Your voice is as unique as your fingerprint. It helps define your personality, mood and health. Unfortunately, there are approximately 7.5 million people in the United States who have trouble using their voice. They can have problems with pitch, loudness and/or quality. Pitch is the highness or lowness of a sound; loudness is the volume of the sound; and quality refers to the sound’s character. A person may use a pitch that is too high or too deep, or be too loud or too soft. They might sound … [Read more...] about Protecting Your Voice
Ninety Days with Ben
Benjamin Franklin – founding father, inventor and wit – is an icon of early American history. One of Franklin’s most interesting endeavors is relatively unknown. In his autobiography, Franklin describes a “… bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.” (Franklin was nothing if not ambitious; moral perfection is a tall order.) Franklin set himself on a challenging path. He found that while he was “… guarding against one fault …” other faults surprised him. He experienced the … [Read more...] about Ninety Days with Ben
Going Green at Home
It’s 2015 and awareness of the importance of “going green” has been on a steady increase. What was once considered to be a drastic movement embraced only by extremists, the importance of making our homes more environmentally friendly has gone mainstream. More new homes are being built with sustainable features as standard. Owners of existing homes are choosing to seek out ways to make their remodeling projects “green.” And homes that are considered green sell faster and closer to list … [Read more...] about Going Green at Home
Mountain Line Service Changes
The Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (NAIPTA) is adding weekend service on Routes 14 and 10a, as well as making slight schedule changes on Routes 7 and 14 in order to better meet customer demand and keep reliable, on-time performance. Due to the popularity of the service, Route 14 will begin operating seven days a week on Sunday, January 11. In addition, a slight schedule change will be implemented to make the route more efficient. Route 10a, which is an … [Read more...] about Mountain Line Service Changes
Scientist Fighting Bark Beetles with Fungus
Ips, engraver, mountain pine. There are many different kinds of bark beetles, but together, they’ve chewed through millions of acres across western forests, hitting drought-stressed trees of the Coconino National Forest with a voracious appetite, especially in 2002. And with a drying, warming trend predicted in coming years, scientists say the climate may only become more favorable for multiple generations of bark beetles to breed and chomp the life out of conifers. That is, unless … [Read more...] about Scientist Fighting Bark Beetles with Fungus
Businesses Looking Forward to New Normal
With more building permits than in many previous years, a rise in production volume for local manufacturers, community resources to mentor and strengthen small businesses, a rebound in tourism and a commitment to education, the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce is optimistic about 2015 and economic growth. President and CEO Julie Pastrick is rallying for a new, stronger normal. “We do believe we are on a very demonstrable upswing, but we still have gains to make in unemployment, job … [Read more...] about Businesses Looking Forward to New Normal
Choosing Kitchen Lighting
Two types of lighting typically occur in the kitchen. They are general ambient lighting and task lighting. Kitchens have evolved into not only a place for food preparation, but also a social gathering center for the home; hence the need for task lighting for food preparation and ambient lighting for social interaction. Prior to the popularity of recessed cans, kitchen lighting was accomplished with four-foot fluorescent tubes in either ugly wrap-around fixtures or in built-in recessed boxes with … [Read more...] about Choosing Kitchen Lighting
Oncore Owner Rich Phillips Takes Snow Play to the Office
Rich Phillips feels as though he has never worked a day in his life. That is because his work feels more like play. Phillips is the owner of Oncore in Flagstaff, which is a skateboard and snowboard shop he opened about four years ago with his partner, Dave Hilton. “We talked about this years ago when we worked at a ski shop together.” Still, Phillip’s career began a long time before that. “I got into skateboarding when I was about 13. It kind of consumed me,” he said. “I got my … [Read more...] about Oncore Owner Rich Phillips Takes Snow Play to the Office
In Business, There is No Time to Slow Down
If life seems to be moving faster than at any time in the past, it’s because it really is. According to Physics Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt and the High-Z Supernova Search Team (a completely not-made-up name) that Schmidt led in 1998, the universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate. According to Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns, the rate of progress in technological and evolutionary processes doubles every ten years. According to Ray Kurzweil, who formulated the law, we tend to … [Read more...] about In Business, There is No Time to Slow Down
New Museum Director Carrie Heinonen Focusing on Science, Colorado Plateau
If you visit the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA), you might run into a charismatic employee bounding her way from museum floor to meeting room, gift shop to collection center. Upbeat and confident, she discusses the scientific value of the museum’s holdings with the same ease and passion as she does the organization’s budgetary challenges. Meet Carrie Heinonen, Ph.D., the museum’s new director. Heinonen is MNA’s ninth permanent director and assumes the reins from Robert Breunig, Ph.D., who … [Read more...] about New Museum Director Carrie Heinonen Focusing on Science, Colorado Plateau