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PUBLISHED 8-13-2006
There are times when the only thing you can say is: There ought to be a law! This is one of them.
The pathetic thing in this case is that there seems to be a law, but it was ignored.
The parking ticket Arlene Ramos-Aninion received a few days ago was just plain wrong,...
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Comments [17] - Views [455]
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Do you have different colored fibers coming out of your skin? This is just one symptom of Morgellons, a possible urban myth of a disease that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into.
Here's some information from a story the San Francisco Chronicle did in June:...
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Comments [3] - Views [311]
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A 64-year-old woman was left with severely damaged sight after ordering steroids online.
She got her drugs from Thailand. Doctors say it is well known that steroids can cause eye damage.
I didn't know that. Neither did she, until now.
But what I do know is ordering drugs online is...
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Comments [2] - Views [220]
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We all have our preferences for the type of music we enjoy.
Me, it's country and 50's, 60's and 70's rock and roll. Music went to pot in the 80s and ever since.
But the question here is what type of music don't you like and why?
I'll go first.
Rap. I equate it to porn. After 30...
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Comments [17] - Views [1096]
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When I came to Bakersfield in the summer of 2000 I had just two days to find an apartment. After trying all the big complexes in town (too expensive for my taste) I got desperate and tried the newspaper. Well, not really the paper, but the online classifieds.
I lucked out and found a place...
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Comments [0] - Views [217]
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PUBLISHED 8-11-2006
“It’s better alive than dead. ... It’s inconvenient, but we’ll make it.”
— Bob Chambers,
airline passenger in Baltimore, MD.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go with the flow....
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Comments [2] - Views [189]
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Next time your apartment seems small, be glad you don't live in a shotgun house. If you have any appreciation for hallways, this kind of dwelling is not for you.
So called because one could theoretically shoot a bullet from the front door and watch it sail on through the back door,...
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Comments [0] - Views [209]
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Travelers at Los Angeles International and other domestic airports will have restrictions following a foiled terrorist plot in England to blow up commercial airliners.
As of 4 a.m. Pacific time, passengers in the United States may no longer carry any liquids -- including drinks, hair gels, and...
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Comments [56] - Views [797]
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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...
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Comments [3] - Views [266]
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PUBLISHED 8-10-2006
And until we wise up, it’s going to happen again and again.
A Republican-sponsored bill to reimburse California counties, including Kern, for the cost of conducting last fall’s special election is going nowhere fast.
No duh. The...
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Comments [4] - Views [225]
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PUBLISHED 8-10-2006
A trashy-sounding idea could be an air quality and traffic reduction treasure for city and urban county residents.
The city of Bakersfield and the county of Kern are proposing to build a joint trash transfer facility in metropolitan Bakersfield. Its purpose is to...
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Comments [1] - Views [185]
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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...
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Comments [11] - Views [251]
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Plan B, the morning after pill, is getting closer to over-the-counter status nationwide. The maker of Plan B, Barr Pharmaceuticals, said yesterday that the Food and Drug Administration promises to speed up the process. Here's a story about the recent developments, done by MSNBC.
Plan B has...
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Comments [12] - Views [332]
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Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, once a vice presidential candidate, was defeated Tuesday in a primary election by a rich, but political novice Ned Lamont for the Democratic nomination.
Lamont, 52, hammered Lieberman over his support of the war and a video that appeared to show President...
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Comments [40] - Views [397]
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There's an interesting little tradition in some churches where during communion, people drink wine out of the same cup.
It happens at St. John's Lutheran and All Saints Episcopal, and I'm sure at some other churches too. The wine represents Christ's blood.
A minister has a white cloth which...
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Comments [26] - Views [1016]
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PUBLISHED 8-9-2006
British Petroleum owes a lot more than the “deep regret” apology North American Chairman Bob Malone gave for the need to shut down significant portions of its North Slope oil pipelines.
There is increasing evidence of reprehensible mismanagement of pipeline...
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Comments [7] - Views [258]
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PUBLISHED 8-9-2006
Maybe we should feel relieved that it was just two boneheaded teenage burglars who stole a Department of Veterans Affairs laptop computer on May 3, compromising the identities and financial security of 26.5 million veterans and active duty service members. But we don't....
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Comments [13] - Views [222]
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There are no buts about it. Mel Gibson's drunken tirade was offensive, disturbing and virulently anti-Semitic.
That being said, the actor, like many of us, surely must be wondering "How long, O Lord, how long?"
How long will this story top the evening news? Hog the...
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Comments [68] - Views [1122]
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A Rand corporation study says that teens who are exposed to raunchy song lyrics — ones that describe boys as "sex-driven studs" and girls as sex objects, complete with descriptions of sex acts — are prone to engage in sex earlier than teens who don't listen to such...
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Comments [8] - Views [1040]
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Football season is nearly upon us, and coming with it is a new spate of football movies.
"Invincible," a Disney film starring Mark Wahlberg as a 30-year-old bartender trying to win a job with the Philadelphia Eagles, is scheduled to come out later this month. Due out in...
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Comments [8] - Views [1400]
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My mom and I have a strong difference of opinion about the movie "Shallow Hal."
The 2001 comedy stars Jack Black as the title character, a looks-obsessed man looking for love who, after undergoing hypnosis, is given the ability to see the inner beauty of every woman he comes...
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Comments [17] - Views [569]
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I don't think much has been written about this in the United States, but it's something that is being talked about among researchers.
In March, human trials started on TGN1412, a drug designed to treat chronic inflammatory conditions and leukemia, by the German firm TeGenero in England. Eight...
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Comments [0] - Views [158]
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Mike Polyniak, who lives near Thompson Junior High School and is tired of neighborhood cats fouling up his yard, wants the City of Bakersfield to clamp down on the felines.
I'm with you, Mike. That's a great idea. But I'm afraid you're in for a war.
For example, one of your neighbors, Anne...
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Comments [80] - Views [1140]
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Some people really need a dog to help them get around in public.
They may have "invisible disabilities" or other problems which prevent them from going to a store, a restaurant or a doctor's office without their dog.
America has a program for that, called service dogs. The dogs...
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Comments [13] - Views [446]
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Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil surged above $76 a barrel, recording its biggest gain in two weeks, after BP Plc said it will shut Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field, where 8 percent of U.S. oil is produced.
Some 400,000 barrels a day of production is being shut, BP's spokesman Ronnie Chappell said. A...
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Comments [30] - Views [389]
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On Friday, I had lunch with some people at Option Care, a specialty pharmacy near Meadows Field. The topic of conversation was hepatitis C, a disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus. Option Care does a lot of hep C education for patients and their families, the group said. Along with...
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Comments [10] - Views [419]
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Q: Why does no one care for the 13 to 15 locust trees on the corner of Airport and Skyway drives? It is the old entrance to the airport. Someone used to water them, but the last year or more, no one has. They are so attractive on that corner; it is a shame to see them all die.
— Mona Carver...
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Comments [0] - Views [185]
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Q: The old PG&E power plant on the corner of Rosedale and Gosford remains inactive. Can an investigation provide an update of that property?
Any information will be appreciated.
— Craig L. Pelz
PG&E is in talks with an unnamed buyer to sell the Kern Power Plant, which has been inactive...
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Comments [18] - Views [380]
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PUBLISHED 8-8-2006
The Assembly should move quickly to approve Sen. Dean Florez’s bill that would standardize regulation of genetically engineered nursery stock and seed. The bill passed the Senate on June 1 with a 31-8 vote.
Without SB 1056, stock distributors, seed outlets,...
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Comments [0] - Views [132]
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PUBLISHED 8-8-2006
Oh, yuck. Something else to worry about.
A television station took its investigative noses out to Lindbergh Field Airport in San Diego recently to check out the germs in the...
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Comments [1] - Views [161]
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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...
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Comments [4] - Views [252]
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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...
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Comments [14] - Views [317]
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One more second chance. That's all Richard Core wants.
He's only 17 but knows he's already used up his share of second chances.
It's a story we parents have heard before. Richard started hanging out with the wrong crowd his freshman year at North High School. He stopped...
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Comments [11] - Views [422]
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Is it just me or does anyone else feel like this week of 90 degree weather we've had has felt more like a week of 70 degrees? It's been a little TOO refreshing.
After that heat wave I don't know if I'm going to be able to complain about the heat until it goes at least a couple degrees past...
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Comments [11] - Views [374]
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PUBLISHED 8-6-2006
Enough is enough. Don’t just read those words, shout them. Better yet, scream them. That’s what many of The Californian’s readers are doing.
After reading last weekend’s story about the destruction taking place in North of the River parks,...
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Comments [29] - Views [444]
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PUBLISHED 8-6-2006
Today is the first day that this city will no longer put up with the jerks who think it is fun to destroy it.
Send The Californian your stories and suggestions. Send us your photographs.
What is happening in your neighborhoods and parks? Are criminals tearing them...
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Comments [1] - Views [170]
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We made a few small changes today that I hope you all will enjoy. Here are a couple of them.
First, if you use Internet Explorer, what you see in your blog entries and comments as you're writing them will more accurately reflect what you get after you post it. If you hit the Enter key once...
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Comments [8] - Views [304]
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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...
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Comments [1] - Views [188]
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Well, as I have been listening to my new iPod I am finding a disturbing number of songs that have glitches or cut off midway through the track.
Anyone else seen these kind of probs?
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Comments [4] - Views [422]
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In a story by David Colman of the New York Times, skulls showing up in fashion for both young and old are "the Happy Face of the 2000s."
Go to the mall and you will find them on T-shirts, ties, umbrellas, sneakers, swimsuits, packing tape, party lights and even a toilet brush....
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Comments [0] - Views [390]
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About a week ago, Babytalk, a magazine usually found in OB/GYN and pediatrician offices, found itself in controversy over its cover of a baby breastfeeding.
Rather than potentially offending people by showing the cover in this blog, here's a link to the pic with a story by CBS News about the...
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Comments [17] - Views [390]
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PUBLISHED 8-7-2006
By “real lake” standards, Lake Ming is a pond. But the county park facility is a body of water near Bakersfield’s population center that accommodates motor boats and water sports.
For that reason, special interest groups — water skiers, motor...
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Comments [0] - Views [175]
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PUBLISHED 8-7-2006
Sacramento politicians should butt out of our toilets. A bill by Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, embraces the admirable goal of conserving California’s scarce water. But it is an unnecessary, micromanaging, regulatory scheme that could waste more water than it...
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Comments [2] - Views [153]
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Arizona is considering a plan to offer $1 million to a randomly selected voter during elections as an incentive to get more people to vote.
A story by Associated Press reporter Paul Davenport says the proposal will be on the Nov. 7 ballot.
No one is being offered $1 million in that...
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Comments [21] - Views [406]
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PUBLISHED 8-4-2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recently announced goal of expanding school-based health centers is a good idea.
The services such a program could provide are desperately needed in Kern County and most of the Central Valley.
Depending on local needs and the...
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Comments [0] - Views [136]
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I am in need of a mechanic's stethoscope.
I tightened up the belt on my AC compressor on the Cutlass the other day and now I'm hearing some intermittent noise from the front of the engine. I think the tight belt may be damaging the AC compressor and/or the water pump. But I can't tell where...
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Comments [2] - Views [263]
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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...
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Comments [4] - Views [203]
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I just came across this story: Attractive parents 'have more daughters.'
The London Telegraph's story says:
"It postulates that differing "evolutionary strategies" lead parents to produce the sex that would most benefit from their own characteristics."
"So while...
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Comments [5] - Views [235]
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Reader: You have one of the best wildlife photographers in Casey Christie that I have ever seen. Some of his work is out of this world. How about printing an insert like Kern Life just filled with the wildlife pictures taken by all of your people. Most people don't even know the amount of...
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Comments [0] - Views [359]
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Reader: I am sure I am not the only parent who celebrates literacy in their children by occasionally having their children read stories in the newspaper.
I can't imagine that the Eye Street editor didn't know that the story "Hey you, dogface!" would be a family interest story. With...
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