Up My Alley

Local eateries aim to spruce up Sacramento’s dark corridors

If you imagine a humming city as a living body, the conventional alleyway might be the large intestine. It’s a lonely grey loading zone, a collection point for garbage, and a covert space for drug use and violence. But as U.S. cities grow denser, urban passageways that were once ignored and crumbling are enjoying a renaissance. Alleyway activation is a designer buzzword for modernizing utilitarian corridors into well-lit public spaces.

Jun 13, 2017 Allen Young

Back and Forward: Jonathan Palmer on the Shift to Mobile Platforms

Jonathan Palmer, chief technology of Autometrix in Grass Valley, provides insight into how software development has shifted away from PCs and to mobile platforms. His company manufactures automated cutting equipment for textile markets and develops the computer software needed to control the equipment.

Jun 5, 2017

Gettin’ Figgy With It

The peculiar world of fig traders and their trees

California fig farmers, who grow nearly all the figs produced in the U.S., harvested about 30,000 tons of fruit worth $22 million in 2015, according to the latest crop report from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. But of all those figs, there were just a handful of genetically distinct varieties. Meanwhile, almost uncountable heirloom varieties have fallen to the wayside or even disappeared.

May 30, 2017 Alastair Bland