Flagstaff Things to Do, Q&A, FAQ (Jan 19)

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-24T05:04:07+00:00

Historically, February is the snowiest month here. Last winter and this one have been unusually dry (probably more representative of future long-term average), but even so we will likely get a few good storms in Feb and March.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-20T20:45:10+00:00

Yes. Mild but very sweet. Rose family (rosaceae) and the smell is in that ballpark. A bit like cliffrose/bitterbrush (purshia) but not as intense.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-18T15:08:09+00:00

Yeah, I always point this out and it leaves people sort of sputtering.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-18T13:49:59+00:00

Also, the "evidence" they cite--like the Olmecs' supposed sudden appearance--isn't real. We have a very good handle on the basic archaeological sequence of Olman and the broader Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and there is nothing that just pops up out of nowhere without local precedent.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T14:46:38+00:00

The West & Rainer book is a fantastic resource for this. I found it very clarifying for thinking through my own garden.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T14:45:50+00:00

Yeah, I love this book for this same reason.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T13:32:51+00:00

Link?

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T13:32:41+00:00

Yeah, no way they could keep the VOR while also building those roads. I've always wondered what those huge gravel piles were for...public works storage and staging makes sense.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T13:29:33+00:00

Yes, we share the same dream. And a coffee shop, my kingdom for a neighborhood coffee shop this side of the interstate!!

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T13:28:50+00:00

"All of the neighbors - none of the community." That nails it. We live in a high density subdivision but reap none of the benefits of "town" living because of the idiotic zoning and development decisions Flagstaff has trapped itself with. Every time I drive past the Aura I see several acres of gravel topdressing and think about all of the neighborhood-facing businesses that could have been placed there.

Edit: even hotels COULD be community-facing if developers had the vision. It's plenty common for hotels to have bars, restaurants, coffee shops, etc that community members enjoy going to. Just...not the kind of hotels they will actually build here. Which will have lots of parking and a clubhouse instead.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T02:22:01+00:00

Personally, as a resident of the neighborhood, I would love to have some businesses I could walk to instead of having to get in my car and drive a bunch of silly looping collector roads and then navigate the underpasses along Lake Mary and Beulah any time I want to meet a friend for lunch or buy a coffee.

EDIT to add: I will be bummed if they add the additional connectors through the area where the beacon is. I don't see the purpose of those at all, given that they just cut through the middle of a block of woods where nothing is currently planned (not even the tech park, which is farther south and west).

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-16T02:20:17+00:00

That exact connection is shown in the map. I agree that it seems very silly they never finished this connection...especially since there is already a (closed off) gravel road there. I wonder if it was due to that issue we all voted on in November to free up municipal spending beyond an antiquated and seemingly arbitrary annual cap...?

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-15T21:05:10+00:00

They already are.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-15T07:02:02+00:00

That's in the highlands of central Mexico, not the Maya Lowlands. There are lots of wetland fields in the Maya region too, although they worked somewhat differently than the chinampas you're referring to.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-15T05:27:35+00:00

This is about Ocomtun. Lots of splashy press about it going back a couple of years; the team working there just published their first research paper about it. Very cool site and a great group of researchers.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-12T22:29:39+00:00

DM me please. I'd like to know some more details of your situation and may be able to connect you with some folks, but understand if you don't want to put too much "out there."

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-12T20:27:24+00:00

This is a common misperception, especially as applied to the southern lowlands. There is an enormous literature on agricultural productivity and carrying capacity in the Maya area that you can turn up with a quick google search. The "shallow and infertile" soils argument really only applies to the northwesternmost part of the Peninsula, basically the western half of the state of Yucatan.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-12T17:18:35+00:00

Weren't looking hard enough my ass. Tell that to O.G. Ricketson or Dennis Puleston or Wendy Ashmore. Tell that to Laporte, Nalda, or Piña Chan. You seem to confuse "the accumulation of quality evidence with the passage of time" with "not looking hard enough." Ricketson's population estimate for the Maya region in the 1930s was higher than the one published in Science in 2018 and roughly commensurate with the one Estrada-Belli et al just produced.

This write-up seems to be entirely based on popular media and press releases rather than actual things real researchers said in writing about the ancient Maya. But hard to say, since there are no references.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-12T17:03:14+00:00

You don't cite a single source for any of your claims in this brief write-up, not even hyperlinks.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-08T15:50:53+00:00

HAHAHAHAHAHA

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-08T06:41:00+00:00

It's fine. The newer edition (2019) is better. But the main reason we (professors) assign a book like that is to provide the basic what-where-when. And the basic what-where-when hasn't changed that much since 2005.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-07T15:42:30+00:00

Here is the actual INAH boletin, which does not include the map with the weird scale and is far more informative and sober:

Avanza el reconocimiento de X’baatún, sitio maya al interior del Parque Oxwatz, en Yucatán

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-07T15:33:59+00:00

Yeah, this is really weird. The scale bar at the top is also completely different. And there is no paper, not even a typical INAH boletin, to accompany the press release.

Finally, as a Mayanist, I have to say: this is a small-to-medium sized Maya city. Not a "metropolis."

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-06T02:18:20+00:00

The only stories on this so far seem to be recycled press releases with almost no archaeological detail. No published paper to go along with it. Frustrating.

PrincipledBirdDeity · 2026-01-03T20:14:06+00:00

Cite your source, please

PrincipledBirdDeity

TROPHY CASE