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This is wild, and either a cruel joke or the foundation for urban planning of the future.

Apparently there's a computer game called Cake Mania Main Street in which one of the goals includes "saving the town of Bakersfield from the evil of ... a shopping mall." 

This cheat page walks one through the adventure, which involves bakeries, serving cookies and more. You can even unlock the Big Burger Bridge of Bakersfield and the Bakersfield Arch (OK, someone involved in the game had to have a local connection, no?).

The goal, apparently is:  "At the end, when you have upgraded every restaurant to the maximum, and built every monument, the beautiful town of Bakersfield will look like that:" (see screenshot above).

Could this be what people envisioned for "Bakersfield, Life as It Should Be"?

Bakersfield's George Culver is best known for tossing a no-hitter during an 11-year Major League career but it's been his work in promoting and nurturing local baseball that's made him a beloved member of the community.

Culver popped up in the Bakosphere when an accountaint named Kevin, author of The Great 1965 Topps Project blog, posted an item on Culver's rookie card, on which he shares space with Tommie Agee.

Kevin is blogging about his experience in trying to collect all cards in that year's Topps' set. To date, he has 85% of the 598 cards. His Culver/Agee post includes some "fun facts" about Culver and links to his detailed stats on Baseball Almanac. Didn't know Culver pitched for a year in Japan, but it's among the interesting tidbits if you're a baseball fan.

Bakosphere stumbled across this July post in the most recent print edition of Bakotopia, but even though it's 6 weeks old, we think it bears an extra look because of its provocative topic: 

Jordan Russell laments the disappearance of common courtesy in movie theaters. Whether it's talking on cell phone, yakking with friends, spoiled kids throwing tantrums, etc., it's harder than ever to enjoy a movie out. 

Is it any wonder people would rather spend a small fortune on a big-screen and home theater system to avoid that mess? 

Bakosphere stumbled across this post on an anti-Obama blog of all places, but trust us, it has nothing to do with him.

KGET discovered an embarrassing mistake in which Kern County Animal Control tried to get a Bakersfield woman to license her dog. The problem? The dog was a stuffed animal.

We couldn't find the original video on the KGET site, but found it at MSNBC. Fun stuff.

It's been the subject of countless blog posts, YouTube videos and newspaper-industry stories. And now it's arrived.

Today marks the debut of The Bakersfield Californian's new tabloid-sized weekday edition (you can see the front page here). The new format -- smaller in size but actually larger in terms of newsprint used -- is designed to put a greater emphasis on local news and information, and ease of use during the week. The traditional broadsheet version will be retained on Saturday and Sunday.

A variety of new features will roll out throughout the week, but include a new classifieds page featuring Bargain Betty, more emphasis on content from The Bakosphere, a new profile called Local Conversation, expanded Opinion features and more.

Have you seen the new Californian? What do you think? 

OK, here we go again. It's the Men's Health hateful survey of the month.

In its September issue, the magazine gives Bakersfield an F rating among so-called "urban waistlands," its definitions of cities with horrendous eating habits. Among 100 cities, Bakersfield was listed 14th worst.

Thirteen other cities earned F's (with Arlington, Texas, at the bottom of the list), so at least we have company. The haters in Fresno earned a C-minus.

Here's the magazine's whack methodology:

• Add up the number of McDonald's, Burger Kings, Wendy's and Taco Bells in a city.
• Then "factor in" the percentage who visit fast-foot restaurants and those who eat fast food at least seven times per month.
• Check CDC figures for the number of people who are 1) obese and 2) eat the fewest veggies. 

Any researcher with half a brain would poke all kinds of holes in the methodology. Yet, in the interests of self-depracation, Bakosphere willingly shares this mess. Enjoy.

Bakersfield Assemblywoman Jean Fuller is at the center of legislation that would revise Caltrans policy allowing families of people killed in highway accidents to pay $1,000 for official memorial signs at the crash sites.

Fuller amended the original language -- which focused on victims of DUI accidents -- to allow memorial signs for those killed in accidents due to other causes. According to this Los Angeles Times story, Fuller's impetus is several recent accidents in the Taft area.

Proponents say the formal signs reduce the handmade memorials that often surface along roadsides, creating dangerous situations for people visiting the sites and adding to the memorials, as well as Caltrans workers who have to remove them. Critics say the official memorials add to "sign pollution" along California roadways.

The Assembly has approved Fuller's idea, but the Senate has yet to take action.

What do you think?

Bakersfield Express officially launched today, with a broad mission of "advancing local arts and culture, promoting civic involvement and eco-friendly lifestyles, and carrying on a tradition of watchdog journalism to hold local leaders accountable.

The site is operated by two former Bakersfield Californian news staffers, Jennifer Baldwin and James Geluso. Both are in the process of trying to obtain non-profit status so they can accept tax-deductible donations.

Nick Belardes over at FaceNews has posted a fun "Top 10 Weird Bakersfield Items on eBay."

FaceNews has more detail, but the discoveries -- being sold from around the world -- include:

• A prehistoric shark tooth, presumably from Shark Tooth Hill.
• A Korn lighter.
• A 1972 First Baptist Church "Feeder's Digest" cookbook.
• A Padre Hotel room key.
• Two bural plots.

Weird indeed.

Claudia's Burning Ink blog, written by a Bakersfield native, carries the inviting tagline "Where gumdrops grow on trees and tattoos dance."

Claudia returned to Bakersfield recently for a visit, and decided to post something of a visitor's guide of her favorite stops when she's in town. Some of those stops are predictable (Woolgrowers, Dewar's, Rosemary's, Luigi's) while others are lesser known (F&M Fabrics, Los Tacos De Huicho).

All in all, a fun take.

What fun places would you have in a local visitor's guide?

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Mountain Daily News is now live, delivering news with a focus on "the mountain communities of the Tejon Pass." (Yes, the Bakosphere extends that far south).

Brian Bierman is the brains behind the site, which features a variety of contributors, including story comments; polls; events listings; classifieds (including a "wanted list," which is cool); and lots of other stuff.

In a post explaining the site's mission, Bierman wrote:

"Many news sources claim to be unbiased as they mold and shape the news to fit their view.  The Mountain Daily News realizes that the unbiased reporter doesn't exist and will not play that game.  The traditional art of bias-masking is not our policy or practice.

"Our reporters are encouraged to share personal views as long as they claim them as their own.  There is plenty of room for dissent.  In fact it is encouraged here.  Our goal is to report the facts and and provide all you need to arrive at an informed opinion."

"JMartinez" of Bakersfield has posted a video of the fun at spray parks at Jefferson and Saunders parks.

The slick video (3:19 long) mashes Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" with tons of jump cuts showing kids and adults splashing and otherwise getting drenched at the two parks. Lots of color, smiling faces and cool camera angles in what essentially is a commercial for Bakersfield's spray parks.

Martinez also has posted a touching video marking his daughter's graduation from kindergarten at Eissler School.

You all know N.L. "Nick" Belardes, one of the original heavyweights in the Bakosphere. 

Nick always has his hand in some jar, whether it's maintaining a series of personal blogs, Tweeting like a fiend, running local news sites (as of this moment, his current incarnation is FaceNews), publishing print novels or spitting out 140-character installments to his Twitter novellas. He even posts here on Bakersfield.com from time to time. It can all be a blur -- and we're just bystanders.

But that's stale news. Today marks the release of Nick's book "Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can't Live Without." It's not your normal trivia though, as you might expect. For example, there's the man who claims to have photographed "Mothman."

Matt Munoz over at Bakotopia has a nice write-up of Nick, the book and the craziness that helped inspire it.

And it's a book that's already getting some buzz. Check out this plug from Matt Shaer of the Christian Science Monitor: "And I thought my friends were weird. Reading 'Random Obsessions' is like wandering around the Epcot Center on hallucinogens – colorful, crazy, occasionally terrifying, and always exciting. If you're a trivia buff with a penchant for the madcap, do yourself a favor, and buy this book."

You can find more reviews of the book at Amazon.com. The book will be available at local bookstores, and Nick has a few signings scheduled, including Aug. 22 at Borders and Aug. 29 and Barnes & Noble.

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A reporter from a small New Mexico newspaper has been searching for years for a pocket watch worn by cowboys in the late 1880s. He finally fulfilled his quest thanks to a Bakersfield antiques dealer who specializes in watches. 

The dealer, Akhtar Hameed Mir, restored the watch and sold it to Sam Conn, a self-proclaimed "cowboy reporter" at the Silver City Sun-News whose 32-year-old "On The Trails" column highlights upbeat stories off the beaten path.

Mir is something of a jack-of-all trades, earning the nickname "The Watch Guy" despite what Conn says is his main income, making Oriential rugs.

Conn is a character who has given his "cowboy reporter" character a high-tech multimedia spin, mashing his flamboyant cowboy look (I thought only Prince wore purple boots) with a mobile news center that allows him to transmit his print and broadcast stories from the road. Brings new meaning to riding the trail.

You may recall the drama awhile back surrounding the "notorious" beaver(s) chewing down trees along the Kern River bike path. 

Well, if the beavers can't get love in the area around Park at River Walk, they may want to pack their bags for the Panorama Vista Preserve area, where community members dedicated to preserving the area consider beavers an integral park of the ecosystem. 

Andy Honig, in a post on the Ride the River Kern blog,  points to beaver dams in the area as keys to restoring vegetation in the area. Supporters including Andy Honig are concerned with the issue given recent discussions to place wire around tree trunks in the area to ward off hungry beavers.

When three dozen trees in the River Walk area were chewed down, city officials wrapped the tree trunks in order to minimize the loss of trees valued at $500 apiece. But Honig says beavers are no match for the sycamores in the Panorama Vista area and thus make for a good mix of plants and wildlife.