Wayward Landlubber

     CAPTAINS LOG:  Janus day 6, 3005 BCE. 1st dogwatch "Hey God, is it Log or logue?" "Who knows, write something, I'm not a damned editor, and English has not yet been invented.". "But you are all-knowing" "Noah, you do know I could arrange for you to be lost at sea?"      Captain's LOG Wednesday 3005, BCE: "This BCE thing, Before Common Era, what does that mean exactly? You are in this era, I'm in this era, everybody alive today, and soon to be drowned by your flood, is in this era, and there is no other era I can think of, so why are we using this?" " Don't push your luck Noah, I could just as easily make Avram Lichtenstein captain of this ship".  "Well God, he will be just as unprepared as I am. How many boat captains do you know capable of guiding a boat too tall for three decks of oars, no square sails, and not even a proper rudder? And filled with two of every kind of animal from predator to prey, ...

     On March 10, 2007 my youngest son, Aidan and I drove to the village of Celilo to commemorate the 50th anniversary since the US Corps of Engineers drowned that famous village under the somewhat more placid waters of the the Columbia River. The Dalles dam was the newest addition to the Columbia hydro-electric compact. At the time, and for most of us, it was a great engineering achievement. Houses were being built that advertised their all-electric features. Some of them with the logo of Reddy Kilowatt, an advertising scheme concocted by Pacific Power and Light Company. That half-century had brought the states of Oregon and Washington rapid economic growth and greatly reduced our use of fossil fuels to create energy, a goal that had not yet become a goal. It had also opened the upper Columbia River to barge traffic for the grain farmers and timber producers upriver, making Portland a major trading hub to Asia. But there was a cost. Columbia River Salmon runs that once w...