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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 
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A plan is underway to wipe out the abundant life of rats on Rat Island, a 6,800-acre island on the western edge of the Aleutian Islands that trail off from Alaska.
It's because the rats have driven away all the birds.
Well, not so much driven away as eating their eggs, which is all the incentive the birds needed to stop visiting the rat paradise.
The first rats, including the muscular Norway rat, landed on the island in 1780 when a rat-infested Japanese ship ran aground. Since then...
I don't know what it is about Rodney King that makes me what to proclaim from the rooftops what a pathetic loser he is.
If there was ever someone who could have advanced the cause of black people, but threw it all away in a blanket of self absorption, it is Rodney King.
So while I'm not happy he was shot two or three times with birdshot from a shotgun while he was drunk on a street corner in San Bernardino, it does not surprise me.
None of the wounds to the 42-year-old King are life...
Now we know.
Not a good idea to name a teddy bear Muhammad in Sudan.
Muhammad, as in the great Prophet Muhammad, the most revered figure in Islam, is just not a suitable name for a teddy bear in the class of 54-year-old Gillian Gibbons, a Briton teaching in Sudan, many in that country believed.
Many in this country believe that is just way too silly for those people in that country to believe, but, hey, we're outsiders.
Gibbons was convicted by a judge Thursday of insulting Islam...
There's been a gaggle of thrilling finishes to Bakersfield College football games at Memorial Stadium over the last couple of years, but none quite match BC's last-minute 30-24 victory over Fullerton College in the 1988 Potato Bowl that clinched the JC Grid-Wire national championship for the Renegades.
Or has there been a better fantastic finish? Look over The Bakersfield Californian's Top 10 Fantastic Finishes at Memorial Stadium and let us know if we've missed one or two or if the...
When the children become grown and move away from the family house, whose job is it to continue the parent-child relationship?
Is it the child who becomes immersed with the day-to-day issues of survival?
Or is it the parent, who has already given 18 years or more of attention to the child?
Or maybe both?
I was discussing this issue the other day.
A daughter and her mother have become effectively estranged because neither one regularly takes the initiative.
That, of...
French researchers have shown that if you expose people to photos of blonde women, their mental performance suffers.
And by "people," they mean both men and women.
The same effect doesn't happen when people are shown photos of brunettes or redheads.
The mental performance was a response to Trivial Pursuit questions.
The researchers suggest it shows that people play down to their competition — and thus, the stereotype that blondes are smart-challenged leads to the...
A sad situation prompted a Missouri town to ban online harassment.
A 13-year-old girl, Megan Meier, committed suicide after receiving cruel messages on the Internet.
City officials in her down of Dardenne Prairie passed a law making it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail, to engage in Internet harassment in the community.
The messages to Megan were purportedly from a 16-year-old boy who befriended her on MySpace, but in reality were from a mother of a...
I knew that if I cleaned my plate at the former Friendly Cafe in Oildale, I would have more than my share of calories for the day.
Just as I knew that, I believe all people know that fast food fare is not a slimming diet.
But 60 Minutes on Sunday did a piece suggesting fast food places post calories along with prices of a Big Mac or whatever else you buy at these national chains.
The idea is that America is too fat and eating-out places are partly to blame. But not just...
For the true shoppers out there, 'tis the season to show your skills.
Tell us about the best bargain you've bought this year and how you got it. My mother, for example, is an Overstock.com addict known to spend hours scouring the site for deals.
So, what are your secrets for getting great deals on all those holiday gifts? What Bakersfield stores have the sweetest sales and the deepest discounts? Do you rush the mall at the crack of dawn on Friday, or score a savings through some other...
The United States Supreme Court will decide if the right to bear arms is an individual right.
Wow, you'd think that would have been decided......what......a couple hundred years ago?
The case has to do with a 31-year-old ban on personal handguns in Washington D.C.
An appellate court recently struck down the ban, and now the nation's highest court wants to figure out what this second amendment is all about.
Does Steve Swenson have the right to buy a handgun or is that right...
If you like bargains and mob mentality, you're probably looking forward to the upcoming sales. While many of us sleep off the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, others will be compiling lists and devising strategies to get the most out of the day-after-Thanksgiving sales.
Are you one of those manic shoppers, or would you rather let the hordes pillage the sales racks and head to the stores when the madness recedes?
— Andrew Mockett
Who knew people loved the theme park so much that they would request loved ones to spread their ashes there? According to this LA Times article, the rumor is someone sprinkled ashes over the side of the boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
That happens to be my favorite ride there, but I'd rather just the pirates' bones be scattered there, not my body!
Seriously, Disneyland should seize this opportunity to make some money from this venture. Here are some ideas:
1) Turn the...
A bird watcher in Texas will try to convince a jury he wasn't wrong in shooting a feral cat in order to protect endangered species of birds.
This is one of those stories you can't make up.
You'd think if Jim Stevenson, 54, of Galveston liked birds so much, he would know it was wrong to shoot a cat to death.
And a clue that he knew it was wrong was trying to speed away in a van after he did it.
Now, right up front here, I don't particularly like cats.
I chuckled some years back...
Where are uncomfortable suppositories when you need them?
I would like some generic ones for Congress for holding up for two years legislation that would increase the production of generic drugs.
Anyone who has ever received a drug prescription knows that generic drugs are so much cheaper than brand name varieties.
But Associated Press has reported that major lobbying by the drug industry has helped stall bills that would speed up the availability of generic drugs.
This is a...
According to a new study released over the weekend, there are a few risk factors which contribute to teens having sex earlier than their peers. Such factors include not feeling close to parents, low self-esteem and lots of TV.
If you're a parent of a teen, these are behaviors you should probably be aware of.
And if you're a teen, just because these factors may apply to you, it doesn't mean you're automatically going to start having sex. Just FYI.
— Andrew Mockett
I didn't know we had that many people in America making such a dumb decision.
But for the last several years, the rate of U.S. smokers has remained steady at about 21 percent.
Not only are the little cancer sticks expensive, but they contribute to about 438,000 deaths a year and 8.7 million people living with tobacco-related illness.
My daughter and stepdaughter both smoked for a time, but they both quit. My daughter quit amidst a large group of friends who still smoke. She...
What if police had a hand-held scanning gun that could detect tiny amounts of methamphetamine?
Would that scare you, or your neighbors?
Is that just what police need to crack down on the methamphetamine that is plaguing our society?
Such a gun is now being tested in Missouri. The reason is Missouri has an over-the-top number of meth labs.
Well, America being the way it is, there's a few technical and legal hurdles to surmount.
Just because the gun can detect meth, does that...
I love studies which look at my body and say, "That's not so bad."
A government study, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says being up to 25 pounds overweight doesn't appear to raise your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease.
If you're 30 pounds or more overweight, go see a doctor because that'll get you one way or the other, the same study says.
I'm guessing I'm about 15 to 20 pounds overweight. This comes in handy sometimes when I...
The temptation is great. The cure is illegal.
A device can jam nearby cell phones so they don't work.
What sounds like a wonderful device is illegal in America. That, of course, doesn't stop people and businesses from buying them.
The upside is rude cell phone users within a 30-foot radius can be rendered impotent.
The downside is jamming cell phones might jam one that is needed for an emergency.
American law protects cell phone air waves just as it does radio and...
Politics is the art of compromise and the Kern High School District board approved a new poster for every classroom Monday night.
Rather than the original poster that highlighted In God We Trust, the new poster features the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and both national mottos, In God We Trust and E Pluribus Unum, a Latin phrase meaning, "Out of many, one."
The vote was 4-1.
In my view that's an acceptable compromise, though it...
Who cares if this study is reliable?
The study shows that a moderate amount of beer after exercise in the heat is better for healing your body than drinking water.
We beer drinkers instinctively knew that.
I always have a beer after walking 18 holes of golf in 100-plus degree heat. Seems refreshing.
The above linked story questions whether beer might really dehydrate you or cause you to urinate your new found liquid at a faster clip.
These are just theories. What...
Some residents oppose putting shopping centers across the street from Stockdale High School at Buena Vista Road and White Lane.
If such protests succeed, no shopping centers would ever be built.
I live in the neighborhood and I'd love to see stores closer to my house.
The first proposal is for Mustang Square, which would have a market, a Walgreens, fast-food restaurants, a car wash and a Starbucks.
But also on the horizon is an 8-acre commercial area in which Castle & Cooke is...
Okay. I'm baiting you with the Liberty High School question.
But it stems from a poll which shows 67 percent of people favor handing out birth control at schools.
Most of those people want parental consent first.
But the idea behind any such program is to reduce teen pregnancies and abortions.
The poll did not limit the issue to high schools. It included junior high or middle schools.
Obviously, many people believe schools should have no part in providing birth control, other...
Right off the top, I know the $11 million verdict in Baltimore against the Westboro Baptist Church (the Phelps gang) for its insensitive protests at military funerals will probably be greatly reduced or eliminated on appeal.
But it's still good news. It's good news that an American jury gave this inhumane crusade a slap in the face.
I'm hoping an appellate court decides this isn't just a First Amendment issue, but rather an assault on people by a mean-spirited group of crack pots.
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