Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Blogger Survey

Technorati.com has a blogger survey they're asking bloggers to participate in. I started it but it went on a little too long for me so I gave up. They say it only takes around 15 minutes to finish it, though, so I'd encourage giving it a try.

California's Fattest Counties

Make what you will of it. Here's a list of California's counties that supposedly shows, in descending order, the counties with the most obese people. Humboldt ranks 18th with 22% of its residents obese.

I'm not sure what their definition of obese is, but I feel safe in saying there's considerably more than 22% of the people up here that are overweight.

The writer tries to tie obesity to a blue vs. red county thing. I don't know that you can get anywhere with that. Seems to me this has more to do with wealthy counties vs. poorer counties. The five least obese counties are all fairly well to do, as far as personal incomes go.

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Monday, September 27, 2010

Neighbor Busted

This incident reported in the Times- Standard happened across the street from my house Friday morning. Started out with some guy yelling real loud about 4am. Then the cops showed up and they were there for around 3 hours.

I believe it was the manager of the house that was arrested. Haven't seen him since then but his truck is still out front of the house with the two front tires flat.

Hopefully, that will be the end of him. That house has been a fairly regular annoyance over the years with all the yelling and fights. Cops know the place well.

I understand the place is being foreclosed on and October 11 is the day they shut it down. I'm not sure the foreclosure will make much of an improvement in the long run as I don't know what else a new owner can do with a Victorian house with 11 rooms but rent rooms out or use it for a half way house. That's what it's been for the last ten years, or so.

Probably the best thing that could happen is for it to burn down.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Delingpole On Buying Green

British blogger, James Delingpole, has a fun read (fun to me, anyway) about some misconceptions on buying local food. One interesting point:

One of the key points to remember is that, of the total energy costs of producing food, transportation from producer to retailer (from farmer to shop if you prefer) represents only a small fraction — around 4 per cent according to a 2007 study in the US.

Quite the opposite from what some of the buy local advocates have been telling us.

Addendum: More on buying local. Hat tip to Radley Balko for the link.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Chesbro's Recycling Bill

Don't you love this latest Chesbro bill that requires all cities to recycle 75% of their garbage? Wonder what the fine will be for non- compliance this time? You'll recall the threat of $10,000 a day(?) fines for non- compliance with the 50% mandate was the supposed reason garbage service was forced on Eureka residents.

And Eureka looks dirtier than ever to me now.

And the silly statement in the Times- Standard article about how recycling saves so much gas and reduces those horrible greenhouse gases. They seem to forget that recyclables, with the exception of glass used by that Fire and Light place in Arcata, are probably shipped just as far, if not further.

Isn't most of our paper sent to China?

I'm sure the lefties love this bill, if only because it will be one more thing more people are forced to do. Naturally, I'm livid over it, despite being a somewhat fanatic recycler.

We need to get rid of Chesbro. Vote Karen Brooks for State Assembly this November.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Arkleys Mulling Bob Clean Up

I spoke for a few minutes with Cherrie Arkley earlier today. We ended up talking a little about local development. She mentioned that they own the old Fairhaven plant now (that big ugly cement thing that used to be a mill, across the bay) from Eureka, and were planning on cleaning it up.

I suggested to her that the building should be torn down as it is such an eyesore. She agreed with the eyesore part but said they wanted to do something else with it, although they haven't decided just what. That's fine by me, I told her. Anything's better that the thing just sitting there ugly.

Now, let's see who stands up to oppose the clean up of that mess.

Oh. Why "Bob"? Cherrie told me that's what Rob calls that old plant. I never thought to ask why.

YES On Prop 23 Stuff Available

You can order yard signs and bumperstickers supporting Prop 23- The California Jobs Initiative- through their web site. I just ordered 2 yard signs.

Monday, September 20, 2010

A Haunting

Just got back from another trip to UCSF Medical Center. No travelogue this time. Not much to write that I don't normally write, except I was surprised to find out that the city of Novato, where we stay overnight, doesn't have anywhere near the number of pizza places Eureka does. I think I counted no more than 3 or 4 in the phone book.

Oh, and we ran into local gadflies, Dave and Penny Elsebusch, at the Novato Day's Inn breakfast room.

Oh#2, and the best news is we stopped at Cloverdale on the way back for some snacks. We used to always stop there on the way down and buy Quizno's sandwiches to take with us to Novato for dinner. That place shut down a while back and its closing was quite a blow to us as it was so convenient.

BUT THEY'RE COMING BACK! A sign on the old abandoned Quizno's place says "Coming Soon: Quizno's". No mention of how soon but there were some guys in there working on the inside today. How cool!

We kind of stumbled into the Discovery Channel's A Haunting show this morning. I turned on the TV just to pass time while Connie was getting ready for breakfast. A Haunting was the show that came on and I left it there.

It caught my attention. One of those paranormal shows about ghosts and hauntings done in a docudrama fashion where actors play out the story and the actual participants have short parts where they tell their part of the story. Kind of like those Rescue 911 shows, except this one's about ghosts. Pretty cool.

We actually left for UCSF a bit late because both of us got caught up with the first show. It runs 3 shows each Monday from 9am to Noon. If you like creepy TV shows you might enjoy A Haunting.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Eureka Trail

I always find it interesting that a state supposedly broke still has millions of dollars to throw around. Now Eureka is getting a million dollars to finish the trail along the bay.

No. I'm not opposed to "nice" things like this, but I do think it's just another one of those things that might well come back and bite us in the ass later on. Kind of like those nice cement benches the city put in Old Town years ago. They became a magnet for the bums and the city ended up going through the added expense of having them removed.

And so it will likely be with this trail. The area planned for this trail is already the site of homeless encampments. I'm guessing the homeless folks will take full advantage of any facilities built to support the trail and, eventually, those facilities will end up having to be removed.

I don't think that the expected just- under a million dollars for developing this trail will be money well spent.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Courage Campaign Push- Poll

For some reason I just had to laugh at the Courage Campaign's push poll I just received notice of in my inbox.

If memory serves me correct, the Courage Campaign was one of those groups started up by lefties in support of same- sex marriage. That's how I ended up on their e-mail list to begin with. Then, as they acquire names for their e-mail list they branch out into whatever left wing issues they feel like getting involved in.

That's kind of like the old MoveOn.org group that started out with those who didn't want to dwell on Bill Clinton's Zippergate issue. Now they've moved on to any number of lefty issues.

The poll is a bit funny, albeit in a way I'd expect. They sent out an e-mail saying they needed all their supporters to help the Campaign decide what positions they would take on the ballot initiatives. Then, you go to the poll page and, with the exception of 3 initiatives I assume they haven't decided to take a position on yet, they try to encourage you to vote their way on the ones they support or oppose.

For example, Prop 23, which would suspend AB32- the supposed global warming prevention law- is described by Courage as, "Dirty energy proposition - Funded by Texas oil companies, Prop 23 would destroy our green jobs and clean energy economy by repealing our Global Warming Solutions Act.". Pretty obvious how they want you to vote on that one, isn't it?

After you vote, you're naturally taken to a page to make a donation. Whether your vote is counted with or without giving a donation, there's no way of knowing.

I didn't contribute, but I did receive an e-mail right away from the Campaign's Public Policy Director, hard- core lefty authoritarian Robert Cruickshank, thanking me for taking part in the poll and once again asking for a donation.

Don't hold your breath waiting for a donation, Robert. If I had money to donate for or against any of those causes, it would likely go to those supporting the initiatives you oppose.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Eureka's Biggest Eyesore

Nope, not the Balloon Tract.

I guess I'm not the only one that thinks the old Downtowner Motel, as the North Coast Journal reports, is the city's biggest eyesore. Every time I drive by that lot I'm just appalled that it was allowed to deteriorate like that.

When I returned from basic training with the Army National Guard back in '76, I spent my first night back in Eureka at the Downtowner. It was a fairly nice motel and the Journal story reminded me that the area around the Downtowner used to be quite a center of activity back then.

Back in the mid to late seventies I was a little part of that center of activity. I worked at Sabrina's Restaurant for about 3 1/2 years starting back around 1973. Sabrina's used to be across F Street from the Eureka Theater, with the busy Eureka Inn across 7th Street to the south.

All kinds of activity in that area back then with numerous other eateries and bars close by. The Downtowner even had its own bar back then and it seemed a nice one, the few times I went there. I believe it was called the Downtowner Lounge.

I realize there's no easy solution as to what should be done with the Downtowner property. I just can't imagine it being fixed up and put back into use as motel again. Whatever is done with the property, it would probably be best to just tear everything down and start from scratch.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Cops and Cameras

A nicely done short video from the Cato Institute on some of the issues involved with police being recorded by video cameras. Video runs just over 8 minutes.

Hat tip to Radley Balko for the heads up on this.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Kubby For City Council?

Steve Greenhut has a nice piece in the Orange County Register this morning expressing a bit of optimism toward the prospect of moving us back to a more freedom friendly society. He focuses on past Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate and current candidate for South Lake Tahoe City Council, Steve Kubby.

His piece gives me a little more respect for Kubby than I'd had in the past- his seeming obsession with marijuana having been a problem for me earlier on. It looks like he's running a principled race for that city council seat, though, bringing up land use and regulation issues. I'll wish him luck. I think we could use some Kubby types on our city councils up here.

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Friday, September 10, 2010

Told You So

It's probably too early to be saying I told you so, but I'll do it anyway. It doesn't look like the Evergreen mill is going to reopen, according to today's Times- Standard. I actually predicted (hoping I'd be proven wrong) that the mill would never reopen, if only because of the air and water quality control boards, never mind the the state's overall anti- business climate.

I'm sure some will say the permanent closure had nothing to do with the air and water folks because they already got a water discharge permit. That was a surprise, but they'd still have to deal with the Air Resources Board, as well as a number of other agencies. I suspect the reason they couldn't raise money to open the mill is because investors know California is not the place to invest money they want to see a return on.

And, nope, none of Obama's stimulus money was to be had for the mill. All that money is being used for government projects like paving roads. Their reasoning being that, if we just have nicely paved roads, businesses should spring up all over the place. What's wrong with that line of thinking?

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Hear, Hear!

Or is it here, here?

I've mentioned it here before and was thinking the same thing about the campaign signs showing up on lawns so early. Can't we hold off on the signs for a while?

From today's Times- Standard:

Surely we can't wait a little longer
Letter to the Editor
Posted: 09/07/2010 01:13:07 AM PDT

Here it is just the beginning of September and campaign placards and lawn signs have been popping up all around town. This, plus the ones that were not removed after the primaries in June. Really, must we be assaulted by this annoying visual pollution so far in advance of the November elections? Surely we can stand to wait at least until October before planting our signs, can't we?

Richard Van Hoose

Eureka

Monday, September 06, 2010

Yes, I'm still here

Just bored with politics as of late.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

500+ Jobs Saved

I'm sure this isn't the last we've heard of it, but the proposed ban on plastic shopping bags has been defeated. Finally some good news out of Sacramento!