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Update San Diego, 11/09/2010
RE "So why do you think the American culture is full of drugs?. It might have som[e]thing to do with the Spanish culture!": And I was sure it had something to do with Edgar Allan Poe. Of course, he certainly had opportunity to allow himself to be "Spanish-influenced" traveling through the Adams-Morgan district in the District of Columbia, near the old Mexican Embassy, on his way back and forth between Richmond and Boston. Obviously, Spanish influence caused all of China to be addicted to opiates by the time of the Boxer Rebellion. Spanish influence via China of Senator Boxer is still to be investigated. If found true, then this may explain gridlock inside the DC Beltway as everyone on both sides of the aisle retired to the basement of the Rayburn Building to sleep it off. Ah, bipartisanship! Let's not forget that Bush 41 was an American envoy to China. More Spanish influence, even in the White house!!! It's not like we Independents didn't expect BOTH parties to be on some kinds of drugs now...— November 9, 2010 12:36 p.m.
MP3
RE "Why there isn't an MP3 service that comes with a PDF download of liner notes is beyond me": What a concept for under/unemployed software types!— November 9, 2010 6:37 a.m.
Will Uptown Partnership Dissolve?
RE #3: Don Bauder has spent considerable time and effort following the KESSLER V. CITY OF SAN DIEGO whistle-blower case involving business improvement district problems with conflicts of interest, investigated by HUD, FBI and SDPD but not prosecuted by our incumbent district attorney. See Bauder's SCAM DIEGO blog posts and at least one CITY LIGHTS article by him on that matter.— November 9, 2010 6:20 a.m.
Update San Diego, 11/08/2010
Historically, off-shore oil storage in tankers has been a bitter consumer issue ever since the 1970s Arab Oil Embargo, seen at that time as both a supply and price manipulation and often discussed by people waiting in long gas lines. Young adults simply have no context for buying gas in a time when paying $0.50 a gallon was considered outrageously high. Unless I am wrong, all seats in the United States Senate meeting in the District of Columbia are "at large", meaning the all US senators represent entire sovereign states. Here in California, it is state senators serving in Sacramento who represent by district. The fact that 51% of San Diego county residents voted for Fiorina is not that much of a surprise, after a majority here actually voted this summer in favor of PG&E's losing state constitutional amendment Proposition 16 that would have ended City of San Diego voter rights under the City's 1970 electricity franchise to SDG&E. That majority approval came after a long PG&E-sponsored campaign run that failed to mention those still-existing local voter rights, coming as CPUC issued a 2010 order for PG&E not to lie during election campaigns. As far as I can tell, attorneys for PG&E are still arguing that PG&E can say anything it wants at any time it wants as long as PG&E has not yet been on the losing end of a state enforcement lawsuit for violating unfair competition laws, a CPUC proceedings topic I have blogged on previously before the San Bruno gas line explosion and wildfire. With enough advertising, we will vote to approve anything and anyone.— November 9, 2010 6:11 a.m.
One Can Skip 2 Semesters of Algebra At City College
RE #2: I was fortunate to have a moment with Escalante when he visited City College decades ago, to an overflow crowd that required extra lecture halls with video feed besides filling the City College theater for his talk, which included a section on avoiding advice from counselors. He scrawled on my calculus book: "You can do it. You're the best!" Such was the benefit of positive reinforcement. As a math tutor, the best is when I manage to clone myself and create another tutor in the math major... and maybe even turn one into a speed reader who can tutor ANYTHING...— November 8, 2010 6:57 p.m.
Boycott U-T, Says Arts Writer
Visduh does have a point about advancing technology AND the improved infrastructure mean to us, especially in San Diego where large numbers have Internet-capable laptops and other portable devices. I, an old computer science and data processing graduate from the late 1980s, am realizing great productivity gains with wifi just installed last month in the old folks' home... As for Visduh mentioning barriers being broken down by access to such sites as the Reader's, it is what has enabled me to at least PRETEND I was a journalist from 2008 to now. We can only hope that more of us pick a niche and decide to go for it as well. At the same time, there are people already writing really good stuff here that I am still discovering just now. Maybe its a function of more of us being more aware of what is already available?— November 8, 2010 6:41 p.m.
One Can Skip 2 Semesters of Algebra At City College
Confusing City College math students successfully for three decades now... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Theory-of-Computati…— November 8, 2010 2:34 p.m.
Boycott U-T, Says Arts Writer
Regardless of the lack of taste I have for writing anything in the U-T (where I am obviously and obliviously only qualified to mouth off in the Opinion section), I am concerned about losing that news source altogether, biased and evil or not. I blog here for free. I try to blog-cover the proceedings of California's Public Utilities Commission over San Diego Gas and Electric Company and Sempra Energy, especially as to future rate hikes that most people in San Diego are totally unaware of specifically, even though they suspect them coming in general. I take on other issues as they get thrown in my face. It has been a privilege to do this under the First Amendment, for pay or not for pay. It's still a privilege. The Reader is simply not equipped at this time or in the near term to fill the void if the U-T were to go under. If the U-T did go under, then for the most part hard news in this town would be limited to 30-60 seconds worth of talking points on TV, and the only art coverage this town would see on any video media source with significant market share is whatever stupid outfit the Carlsbad Kook happened to be wearing by dawn's early light. On the other hand, Reader advertising revenues should spike appropriately and may remain high over time, as if there were plastic surgeons who weren't already taking out Reader ads in the first place. The Reader needs to step up its objective news coverage on all topics, or at least encourage others to blog FOR FREE in those areas that need coverage, where free coverage by bloggers is the ongoing practice here at the Reader, occasional prizes notwithstanding. With all that said, IT IS A GOOD THING to take a stand and be prepared to publish on it when folded, spindled, and stifled by a former employer, as if blogging for free qualified as employment!— November 8, 2010 2:03 p.m.
Investigations of Former Chula Vista City Council Member Mitch Thompson Completed and Dropped
The CV code requirement that valid complaints must be submitted within 60 days of the most recent event may be saying a lot about the ethics of the persons who approved that code section in the first place and of those coming into office later who have left it unamended, as if they all had something to protect. It takes a lot of time and effort to find out facts regarding unethical behavior because that sort of thing doesn't generally happen in the light of public scrutiny. I am fairly certain that most of us as ordinary reasonable persons could not put together all of the elements of a credible complaint in that time without spending for surveillance and document searches to build a proper timely complaint. A timely but premature complaint (lacking enough documentation or other evidence to be credible) only sets up a complaining CV resident for some sort of legal counter-attack like a SLAPP suit. It helps if the ethics commission allows sufficient time for relevant material discovery after the initial timely complaint is filed and before a hearing or other due process date is set.— November 7, 2010 9:21 p.m.
Union-Tribune Circulation Continues Falling; North County Times Edges Up
RE "In many respects, the big draw of the Sunday paper is the coupons. It's not the editorial product, unfortunately, to many buyers": I have to admit that reading the Sunday opinions (as part of one family that has had a subscription for generations) has started me on a living room rant that has led to more than several of my Reader blog posts... but my admitting to actually reading those opinion pieces and taking them seriously shows how naive and/or stunted I may be. There seems to be a common theme in this comment thread of lost opportunities for true civic leadership at the U-T...— November 7, 2010 8:39 p.m.