It was in the Negev Desert on an archaeological excavation when I first thought about building a cistern in my backyard.
I was a Pomona College sophomore on a summer internship when I climbed to the top of Masada, the ruins of King Herod’s desert palace. Perched on the edge of a steep 1800-foot plateau, Masada stands like a sandy lighthouse watching over the nearby brackish Dead Sea. Built as a luxurious safe house for the Levantine king, Masada is an impressive example of the sustainability of Roman architecture.
[Editor’s note: The following viewpoint was submitted in an effort to refute claims made by Golden State Water in their letter to Claremont customers that was distributed September 11, 2012 by Denise Kruger, senior vice president of GSW. The original letter can be viewed at http://www.gswater.com/csa_home pages/claremont.html. —KD]
This past weekend, I took my son Alex, 3 1/2, to the Los Angeles County Fair. Accompanied by my parents, who took me to the fair each year when I was a kid, I had an acute sense of the cyclical nature of life.
On the one hand, I could easily have eschewed the annual festivities. Thanks to a recent confluence of events that found me registering, smog checking and repairing my car within a 2-day period, I wasn’t in the market for $4 soft serve ice cream cones and $5 cotton candy.
It started as a gravel road called Mesa Avenue. In 1911, Mesa became Foothill Boulevard and was paved. Its first speed limit of 10 miles per hour was also posted in that year. That led to Claremont achieving a somewhat less than desirable reputation.
Like the tortoise beating the hare, the US stock market has been slowly and steadily inching its way up over the past few weeks.
Since touching an intraday low on June 4, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 index have all rallied more than 10 percent, according to CNBC. In fact, the Dow and S&P 500 have now risen for 6 consecutive weeks. It feels a bit like a “stealth” rally as volume has been very low and volatility, as measured by the CBOE volatility index, is at its lowest level in 5 years.
