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Relay for Life -- Bakersfield a leader Lay off the old people, you NFL bruisers Scratching and rubbing, good feelings Female-only buses in Mexico City, but not Bakersfield A $200,000 ride to space, how nice How healthy are your dogs? Mother gives up newborn to Bakersfield fire station A $2,000 puppy stolen in Oildale How much of a hassle are fog delays? Fog, the thing I like least about Bakersfield July 06 August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 June 06 May 06 April 06 March 06 February 06 January 06 December 05 November 05 October 05 September 05 Blog RollAsk The Californian Editorials Entertainment Eye of Bakersfield Faith Forum Fired Up! Inside Sports Neighbors Right Thinking Sound Off Talk of the Town 
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Well, lady might be a stretch, but definitely female.
Reporter Danielle Belton wrote about 40 women who have signed up for what is expected to become in October the Bakersfield roller derby league.
These women will go around an oval track and elbow, push or bump each other in an effort to score points. What can be more fun than that.
What male baby boomer out there didn't tune in on Saturday afternoons in the 1950s and 1960s to watch the Bay City Bombers knock their competitors...
A story below describes Jim Shea's ego-bruising effort to remove a jar lid.
He notes that removing jar lids is one of the few areas women believe that men have some worthwhile use.
I will not be dissuaded by the article from trying to remove jar lids in the future. My bride always smiles sweetly when I do it at home. Success is an ego-enhancing moment.
I am a firm believer that stroking the male ego is almost always a good thing. Except, maybe, when the ego is too huge...
Two days after he publicly endorsed the challenger for his boss' job, sheriff's Sgt. J.R. Rodriguez heard he was being transferred.
Sheriff Mack Wimbish said the transfer is not payback and has nothing to do with politics.
I'm not sure the sheriff can say that with a straight face.
It's political, the same way it was political when
• Sheriff's public information officer Sgt. Chevy Garza was transferred out of his high profile job after announcing he would run against...
As a former resident of San Luis Obispo, I like the idea of creeks running through town.
I hope the proposed Mill Creek Project in Bakersfield becomes that mix of shops, restaurants and homes that would transform an ugly canal to a people destination.
San Luis Obispo has shown how a creek landscape downtown can make for a lovely setting.
Do you think Bakersfield can use some prettying up this way?
Posted by Steve E. Swenson
We here at the newspaper are gearing up to cover the upcoming Kern County Fair, which begins Sept. 20.
We would like to know what you like about the Kern County Fair?
I love the animals, especially the kids hanging around their sheep, pigs and cows.
And I like to watch the Kern County people. They all seem like a fair attraction.
Posted by Steve E. Swenson
Doggone it.
Washington Post reporter Rob Stein disclosed that a massive study showed that being slightly overweight can kill you sooner.
I was pretty sure that I read some where before than being slightly overweight was healthy. Therefore, I felt I was a walking example of what is right in America.
Now I have to go out and get a six-pack — not of beer but of ribs — in order to live longer.
The story defines overweight as a 5-foot-10 adult who weighs between...
So on Tuesday nights we watch Sex and the City (the PG version, Pastor. Calm down).
Last night's episode was about whether people can be "friends" with their ex's.
This subject always intrigues me because I am very good friends with many of my ex's.
Mary D., Kathy, Jan, Alison, Marie, Donna and Susan, to name a few, plus another Kathy, Laura, Lori, Linda, Kresse and Patsy who started as friends and remain so.
My theory on this is you once loved these...
We've all heard the song:
"Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm going to eat some worms
Big fat juicy ones, little, tiny squirmy ones, I'm gonna eat some worms."
In Monday's Californian, Howie Rumberg of The Associated Press, noted that worms are a good source of protein and are a delicacy in many parts of the world.
Rumberg, known in some circles as the Idiot in the Kitchen, noted that worms are served like bar nuts in Thailand or sun-dried snacks in southern Africa....
Seems that women are having passion parties in their homes and cardio striptease classes in the gym.
Californian reporter Sarah Ruby wrote about this trend that has been circulating around Bakersfield.
Passion parties, done in the tradition of Tupperware parties, offer all kinds of stuff that women can use to spice up their lives generally outside the kitchen.
The gym workouts are supposed to be healthy too.
Men — all in favor of this say "Aye!"
Aye.
Posted...
Chicago Tribune reporter Greg Burns wrote about the magic price of $1.
If it costs $1 or it's close friend 99 cents, people gobble it up. The same doesn't hold true for $1.19 or 89 cents.
This is why The Dollar Store or its friendly competitor the 99 cent store are such a hit.
And I am one of their customers.
Candy. Best place to buy candy. Right now I have a 10-pack of Butterfingers, a bag of Brach's cherry chocolates and a bag of gum drops.
Bananas, peanuts, gift wrap, popcorn...
Anita Bruzzese in her On the Job column wrote about how important friends are at work.
She said employees get that, but employers don't always — sometimes discouraging friendships.
I've been at The Californian nearly 28 years and what distinguishes this paper from the other five I've worked at is the quality of friendships in the newsroom. We party well together.
Bruzzese said that research found that when people were asked if they would rather have a best friend at work or a...
I am a walking encyclopedia on bra strap issues.
So it was with great amusement that I read a story by Brianna Bond of the McClatchy-Tribune that a fashion designer is proposing designer bra straps as a cure for those of us who are repeatedly sickened by ugly ones.
You know what I'm talking about. They are fat and white and they don't fit under those cute spaghetti straps or halter tops.
The just detract from the ambiance.
Fashion designer and musician Margarita Reis has come to...
The Californian is beginning today a series of stories on the abduction of Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christain Science Monitor.
I've linked the first one above, but you either have to read the newspaper or find the others online.
This blog is to invite you not to miss theses stories. They are gripping.
(even though the photograph we are running of her doesn't do her justice. having your hair pulled straight back is a stupid hairstyle. I speak on behalf of all men)
...
Reporter Ryan Schuster has written a story about changes in downtown to improve the businesses and the clientele.
We've tried gangs and thugs; that didn't work.
The story will run on Friday, Aug. 18.
Capistrano's, complete with an antique piano, long black granite bar and an upscale restaurant following a $450,000 remodeling project, will replace Downtown Joe's and the former Bullpen in the same spot at 19th and Eye Street.
"You're not going to...
I went to Supercuts in the Marketplace to get my haircut last night and learned all kinds of interesting things.
First of all, I thought all people who cut hair were barbers.
Turns out they are not. The ladies at Supercuts are cosmetologists. The difference between them and barbers — with the possible exception of gender — is that barbers can wield a razor.
I guess that means a cosmetologist can't slit my throat. Good to know.
I asked my cosmo lady what she would blog...
So here we are in Kern County.
We voted we didn't want sewage sludge from Los Angeles and now that huge city is suing us for practicing democracy.
The 83 percent landslide vote on June 6 in support of Measure E obviously didn't mean anything to the Southern California interests that want Kern to be their toilet.
It really feels like the big nation is trying to run roughshod on us. Maybe how some of the Middle Eastern countries feel when the U.S. drops in.
Don't those sludge...
New York Times reporter Nicholas Bakalar wrote a story that says researchers have found strong evidence that coffee reduces the risk of several serious ailments, including diabetes, heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver.
As the coffee czar in the newsroom here, I always knew that I was helping my fellow man.
Actually, I didn't care one whit. I just needed a little something to pump me up in the morning.
The story says coffee contains antioxidants — more than typical...
The latest tourist information from 2004 shows Kern is the most popular tourist destination in the San Joaquin Valley.
People actually want to come here to have fun. Who knew?
They want to visit the Crystal Palace, the Kern River Valley and the Kern County Museum, among others.
We had 6.51 million visitors, compared to 5.63 million in Fresno County and even less in the rest of the valley.
I'm pretty sure we're not in the same ball park as Paris or San Francisco, but for what the...
A new reality TV show wants to match a real cowboy with a city girl who is tired of all the self-centered city men who can't satisfy them.
So the producers of "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent" have come to Kern County and the Central Valley to find a farmer or rancher who's looking for a missus.
Kern Farm Bureau spokesman Richard Jelmini and Pete Belluomini aren't holding out much hope for the show's producers that they will find a Kern farmer willing to go...
How vain are we?
Would we like our name on a Heinz ketchup bottle? It can be done for up to $6 a bottle, H.J. Heinz has announced.
A story by Bruce Horovitz of USA Today says Heinz's foray is the latest in the food vanity market. The story will be in the Aug. 10 Californian.
Jones Soda appears to have started the trend in 1998, followed by General Mills which can put your picture on a Wheaties box (even if you are not a champion), M&Ms can have 8-character messages on their...
My bride and I went to visit her friends in Coarsegold who took us up the road to Yosemite on Saturday.
It was a spectacularly beautiful day and, of course, the place was spectacularly beautiful.
Glaciers carved out El Capitan, Half Dome and the rest of the stunning beauty that rises up steeply from the Merced River. Waterfalls grace the landscape.
And the Ahwahnee Hotel is a grand place to have lunch, albeit $100 for four.
Have you been to Yosemite? Did you like it? Do you think...
A story by John Schwartz of the New York Times suggested that experts believe drunks may say stupid things, but it is generally things they believe.
The topic came up following the anti-Semitic rantings of Mel Gibson and his crude reference about the anatomy of a female officer.
Dr. Kevin J. Corcoran, a psychology researcher who has studied the effects of alcohol on perception and judgement said drunken comments do not spring from nothing.
He said Gibson may not fully believe what he...
What we're talking about here are pigs — the ones with the curly tails and four legs.
Jerry Perkins of the Des Moines Register has reported that a company is using ultrasounds to detect pigs with more fat so they can be bred to produce fatty pigs. (Fat as we all know provides the flavor for meat)
The way Doyle Wilson, president of Biotronics, Inc., put it is his company wants to identify pigs than can produce jucier and tastier pork.
This follows a trend of taking fat out of...
Seems that advertisers continue to find new places to place ads.
A story by Dan Thanh Dang of The Baltimore Sun says that a laser-imprinted CBS eye logal and slogan will appear on eggs in major markets.
They will be called "egg-vertisements" to promote its fall line-up.
This follows ads that have invated bathroom stalls, cell phones and doctors' offices. Not to mention stadiums and arenas (Rabobank ring a bell?)
The Wall Street Journal will have ads on its front page...
We were reasonably comfortable in all the heat last month.
And it only cost us $500.
Yikes! That made us uncomfortable.
We were a little startled because the last house we had, which had two air conditioners (our new house has only one), had bills that were less than half that amount.
And as we asked around, it seems that people all over the place have bills of $200, $300, $400 and much more.
I'm beginning to miss my old apartment where in the worst of the summer heat, my...
Here I go again.
Complaining about the system that feeds me.
But if there is one thing I hate about this new blogging system, it's the anonymous key.
So we get all these posts from "anonymous" and that could be one, 20 or 100 different people.
I don't care that people want to be anonymous. But may I suggest you use a name like dogface (boys only), hipchick (girls only), knowitall (teens only) or dullerthandirt (management only), or whatever name you want to choose.
...
Okay, it is probably one issue on whether teachers should have to take a test in order to meet a "highly qualified" standard and keep their job.
But what struck me in Lisa Schencker's story on the issue was a teacher and a union leader suggested that some teachers have difficulty taking tests?
What?!!!!!
Teachers give tests. If they can't take them, how do they expect students to take them?
There's nothing tricky about taking tests. You study the subject and remember...
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