case we needed another reason to close the 15 extra browser tabs we have open, Clifford Nass, a communication professor at Stanford, has provided major motivation for monotasking: according to his research, the more you multitask, the less you're able to learn, concentrate, or be nice to people. For a case study, turn to your nearest broadcast news station (and don't say Fast Company didn't warn you): if the talking head on the screen is accompanied by a "crawler" at the bottom blurbing baseball scores and the day's tragedies, you'll be less likely to remember whatever the pundit is saying. Why? Because, research shows that the more you're multitasking, the less you're able to filter out irrelevant information. As Nass told NPR, if you think you're good at multitasking, you aren't. To access the full story, click here. 7. See What Your Favorite Brands Really Would Look Like Under a Socialist Regime Americans are clearly unhappy with their country's operating system right now, and not without reason. With the government in its second week of a self-imposed shutdown, and the Occupy movement continuing to rage against the machine, it seems the whole nation is teetering on the brink of some radical changes. Many people rail against the growing income inequality that threatens the essence of the American Dream, and the actual future for the poor and middle class. Yet others look at the current administration and cry socialism. Were the current system to collapse and be replaced by something a little more, um, power to the people, though, we already have an idea of how brands might adapt to the new order. To access the full story, click here. 8. Farm Commons Webinars Farm Commons delivers fast-paced webinars that help farmers move forward on the legal issues that affect their farm operation. Thier webinars are engaging and practical- this isn’t just theoretical learning! Register by clicking on the date and time which will take you to a registration form. You will receive a thank-you email and reminders as the date approaches. Apologies- each webinar must be registered for separately at this time. To access a list of upcoming webinars, click here.
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9. More Than 50% of City Freight Could Shift From Truck to Bike The European Union is running a three-year project (ending next year) to try to move cities' freight deliveries from heavy, road-ripping, and dangerous and polluting freight trucks to lower-impact cargo bikes and delivery trikes. And the data coming in from 322 European cities seems to indicate that at least half of freight deliveries could be transferred to bike delivery! Cycle Logistics, the EU project, is not just about data collection. But part of the goal for the task force was to use mobility data from the TEMS database and input from 322 different cities to create a baseline report that estimates how much private and commercial goods need to actually be moved by fuel-guzzling trucks. Freight was considered 'bikeable' by the Cycle Logistics study team as long as the distance needed to move the freight was seven kilometers or less (4.6 miles); as long as the total payload was under 200 kilos (440 pounds); and finally, as long as the items to be moved weren't part of a complex travel chain To access the full story, click here. 10. A Mesmerizing Interactive History of the High-Rise Told over four parts meant to evoke chapters in a storybook using films, photos, archive materials, text, and miniature games, this "Op-Doc" is a short masterclass in the 2,500-year global history of vertical living. "A Short History of the Highrise" tells the technical, social, and cultural history of vertical living in a spellbinding series of short films with rhyming narration, intricate animation, and interactive materials. It starts with Roman experiments in apartment living for the working poor made of mud and timber, and continues through the cliff dwellings of Arizona, stacked circular buildings of rural China, and Yemen's medieval "Manhattan of the Desert". An in-depth examination of the modern era of high-rise construction begins with the "game changing" invention of the elevator. To access the series, click here. 11. Dayton’s Diamonds Dayton, Oregon is a small city of about 2,500 people and the main downtown business block is comprised of six unreinforced masonry buildings. As with most early western towns, this block is the result of reconstruction after a 1906 fire that burned this area. The brick construction was actually due to a city ordinance, requiring all buildings be masonry. Over the last four years, this block has seen some significant facade improvements, thanks in part to the Dayton Community Development Association working with Oregon Main Street, the City of Dayton and the Certified Local Government (CLG) Program, and to the Diamonds in the Rough grant offered by the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. To access the full story, click here.
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