Boulder is a city and county of many parts. Anyone who lives or visits here can’t help noticing. Within an hour’s drive of downtown you can find everything from hamlets nestled into pine-covered foothills to municipalities threading cottonwood traces, from the pristine vistas of Rocky Mountain National Park to the anchor of the Great Plains […]

People eating people is messy business. No surprise there. The Walking Dead, for example, paints a serious portrait of life in a world overrun by flesh hungry citizens—from the psychology of survival, to logistics of remaining ahead of a horde. Boulder and CU-Boulder take a different approach. We’re not talking zombies, of course, but something […]

I’m not a gearhead. I don’t know how most systems work in my car. Checking tire pressure, and maybe replacing a fuse or headlight bulb, is about as hands-on as is possible. I know of the internal combustion engine’s work, but couldn’t tell you much about it. Growing up and beyond, cars never interested me […]

Mid-1990s Boulder was busy with activity. Fitness was king. Local businesses were prized. Hacky Sack circles and jam band opuses were ubiquitous anywhere students congregated. Simultaneous to that, though, was something wholly different. Buried in the corridors of the JILA tower on CU’s campus, a breakthrough was purring along quietly. Professors Carl Wieman and Eric […]

Ask someone exactly how long one second is, and you’re likely to get a smirk. If pressed, many might rely on the “one-Mississippi” trick from their hide-and-seek days. Others might claim an innate sense of it, as though they’re a minor—if punctual—X-Men style mutant. But, honestly, most would look at their smartphone. Ask the right […]

Often, the significance of an event isn’t clear until after it’s passed. Everyone can recall an example in his or her own life. Sports, of course, are no exception. And since September is in full swing, that means football, which brings to mind a particularly odd example. It’s October 6, 1990. The CU Buffs had […]

Conditioning, in the Ivan Pavlov sense, is a strange thing. As people we’re able to think our way in or out of most anything, yet we’re no less subject to the process. This was on display last weekend at the annual Boulder Creek Festival, which saw the return of the Rubber Duck Race. If unfamiliar, […]

If you ask five people why they participate in outdoorsy activities, you’re likely to get five different answers. They might have similarities—health consciousness, a love of nature—but the real thrust of their recreation is unique. Boulder, of course, is known for the opportunities afforded its athletically inclined residents and visitors. If you’re into running, biking, […]

Symbols are an interesting phenomenon when you stop to think about them. And they’re everywhere. A road sign with the silhouette of children on a seesaw is a symbol, not warning of recreational equipment but of kids at play. Bills and coins are symbols of value, the tangible representation of economics. They take the form […]

It’s been argued the history of the world can be seen on your plate. Moorish improvements to Roman irrigation boosted rice production in 15th century Spain, eventually melding with Middle Eastern spices into what we know today as paella. Bánh mì sandwiches combine native Vietnamese ingredients (such as cilantro, cucumbers, and pickled daikon) with baguettes […]