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This high-alpine lake is one of Colorado’s most spectacular hikes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).Longs Peak has held a special place in my heart since the first time I climbed it 30 years ago. I love the way its sheer east face turns bright orange when it catches the rays of a rising sun. I love that it is visible from cities along the Front Range so I can see it often and, whenever I do, it awakens wonderful memories of the times I’ve been up there.Nearly 2,500 feet below its 14,259-foot summit, at the foot of the east face, lies a beautiful alpine tarn called Chasm Lake. The summit of Longs towers over its western edge, and steep rock walls to the right and left soar 1,200 feet, making it one of the most spectacular alpine cirques in Colorado. It’s also one of the best hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park. No doubt for...

Interactive, kid-friendly exhibit will take you back to the feel-good future

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

The Denver Art Museum’s Precourt Gallery is always one of the institution’s best surprises. It’s a family-friendly space, located halfway up the Hamilton Building’s quirky central staircase, and it is programmed with the work of local artists, who don’t otherwise get a lot of real estate at this internationally-minded art haven.A detail from one of the digital elements of Chris Bagely’s “Space Command.” Provided by Chris BagleyRight now, the gallery is featuring Denver artist Chris Bagley’s “Space Command,” an interactive installation with a nostalgic, sci-fi edge. Bagley is something of a mad inventor who creates, in his own words, “visual scapes.” For this piece, he combined found objects — astronaut helmets, kitchen utensils, out-dated electronics, digital projections, recycled mylar and other unexpected raw materials — to create a stage set that feels like an other-worldly way station in some far-off galaxy.Museums visitors are invited to marvel at “Space Command’s” clever...

Indigenous people in Colorado say they should be leading plant-based psychedelics movement

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

For 10 years, Kuthoomi Castro trained under Indigenous elders in Ecuador before he began the practice known within Native communities as serving medicine.The journey that led him to lead traditional ceremonies and give ayahuasca — a plant-based psychedelic brew — to others was long but sacred.“This is my tradition and my path,” Castro said.That’s why the Boulder resident and clinical counselor doesn’t take the use or distribution of psychedelics lightly. It’s what drove him and other Indigenous people — as part of a group called the Native Coalition of Colorado — to protest at the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference this summer in Denver.The members argue that Natives who have been using plant-based psychedelics for generations should not only be more involved in the discussions but leading them. They worry that the measure decriminalizing psychedelics will allow the wealthy and the powerful to profit as psychedelics are misused and abused. And they are concerned that co...

Denver Book Club: “The Vaster Wilds,” Tom Hanks’ novel and more short reviews from readers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email [email protected].“The Vaster Wilds,” by Lauren Groff (Riverhead Books, September 2023)“The Vaster Wilds,” by Lauren Groff (Riverhead Books, September 2023)Related ArticlesBooks | “The Bitter Past” and two other mystery novels to read right now Books | Short book reviews: “People of the Book,” “Liar’s Dictionary” and more Books | “Trust,” “The Deep Sky” and more short book reviews from Denver readers Books | “Le...

AI brings the robot wingman to aerial combat

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

By Eric Lipton, The New York TimesEGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — It is powered into flight by a rocket engine. It can fly a distance equal to the width of China. It has a stealthy design and is capable of carrying missiles that can hit enemy targets far beyond its visual range.But what really distinguishes the Air Force’s pilotless XQ-58A Valkyrie experimental aircraft is that it is run by artificial intelligence, putting it at the forefront of efforts by the U.S. military to harness the capacities of an emerging technology whose vast potential benefits are tempered by deep concerns about how much autonomy to grant to a lethal weapon.Essentially a next-generation drone, the Valkyrie is a prototype for what the Air Force hopes can become a potent supplement to its fleet of traditional fighter jets, giving human pilots a swarm of highly capable robot wingmen to deploy in battle. Its mission is to marry artificial intelligence and its sensors to identify and evaluate enemy threats ...

A new lease on life: Denver unveils 16 office towers best suited for conversion to residential

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

The city of Denver now has a clearer picture of what distressed downtown office buildings would make the best candidates to switch over to residences, part of a larger effort to make it easier for investors and developers to take on the task.Denver has designated 16 buildings as prime candidates for conversion and behind them another 13 that score highly in terms of their convertibility, according to a study that Denver commissioned the global architectural firm Gensler to conduct.“Downtown towers are a different animal to demolish. It would be a shame to waste them,” said Jennifer Ramsey, adaptive reuse administrator at Denver’s Department of Community Planning and Development.Fewer employees are going to the office after the big shift to remote work during the pandemic and in Denver employee counts downtown in June were only at 60% of the levels seen in 2019, according to the High Frequency Economic Update from the Downtown Denver Partnership.While that rebound b...

Man shot, killed in Palmdale; suspect on the loose 

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

An investigation is being launched into what led up to the shooting death of a man in Palmdale. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies with the Palmdale Station responded to a residence in the 37500 block of Sabal Street regarding a “hang up and assault” call around 9 p.m. Sunday evening. Upon arriving on scene, deputies discovered a man with a gunshot wound inside the home.  The victim, who has not been identified, was pronounced deceased at the scene, LASD said.   Driver runs from car after crash, gets struck by multiple vehicles and killed Authorities have identified the alleged shooter as 20-year-old Andrew Plancarte. He fled the scene in an unknown direction after the shooting. A firearm was recovered at the location, deputies said. Anyone with information surrounding this shooting is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

Google makes it easier to remove personal info

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Google recently updated a powerful privacy feature called Results About You. The improvements make it even easier to find and remove your personal information from Google Search Results.This can include information like your phone number, email and home address."We know people would like to have more peace of mind about how their personal contact information appears online. So, this new Results About You dashboard is designed to make the process easier," said Danny Sullivan, Google's Public Liaison for Search.Follow Tech Reporter Rich DeMuro on Instagram for more tech tips, news and reviews.Here's how it works:Once you sign up for the free service, Google will monitor the internet for mentions of your name, address, email and phone number. It will alert you when a new page pops up with your information.Then, in just one click, you can request to have the web page removed from Google's search results.Keep in mind, while Google can remove the link from its search results, it "can't ta...

Photos: End of an era in Monterey County, LaPorte Mansion being torn down

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Flames billow from the attic of Victorian home on the corner of 17 Mile Drive and Lighthouse Avenue as firefighters battle the blaze in Pacific Grove on Friday. (David Royal — Herald Correspondent)Crews were out Friday morning clearing out and tearing down the historic LaPorte Mansion, after a fire destroyed the home in May (Molly Gibbs – Monterey Herald).Crews were out Friday morning clearing out and tearing down the historic LaPorte Mansion, after a fire destroyed the home in May (Molly Gibbs – Monterey Herald).A fire captain works at a hydrant while battling a blaze in the Victorian home on the corner of 17 Mile Drive and Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove on Friday. (David Royal — Herald Correspondent)Firefighters saturate a first-story room with water while battling a blaze in the Victorian home on the corner of 17 Mile Drive and Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove on Friday. (David Royal — Herald Correspondent)Crowds look on as firefighters battle ...

A Bay Area couple turns their Eichler into a lush oasis

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Terry Bremer grew up in a New York apartment in Queens. “The only plant I could identify was a hedge,” she quips.Things would change once she moved to Marin after spending two decades in San Francisco, where as a legal secretary she met and eventually married her boss, attorney David Bremer. Today, they both still work together in his San Rafael law practice.“I began gardening when I lived in the Sunset District of San Francisco,” she recalls. “I had a tiny yard, but I made the best of it, learning what would grow in that cold, foggy climate.”When they purchased one of the coveted Lucas Valley Eichler homes, on a large corner lot and a quiet cul-de-sac, they also got a generous quarter-of-an-acre spot in which to garden with a backyard, two side yards and a courtyard.A concrete block wall, which had originally separated the courtyard from the front yard, had been removed by a previous owner, and the fenced-in area enlarged, thus creating a more open space. The previous owner had als...