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1 week ago | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
Last summer, on one of those long and perfect June evenings, I joined a sunset paddle with a group called Mosquito Fleet. About 20 of us launched kayaks, provided to us for free, into the Willamette River just north of the St. Johns Bridge. For many in the group, it was their first time in a kayak or on the Willamette.
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2 weeks ago | 
nist.gov | Rebecca Jacobson
Randomness is incredibly useful. People often draw straws, throw dice or flip coins to make fair choices. Random numbers can enable auditors to make completely unbiased selections. Randomness is also key in security; if a password or code is an unguessable string of numbers, it’s harder to crack. Many of our cryptographic systems today use random number generators to produce secure keys. But how do you know that a random number is truly random?
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1 month ago | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
Portland’s culture of bike fun is legendary. It’s also not new. During the bike boom of the 1890s, The Oregonian described “moonlight pleasure parties on wheels,” with riders dressed in costumes “unique and striking.”Three decades later, on May 9, 1925, the city’s bicycle-riding children descended on Buckman Field for a day of races and costume contests, plus lessons on how to maneuver safely alongside cars—something that wouldn’t have concerned the cyclists of the 1890s.
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2 months ago | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
In some parts of the city, it can be easy to forget the Willamette River exists. Not so in the sliver of South Portland known as John’s Landing, lying just south of South Waterfront’s gleaming towers and scrubs-clad masses. Bounded to the west by I-5, to the east John’s Landing faces that big ol’ body of water.
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2 months ago | 
catholicinsight.com | Rebecca Jacobson
(A reflection on the proper Catholic notion of ‘leisure’ from contributor Rebecca Jacobson, fitting for this Easter week of Sundays. Gaudeamus in Domino, quia surrexit vere!) One summer day last July, as the mists of morning fled before the strengthening rays of the sun, a group of families and young folk gathered together for Mass at a country shrine. There was much excitement and good cheer, as all present were preparing for a pilgrimage that day.
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Jan 28, 2025 | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
Mike Rysavy first visited Bagby Hot Springs in the early ’90s, as a teenager growing up in Milwaukie. He’d read an Oregonian story about the spot, which is tucked into the Mount Hood National Forest between Estacada and Detroit. Rysavy says he’d “never even contemplated the idea of hot water coming out of the earth,” and thought it sounded “pretty neat,” so he and a few friends set out.
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Dec 30, 2024 | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
Last December, I came back to Portland Monthly after four and a half years away from the magazine. The reasons why were many, but atop the list was a desire to return to work that dealt directly with the place I call home. And, after years of writing about the arts—along with bikes, woo, and people doing weird things on the internet—I’d now get to steer travel and outdoors coverage, which meant expanding my gaze beyond the city in ways I hadn’t before.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
In 2005, Alison Crocker was up for a spot on the US Olympic cross-country ski team. The Dartmouth College senior, who’d competed internationally since high school, had been skiing well—she’d had four top-five finishes in elite SuperTour races that year, and the previous year had placed fourth at the NCAA Championships. In the end, Crocker came two spots shy. But she had an impressive backup plan: a Rhodes Scholarship to study astrophysics at the University of Oxford.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
Doug firs dusted with snow. Mighty peaks on the horizon. A toasty warming hut around the corner. Gliding through Pacific Northwest wilderness is a surefire way to rejuvenate your city-weary soul, and Oregon and Washington boast a bounty of cross-country destinations to satisfy skiers of all levels. Many of the spots named here require a sno-park permit, which costs $25 annually in Oregon and $50 in Washington (one-day permits are also available in each state).
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
pdxmonthly.com | Rebecca Jacobson
Save the adrenaline fiends and modern explorers using their PTO for backcountry expeditions, most of us hope to spend our vacation time, you know, relaxing. And when trying to wick away stress, it helps to sweat it out. Scattered across Oregon and Washington, contrast therapy evangelists have set up floating saunas over serene lakes and parked wood-burning trailers near mountain rivers, so sweaty visitors can cool off in the chilly waters of the Pacific Northwest.
