|
Lasting benefits of 'magic mushrooms' Are top swimmers doping? U.S. tennis player's amazing rant against female tennis stars DNA tests sniff out mutts' breeding Court rules in favor of Second Amendment gun right What makes someone an adult? Get high before you fly Man loses 75 pounds on McDonald's diet High school girls make pact to get pregnant The smartest (and dumbest) dog breeds June 06 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 August 05 July 05 June 05 May 05 April 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 
RSS 2.0    |
|
|
Today is the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death.
I'm not a big follower of British Royalty.
For one thing, most of them aren't all that attractive.
But Diana was attractive and therefore worthy of more than a glance. In my limited knowledge of her, she seemed like a really good person who got stuck marrying a dufus.
I am posting this blog to honor her memory.
Posted by Steve E. Swenson
British people are funny.
One of its biggest unions opposes an employer ban on using social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook at work.
The Trades Union Congress, which represents 6.5 million workers in Beatles land, says workers should be allowed to have a little fun chatting on their breaks.
God knows, no responsible union would encourage such frivolous activity during work time. That employees might violate this tenet could be a real concern.
But then the union says...
Apparently, wearing pants so that much of a person's underwear shows is called sagging.
And some communities are trying to make it against the law to have such a treacherous fashion sense. Fines of up to $500 and six months in jail.
Of course, that has brought out the fashion rights advocates — people who believe they have a right to look that stupid.
This would include my children who, thankfully, seem to have outgrown the need to expose their boxers.
But the question is,...
After reading a story by Sonja Haller of the Arizona Daily Republic, the question might not be do you, but how much do you.
Her story quotes a 2005 survey by MONEY magazine which found that 71 percent of 1,001 women and men with incomes of $50,000 or more admitted keeping money secrets.
Not just a few dollars here and there, but enough to travel abroad, says one Arizona woman, Geri Schencker.
Relationship and financial experts frown on the practice, but those who stash says it helps...
The California Supreme Court ruled that the pay of individual government employees is public information.
This confirms a ruling The Californian won several years earlier in a lower court on the same topic.
The Californian has been seeking firefighter salaries as it did several years ago to see if overtime pay is less costly than hiring more firefighters.
Until Monday's decision, the county and the city withheld the information based on other court cases which suggested such...
A 30-something, college-educated woman close to me had her head bashed into the kitchen sink and then was strangled so hard that she sprained both her thumbs trying to loosen her husband's grip.
He released his grip when the couple's little children walked in on them.
On the next day at his arraignment, he told the judge he didn't know what happened. He wasn't himself. It had never happened before.
The prosecutor replied family members had reported it was a longstanding problem. He...
I was in visiting my physician's assistant on Friday and the subject of grudges came up.
I was telling him about a woman (who is too well known to name) who has held a grudge against me for about 4 years now.
It was over a professional disagreement. I was right. She was wrong. She might contend otherwise, but she would still be wrong.
The PA knows another woman who holds an irrational grudge against him.
On the basis of this vast research, we concluded that women hold grudges...
The anonymous letter that laid out complaints about City Manager Alan Tandy and his promotion process got different reviews on different sides of the issue.
The letter, sent to the city council, the miscellaneous civil service board, the city attorney and The Californian, accused Tandy of constructing a process to promote Rhonda Smiley without allowing any other candidates to apply for her new job, assistant to the city manager.
“The ‘Concerned City Employee’ would...
The county and city have said they won't give The Californian the names and the salaries of their firefighters. If this sounds familiar, it should.
More than five years ago we asked both agencies for the same info and they refused, saying we could only get salaries without the names, ostensibly to protect the privacy of their employees. The newspaper sued and won.
Now five years later, the city and county are saying that new court decisions override the decision made by a local judge...
Today is the first day of school for most kids. As usual all the local media is flocking to kindergarten classes to talk to kids on their very first day of school to see who is crying and who is jumping up and down with excitement.
I have to say I don't remember my emotions on my first day of school. Did I bawl? Was I giddy? Who knows. I suppose I could ask my parents, but it couldn't have been too traumatic since I don't even remember.
The only thing I remember is meeting a crazy kid...
You may recall a while back we asked our blog community to chime in with their ideas for the seven 'wonders' of Kern County. Well, we have taken the most commonly suggested landmarks and put them in an online poll for folks to vote on.
You can vote here.
We've set the poll to run through Sept. 16. We'll reveal the results the following Sunday (Sept. 23.)
For those who can't get enough of this kind of stuff, check out our Lost Treasures series from last year, on 20+ local landmarks...
We'll be running a piece in the paper soon on how custom ringtones are starting to raise some issues in the workplace. Seems folks can get annoyed by hearing AC/DC blaring over and over while they try to work.
Here are some ring tones heard around the newsroom. Share your own as well.
-R2D2 chirping
-Brown Eyed Girl
-P.I.M.P. by 50 Cent
-Our lips are sealed by The Go Gos
*I wish I could be annoying with my ring tone. I got this cool new iPhone and the thing won't allow me to do...
The Christian Science Monitor has written a story about what to call older people.
As a 58-year-old who gets the senior discount at Edwards, this interests me.
My friends used to call me an old goat. (Well, I am a Capricorn).
I'm not sure that would be a good universal term, however,
So the story throws out older, senior, senior citizen, elderly, elders, baby boomer, boomer, and those over 50 (or 65 or whatever).
Geezers wasn't on the list of preferred names. Nor was wrinkle...
The Kern Mosquito and Vector Control District will spray pyrethrin, a chemical intended to help stop the spread of West Nile virus, beginning at 8:30 p.m. today (Thurs. 8/9/07)
The Californian first heard about this late Wednesday afternoon, leaving us not much time to research whether this is a good idea. We're looking at that right now.
My preliminary research indicates it's not only a good idea, but safe too. The same chemical was sprayed on 120,000 acres in urban areas of Sacramento...
I have become fascinated watching Bob Murray give news conferences about the six minors trapped in his Utah mine.
Well the conferences are more about who Bob Murray is and some of his beefs with the government — too much regulation, global warming nonsense — than what's being done to reach the miners.
He speaks authoritatively, claiming this mine collapse was caused by an earthquake. TV immediately goes to seismologists who say the only tremor came after the collapse.
...
In yet another sign that corporate America is controlling our lives, some young people are keeping and losing friends based upon their cellphone plan.
Translated that means, if I can talk to you for free, you can be my friend. Or, I don't like you enough to spend money communicating with you.
A New York Times story documents this latest trend in how we fall into marketing plans.
There's another interesting statistic in this story — people 18 to 24 average 290 calls a...
Children aged 3 to 5 like food better if it is packaged in McDonald's wrappers than identical food packaged in something else.
A study has found that to be true.
It extends even to baby carrots, and McDonald's doesn't sell carrots.
Does this frighten you?
Posted by Steve E. Swenson
And it's back to school time! You know what that means. Awkward worry about classes, the opposite sex, and that awful pencil chewing addiction. As a parent or a student, what are you worried about? Are you concerned about the newest dress code rules, or just which fashions are in vogue? Want tips on how to calm you child's first-day-of-school-fears? let us know. Posted By Drew Philp.
A Clemson study has found that girls are more mean than they used to be.
Using the latest in technology — text messaging and Web sites, in addition to personal encounters — junior high and high school girls are bullying others in their gender.
And then increasingly they are beating them up.
The above-linked story says The Girls Scouts are fighting back.
Have you noticed this trend?
How would you advise girls to handle bullying?
Posted by Steve E. Swenson
P.S....
A story in Sunday's paper says the average worker wastes 1.7hours of a typical 8.5-hour workday.
That's actually down from a 2005 study that found slackers averaged 2.09 hours in a day not accomplishing anything for their pay.
The slacker activities include surfing the Web, socializing with co-workers and conducting personal business.
The story said businesses move at a faster pace these days and there's simply less time to waste at work.
I agree with that. I think there is a much...
Jack McClellan, 45, is a self-proclaimed pedophile who would like to have consensual sex with pre-pubescent girls if it weren't illegal.
He said he has obeyed the law since he came to California and he has never been convicted of a sex crime, but he has posted websites with pictures of little girls and has suggested the kinds of places where people can meet them for companionship and cuddling.
All this has led to two lawyers, who are fathers of young daughters, seeking a court...
A new survey shows more than two-thirds of Kern County residents view air pollution as a major problem and a threat to their health. Some have called this a change in mindset locally, from the days when many were in denial about our unhealthy air. Do you agree?
While you’re at, here’s a sample of poll questions. How would you have answered?
1. Would you say air pollution is a big problem, somewhat of a problem or not a problem in your region?
2. Do you or does...
A Great Dane dog near Memphis, Tenn. shot its owner in the back.
It theoretically was an accident, as King George, the dog, knocked a .22-caliber pistol off the table causing it to go off and strike his 21-year-old owner in the back.
Prosecutors have declined to file charges.
The question is, how do your dogs abuse you?
We have a psycho dog, Brooke, who keeps us up on July 4 and Jan. 1 with her severe reaction to fireworks. We have a fat dog, Sebastian, who just on Saturday...
|
