Track the latest seismic activity here. If a major quake occurs, this is a good site for finding out about tsunami warnings.
You can also find out more at this Caltech site, which includes links to statistics on recent earthquakes, maps, movies and community comments about ground shaking to which you, too, can contribute.
And here's an old post about a project for tracking quakes: Scientists link
laptops to detect earthquakes
Google has embarked upon yet another facet of the Web: the encyclopedia.
Google's service, dubbed "knol," has been widely viewed as the company's answer to Wikipedia, which has emerged as one of the Web's leading reference tools by drawing upon the knowledge of anonymous contributors.
But it's Wikipedia's credibility and anonymity issues that pose problems.
Anyone with a Google login name will be able to submit an article. The service, dubbed "knol" in reference to a unit of knowledge, had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors and readers for the past seven months.
Knol currently has several hundred articles, including an overview of constipation by a University of San Francisco associate professor of gastroenterology and backpacking advice from one of Google's own software engineers.
1) Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Marine exhibits, touch tanks and special events.
Hours: Tuesdays through Fridays noon to 5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Admission is a suggested a donation of $5 for adults, and $1 for children and seniors.
3720 Stephen M.White Drive, San Pedro. 310-548-7562.
2) South Coast Botanic Garden: 87 acres of land with a collection of plants from all over the world, classes, tours, walks and special shows.
Hours: Garden open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, $2.50 for children 5-12, and free for those under 5.
26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula. 310-544-6815.
3) Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center: Learn about the animal and plant species that benefit from the marsh at the Nature Center, then explore the marsh itself and see them in their natural habitat. Call for special nature walks and other events.
3201 Plaza del Amo, Torrance. 310-782-3989.
4) Point Vicente Interpretive Center: The 10,000-square-foot center features exhibits about the natural and cultural history of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, with an emphasis on the Pacific gray whale.
Hours: Daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Park grounds close at dusk.
No admission fee, but donations are appreciated.
31501 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes. 310-377-5370.
5) Roundhouse Lab, Aquarium: Native and non-native marine life, including sharks, moray eels, lobsters and octopi, on display in tanks; educational programs for kindergarten through 12th-grade classes; outreach programs and birthday parties.
Hours: 3 p.m. to dusk Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to dusk Saturdays and Sundays.
Free admission but donations are welcome.
End of Manhattan Beach Pier. 310-379-8117.
6) Western Museum of Flight: Focuses on the history of the aerospace industry in Southern California, with planes from all eras on display.
Hours: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays through Sundays.
General admission is $5, students $3.
3315 Airport Drive, Red Baron Hangar No. 3, Torrance. 310-326-9544.
7) Charles H. Wilson Park: Free Little Train Rides on the first Sunday of the month (except in July). The park also has a treehouse. The train rides are closest to the park's eastern Washington St. entrance.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2200 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance.
8) Sea Aire Golf Course: Sea-Aire is a very short nine-hole, 27 par, pitch and putt golf course nestled in the Seaside Ranchos neighborhood of SouthTorrance. It's a low-stress, relatively low-cost place to learn the game. Club and ball rental available.
Hours: Mondays 3 p.m. until dusk, Tuesdays through Sundays 9 a.m. until dusk.
22780 Lupine Drive, Torrance. 310-543-4653.
9) Banning Residence Museum: Built in 1864, the restored, 23-room Greek revival mansion is the former home of Phineas Banning, who founded Wilmington in 1858. Call for information on guided tours and special events.
General admission is $5, $1 for children under 12.
401 E. M St., Wilmington. 310-548-7777.
10) L.A. Maritime Museum: Exhibits include vessels, models, paintings and memorabilia of maritime life. Hands-on exhibits include knot board and amateur radio room.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays
General admission $3 general, seniors and youths ages 7-18 $1, children 6 and under free.
Berth 84, foot of Sixth St., San Pedro. 310-548-7618.
Did you know that the average U.S. household throws out a quarter of the produce it buys each year because of spoilage? For a family of four, that adds up to about $500 a year, according to a University of Arizona study cited in a recent Associated Press article.
And with most of us doing some economic belt-tightening, you don't really want to throw away your money like that, do you?
We didn't think so -- especially with food prices expected to rise up to 5.5 percent this year. To help, we have some Web sites that will teach you how to buy and store fruit and vegetables so they don't go bad before you're ready to devour them.
One great source is provided by the Henrys Market chain. Writer Shelley Levitt's "Spoiled Rotten" article offers extensive advice, and assures us that you don't have to go to the market every day to buy produce: "With proper storage and a little planning, you can enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables with just a single weekly trip to the supermarket." Levitt accomplishes this with a list of "Fastest to Slowest Spoilers -- What to Eat First." Levitt will also clue you in on what to refrigerate and what not to refrigerate.
If you're in a hurry, here are eight steps to keeping things fresh. Check, for example, Step 3: "Do not store fruits or vegetables in airtight bags. This prevents them from releasing gases and breathing. When fruits and vegetables are suffocated, they will spoil faster."
RELATED LINK:
L.A. Farm Girl on where to get the best produce in the South Bay
Find a Farmer's Market every day in the South Bay
Get bigger savings from your newspaper coupons
10 ways to live beneath your means
Database of South Bay eateries where kids eat free
But for those of us with overflowing in-boxes, lost personal messages and computer viruses, the time he'll serve might not make up for the pain and time he has cost.
We can't help you there. But we can help prevent future spam from wasting your time and in-box space.
If you're a consumer, the Federal Trade Commission site can explain what anti-spam rules mean for you. If you're a business owner, the site has information about how they affect commercial e-mails.
The site also includes links to resources that can help you reduce the amount of spam on your electronic plate.
And if you want in on some anti-spamming vigilante action, you can fill out a form to report suspected spammers.
We all know that Los Angeles is teeming with art galleries, auctions and screenings. But where exactly are these places? L.A. Weekly and L.A. CityBeat have got an extensive set of histings, but, no offense to them, both their online and print art-related listings aren't so easy to navigate
ForYourArt has set up a Web site to expose the rich culture of the L.A. Art scene. The blog updates weekly on all the creative goings-on in the neighborhood, from Orange County to Valencia. This week, do something different. Attend a benefit show or an exhibit opening. ForYourArt offers a very cool and very handy 16-page print-out map and guide to the county's little-known galleries, bookstores and other fun little nooks to explore.
RELATED LINKS:
Got to get a Getty guide
Read up on Gehry before his move to El Segundo
Get any good vacation snaps in Florida?
Photographer Kem McNair sure did at New Smyrna beach, taking an amazing picture of a 6-foot spinner shark leaping behind a surfer that is currently wading its way through the U.K. and Australian news outlets and into CNN's online coverage across the shark-infested pond. Debate lingers as to whether the fish was a spinner or a black tip, and while shark attacks are down this year at the notorious surf spot on central Florida's east coast, we can't help but think that sharks plus surfers is a dangerous combination with which many South Bay surfers can identify.
Caught the shark bug?
Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific tonight shows the original monster-from-the-deep movie "Jaws" as part of its annual Shark Week. Bring a picnic and watch your favorite predator on a massive outdoor screen at 8 p.m. At 100 Aquarium Way. You can also watch a free preview of a new episode of Discovery Channel's Shark Week and, for $10, tour the aquarium's amazing sea life displays, which include Shark Lagoon's sand tiger, sandbar, nurse and whitetip sharks.
From great white to green
Tired of sharks yet? You will be if you stayed up into the wee hours to catch the last round of the British Open, where veteran Australian golfer Greg Norman - or the Great White Shark as he's known -- leads the field by two shots going into the final 18 holes.
Summer is Hollywood Bowl season, and one of concertgoers' favorite accompaniments to a musical night under the stars is a basket picnic, complete with wine.
Wine bars and enotecas are in abundance throughout the South Bay, especially in the beach cities. They're perfect places to sample reds and whites by the glass and to buy bottles to tuck into your cooler. For starters, try Friends of the Vine in Redondo Beach; Coco Noche in Manhattan Beach, which also happens to sell a mouth-watering selection of gourmet chocolate; Cafe Pierre, also in Manhattan Beach; and WineStyles in Torrance.
But if you've never dared to quaff beyond cocktails and beer, beware: the wine world is a daunting place to navigate. Luckily, there's Cork'd, a wine review site where anyone can put in their two cents. Whether you've seen it at the supermarket, at the Olive Garden or at an exclusive Beverly Hills wine bar, it'll probably be on Cork'd -- and if not, there's nothing keeping you from adding your own review.
Go to the Bowl's 2008 season calendar to get an overview of this summer's concerts. Just remember that alcohol is permitted only to shows produced by the L.A. Philharmonic, and the venue has a size limit on carry-in coolers and baskets. Call 323-850-2000 for more information regarding the Hollywood Bowl's policies.
You know how people - maybe you, even - get stuck taking a hundred photos of their cats and dogs? There's nothing wrong with that, but what you need is inspiration. If you haven't already surfed through Flickr's Interestingness page, you're missing out on the most creative of photos on the 'net. Even if you're no camera wiz, Interestingness is still, well, interesting to click through. Think of it as the Wikipedia of photography. There's tags for the South Bay and just about every city within it. Look at our part of the world from different points of view.
Shuttertalk and Photojojo are great resources for propelling you deeper into the craft of photography. Both Web sites are dedicated to serving camera fiends with the best in tips and tricks, do-it-yourself gear and projects and Photoshop guides. The two sites cover everything from road trip and vacation photography to pointers on how to shoot for your eBay auctions.
Once you've got a memory card full of personal art, maybe you'll want to alter your photos a little bit - lay on some text, resize them, add a sepia tone. Nothing too crazy. But say you don't have Photoshop, or iPhoto, or even Microsoft Paint at your fingertips. Picnick is a free online-based photo application that offers most of the basics without clogging up your hard drive space. You can also save and share your photos directly to Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket or MySpace.
If you collect postcards, and even if you don't, you might like The Tacky Postcard Archive, a bizarre collection of well-meaning but incredibly outrageous cards from around the world guaranteed to leave you scratching your head. There's nothing like a postcard with a photo of a gigantic roll of toilet paper (seriously, it's huge). You can't order these quirky cards by mail, but you can send electronic versions via e-mail.
But if snail mail is more your style and you'd like to send and receive postcards from around the world, log on to Postcrossing. Sign up for a user account, request an address and you'll be e-mailed information from another user. Send your postcards and you're on your way. Your own address will end up in the database for another person to retrieve. Before you know it, your mailbox will be full of cards from Finland, Malaysia, Australia or any of the other 184 participating countries. It's an addicting and cheap way to make some use of your downtime. Even your little ones can get some mail; several users have signed up accounts for their children.
John McCain? Barack Obama? Well, why not President You?
See what happens when you grasp the reins of power in Nationstates, a free nation simulator game.
More than 73,000 countries exist on the virtual Nationstates planet. The objective is quite simple: there really isn't one. The game does not allow for interactive warfare, and each user is charged with handling his or her own affairs.
Users pick a flag and give their country a name and a formal title. The countries are then presented with a series of laws they must enact. Once enough laws have been passed, the government is classified into a category, such as "Democratic Socialists," "Corrupt Dictatorship" or even "Corporate Bordello." It is then further broken down into how countries are regarded for their civic, economic and political freedoms.
Some members can elect to join a United Nations-like body, the World Assembly, where countries can vote on laws that would be binding throughout the Nationstates world.
Each day, countries are ranked against one another in a survey where the quirky category changes daily.
It's all the fun of a benevolent dictatorship without the mess.
Tropical Storm Bertha raked Bermuda with high winds Monday while kicking up choppy surf
along the East Coast of the United States according to The Associated Press. U.S. forecasters warned that the system was close to regaining hurricane strength. The streets were empty and all ferries and flights were canceled in the British territory. Most businesses closed and there were sporadic power outages from downed cables as well as minor flooding in low-lying areas. There were no reports of injuries.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm was 65 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of the Atlantic island late Monday afternoon with sustained winds near 70 mph (110 kph) and higher gusts. Bertha is expected to strengthen into a hurricane during the next 24 hours, according to the hurricane center.
Track the storm online here using the National Hurricane Center's charts predicting wind speed, wind probability and wind history. Use the site to also track Hurricane Elida just off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific.
What if everyone took the time to do something positive every week for the world instead of just grousing every time Monday rolls around?
That's part of the philosophy behind Matthew Emmerzian and Kelly Bozza's "Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make a Difference" new book and Web site.
Every Monday Matters takes 52 creative but doable activities that can make a difference on a local level, and, collectively, on a much larger scale.
For example, Monday number 17's theme is "Register to Donate Your Organs," which in California is handled through the DMV and can be done via the Web at www.donatelifecalifornia.org/. Your organ donation could save the lives of eight people, and your tissue donation enhance the lives of another 50 people. Saving a life by donating a heart, lung, or kidney or allowing someone to see again through your cornea may be the most significant gift you ever give...and you may not even be aware you are giving it.
And another Monday assignment was to "thank a firefighter." If you missed it, and want to start now, here are the email addresses for our local firehouses that list them:
Torrance Fire Department
Redondo Beach Fire Department
El Segundo Fire Department
L.A. County Fire Department
And postal addresses for the ones that don't:
Hermosa Beach Fire Department
540 Pier Ave
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Manhattan Beach Fire Department
400 15th Street
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Add the authors' 50 other simple, effective ideas such as this to your Monday schedule -- or substitute your own -- and the power of the Every Monday Matters philosophy starts to become apparent. And maybe your Mondays won't seem so awful after all.
Struggling to get your coffee fix without breaking your budget on $5 mocha chip lattes? Independent coffee houses are cheaper than chains and offer a much homier, cozier atmosphere. Delocator.net is your source for finding those cafes in your area. Just plug in your zip code and you're on your way to working against the corporate man. Descriptions written by fellow users make it easy to see which cafes have wi-fi or full lunch menus. The site also provides alternatives for chain bookstores and movie theaters.
Yard sales are so 20th Century. If the economy has you down and you're looking for ways to be thrifty or to help out someone in need, you need to get online.
The Freecycle Network is a movement of like-minded people who give away things they don't need anymore to those who might be able to use it, rather than ship it off to the landfill.
The group's mission statement:
"Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."
To participate, contact the yahoo group you want to join. Membership is free. Then you can list items you want to get rid of or post a request for something you need. You'll also receive emails about items that are being offered. Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages. Recent postings in the Torrance group have offered up everything from new women's underwear to wrought iron patio furniture.
Freecycle groups in the South Bay:
There's a lot of junk on the Internet, especially when it comes to videos. Plenty of the content on YouTube is more ridiculous than even the most mind-numbing episodes of VH1 reality shows. Sometimes you want something more substantial, more meaty, more insightful.
That's where PBS's Frontline archive comes in -- a collection of smart, in-depth documentaries viewable online. "The Medicated Child," for example, takes a look at the issues concerning children who are prescribed psychiatric drugs. "Young & Restless in China" focuses on nine young adults in China coping with their country's rapidly changing environment. There are films on AIDS, the Holocaust, obesity and, of course, the Iraq War. The archive dates back to 2001, so there's no shortage of videos here. Log on and feed your head.
A New York federal judge last week ordered Google to turn over records of which users have watched which videos on YouTube, which drew concerns from privacy advocates across the Internet.
Viacom is seeking the information to help build its copyright infringement lawsuit against Google. While it's too soon to tell what will happen as a result of the order, it presents an opportunity to remind everyone be wary of just what information they are making available online.
Most people probably know the basics -- don't click links included in unsolicited e-mails, don't let your children give out personal information to strangers online, and so on -- but there are plenty of other tips that will help you protect your privacy.
The Center for Democracy & Technology is an organization which "seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies." A list of ten privacy protection tips from the center is available at: http://www.cdt.org/privacy/guide/basic/topten.html.
One tip is to have an e-mail account for personal use, and a separate account to use when filling out forms online. If you have a Gmail account, you can use the + sign to create an extended email address (such as your.name+spam@gmail.com) that you can give to Web sites. Their messages will appear in your normal inbox, and if you're starting to receive unsolicited spam you'll know exactly where it came from. Just set up a filter and it's gone.
If you would like to stay current on the latest online privacy news, visit the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The Web site also has a list of practical privacy tools: http://epic.org/privacy/tools.html.
Included are well over 100 links to secure e-mail providers, HTML filters, secure instant messaging programs and Web and file encryption tools.
Both CDT and EPIC also have news pages that will keep you up-to-date on privacy policies and standards as they continue to change.
For a collection of links to current privacy policies for some companies, as well as other information, visit http://www.privacyexchange.org/buscodes/index.html.
Imagine a two-and-a-half hour commute from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
The California High Speed Rail Authority gave the go-ahead Wednesday to a route that would link the state's major cities and regions.
Environmental studies approved Wednesday clear the way for a high speed rail system that would connect San Francisco, Sacramento and the Central Valley with Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego. Check out the impressive High Speed Rail route map here.
The next major hurdle for the project is a $9.9 billion bond measure on the November ballot. Authority board member Rod Diridon says if voters approve the bonds, bids for constructing the first stages of the rail line could begin in 2010.
That'll definitely put the 405 Freeway to shame.
Sometimes, when you look at that big, muddled abyss of spending lumped together on your bank statement, it feels like you have no real grasp on the money you're spending. Some people might rely on their judgment to tell them how to manage their money, but Mint.com offers a way to visualize your spending. So maybe your judgment should wait until after it sees how much you spent in the last month on that large caramel frappuccino.
Just enter your bank accounts and credit card accounts, and it keeps you up to speed with your spending. For example, if you enter your Bank of America online banking username and password, it uploads your entire spending history from Bank of America onto its system and proceeds to organize it. It tells you your spending habits and categorizes where your money is going. It will even show your spending at say, VONS, and pit it alongside the U.S. average at VONS, giving you a way to gauge how you're doing in relation to the nation.
You can search for trends in your spending in the past month, past three months, or if you want to get really depressed, for all time. After all this comes the fun part, where it shows you the best ways for you to save your money. That's the goal, right?
It also boasts an alert system and will call you out on spending $747 on Food & Dining in the past four days. Others alert you as to when you have your next credit card payment and when your purchases have cleared.
It says signing up is easy, but it's ridiculously easy. Take 10 seconds to sign up
"Oh, so THAT'S what he said!"
Everyone has had the moment where, after hearing a song on the radio a million times, you finally realize what the real lyric is.
A word or phrase misheard in this way is called a mondegreen, and that word was recently added to the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. More than 100 words were added to the dictionary, including the ones listed on the front page of yesterday's Daily Breeze. Many of them are a mouthful, but this one is an earful. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung."
According to Merriam-Webster, the word traces its origin to the mishearing of the line "laid him on the green" in a Scottish ballad as "Lady Mondegreen."
You've likely never heard that song, but you can find a collection of more than 100,000 misheard lyrics on the Web at http://www.kissthisguy.com/.
If that phrase sounds familiar to you, you're one of people who have misheard the line "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" in Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," after which the site is named.
The site is searchable by both artist and song title. If that's not enough for you, there's even an RSS feed of the funniest additions of the week. Happy (mis)hearing!
While most Americans celebrate the Fourth of July with get-togethers, barbecues and fireworks, a subculture of gourmands casts its glance toward Coney Island. July 4 is also the Super Bowl of competitive eating, the Nathan's Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest.
The contest had humble origins, starting back in 1916. According to Wikipedia -- and if it's on there, it has to be true -- four immigrants gathered at the Coney Island Nathan's stand to settle an argument over who was the most patriotic. After 90+ years, the act of devouring mass quantities of tubiform meat products has become a prize fight.
The contest has a sanctioning body -- the International Federation of Competitive Eating. It has established rules, a $10,000 prize for first place and even a championship belt. The 2008 champion is Joey Chestnut, who won it for the second year in a row. Last year, he managed to beat six-time champion and competitive eating icon Takeru Kobayashi.
There's even a training regimen involved. No big-mouthed schmo can just lumber over to Coney Island and compete. There's an international staging of qualifying events to win before going to the grand stage.
Plus, hot dogs are just one of the foods that can be gorged for sport. The federation calls the foodstuffs "disciplines." Upcoming competitions are the Chinook Winds World Rib Eating Championship in Oregon on July 13 and Cherokee Casino World BBQ (pork sandwiches) Eating Championship in Oklahoma on July 26.
Major League Eating is the franchising organization that's charged with commercializing the "sport." Successfully, too. There's a gallery with bios of professional speed eaters, and even a competitive eating video game.
In case anyone is curious, for details on how to become the next Chestnut or Kobayashi, MLE has a sign-up form. Be warned: competitive eating has serious short- and long-term health risks. Heed this warning, directly from its safety page:
"Major League Eating believes that speed eating is only suitable for those 18 years of age or older and only in a controlled environment with appropriate rules and with a licensed emergency medical technician present. Major League Eating opposes at-home training of any kind, and strongly discourages younger individuals from eating for speed or quantity under any circumstances. Major League Eating urges all parties Interested In the sport to become involved in a sanctioned event -- do not try speed eating at home."
The National Park Service is considering reopening Lady Liberty's crown for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a July Fourth Associated Press story.
Documents released by U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y, show the Park Service requested bids in June to study what it would take to safely open the Statue of Liberty's iconic headpiece to the public. Liberty Island was closed after the terrorist attacks. The statue's base, pedestal and lower observation deck reopened in August 2004, after a $20 million effort to enhance fire safety.
But the crown and its interior observation deck, which soar about 265 feet above New York Harbor, remained closed because the Park Service said there was no way to evacuate people safely in an emergency. The narrow spiral staircase that leads up to the crown doesn't comply with fire and building codes. Visitors are now limited to the statue's 154-foot-tall pedestal. Weiner, who advocates reopening the statue all the way to the crown, made a trip up to the crown on Sept. 10, 2007, and posted a video documenting the existing security and the view from the top on YouTube.
Here's a list including all things Fourth of July -- fun facts, fireworks and barbecue safety tips and more from the U.S. Government's official Web portal. Some of the standout links are:
• Reminders on barbecue safety from the Agriculture Department
• A virtual visit to the Liberty Bell Center
• Have your children test their knowledge on the Declaration of Independence with this quiz. This site also offers quizzes on life in the White House, First Ladies and even presidents' pets.
• All-American recipes, including a recipe for Laura Bush's Hot Chocolate.
• If you're interested in donating your time and effort for a patriotic cause, this link is a thorough compilation of donation projects, volunteering opportunities and other ways to support your country.
Be safe and have a great Fourth!
Hot dogs are a staple of Fourth of July cookouts. No wonder July is National Hot Dog Month. In honor of the all-mighty wiener, the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council conducted a national poll confirming a strong link between hot dogs and sports -- especially baseball. The poll listed hot dogs as fans' favorite stadium fare. We're lucky to live close by to Dodger Stadium, which ranked fourth on a list of the best stadium frankfurters. A Dodger Dog and an order of the stadium's greasy, extra-strong garlic fries ... heavenly. Premium baseball eats.
The Roadium in Torrance is a South Bay hot spots for hot dogs. The open air market's dogs have a regional twist; they're topped with grilled onions and a whole jalapeño. The Roadium is open this Independence Day weekend, so you can come by and sample one of their dogs while browsing the vendors' goods.
If you're a Wienerschnitzel fan, you'll want to head over to the one at 900 W. Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington. This is the very first Wienerschnitzel location. It's almost 50 years old and still kickin'. Mark your calendars for July 15, when the chain will be giving away free chili dogs and ice cream cones.
Prefer to cook up your own hot dog creations? The National Hot Dog & Sausage Council offers a miscellany of recipes, from Asian-inspired Hoisin Glazed Dogs to traditional beans and franks.
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Is the Happiest Place on Earth the coolest place in the virtual world, too?
The Disney experience will be tweeted. Twisney has set up a Twitter account to report length of ride lines and other goings-on in Anaheim at Disneyland, California Adventure, Downtown Disney and hotels.
Change the menu bar at the top right to Disneyland Resort.The coolness doesn't end there. Each message gets tagged on an actual map of the parks, with the precise tweets pinpointed on a map that can be seen in aerial or birds-eye views.
Disney has harnessed the web to imagineer a virtual theme park experience. Lojoconnect.com reports that Disney's 3-D rendering of Walt Disney World on Google Earth is the largest corporate contribution to the global mapping service. The richly textured model may bog down the memory of some computers, but otherwise ... wow. We eagerly await a similar initiative for Anaheim's parks.
ABC asks the bold question: What will the world look like in the year 2100? How will human civilization continue in the face of rising populations, depleting natural resources and changing climates? ABC News is asking for the public's input for Earth 2100, a two-hour broadcast to air in prime time this fall.
The first installment asks about the near future, in the year 2015. Video submissions can be entered until Sunday. So far, prognostications have been made about gasoline being at over $9 a gallon -- at American prices -- and foods becoming at least three to five times more expensive than they are now.
Scenarios are set up for every region in the world. In Africa, global climate change leads to increasing desertification and more Darfur-like violent clashes among tribes.
Deforestation and destruction of natural habitats will be exacerbated in Latin America.
China and India, which each have populations of over 1 billion, will struggle to keep their populations fed.
As for the United States, major population centers on the East Coast will be ravaged by storms and the Southwest will become a dust bowl.
How will the world adapt? Let Earth 2100 know.
You may not be knee-deep in marine algae like these Olympic workers clearing a Chinese sailing waterway this week, but who do you call when you notice the South Bay shoreline is looking just a bit, well, icky?
Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds safe, healthy and clean, has set up a hotline for South Bay residents and those in surrounding areas to report any pollution they think is adversely affecting the wonderful beaches, water or animal life.
While you may not be sailing in the Olympics, at least you can contribute to keeping our beaches world-class.
Heal the Bay hotline numbers for South Bay cities:
General info / Stormwater and Dumping / Sewage spills
Artesia 562-865-6262 562-865-6262 562-865-6262
El Segundo 310-524-2300 310-524-2742 310-524-2742
Gardena 310-217-9500 310-217-9568 310-217-9568
Hawthorne 310-970-7902 310-970-7955 310-970-7955
Hermosa Beach 310-318-0239 310-318-0214 310-318-0214
Inglewood 310-412-5301 310-412-5333 310-412-5333
Manhattan Beach 310-802-5000 310-802-5363 310-802-5363
Palos Verdes Estates 310-378-0383 310-378-0383 310-378-0383
Rancho Palos Verdes 310-377-0360 310-544-5252 310-544-5252
Redondo Beach 310-372-1171 310-318-0661 310-318-0686
Rolling Hills 310-377-1521 310-377-1521 310-377-1521
Rolling Hills Estates 310-377-1577 800-303-0003 888-253-2652
RottenNeighbor.com is part online therapy, part trashy paperback novel. The year-old site singles out neighbors for offenses ranging from shoddy lawn upkeep ("They have garbage all through their yard") to alleged violence ("He has tried to run us down with his push lawnmower").
Users are invited to post advice on dealing with neighbors who fight and yell, who let their animals defecate on other people's property, who neglect their septic tanks -- even those who cook foul-smelling food.
Using Google Maps, the site zooms in on homes of the accused, represented by structures colored red (for the rotten) and green (for the good) that resemble plastic pieces of a Monopoly board game.
Type in Redondo Beach, for instance, and the site brings up a bird's-eye view of the city, a patchwork of trees and rooftops. Click on one of the houses to see comments from agitated residents, like the one complaining about a neighbor who says she can hear them use the microwave and toilets and even cough.
"Whenever we set foot in our apartment, she goes ballistic and starts cussing and stomping on our ceiling. She makes an extra effort when we have guests over to show them how crazy she is. My mom came to visit me one night around 8 p.m., and I was showing her my room, and sure enough, the neighbor stomped around and was yelling to protest my guest's visit. IT WAS MY MOM!! NOT SOME HOUSE PARTY!! I'm so embarrassed to even invite people over. That's not a home, it's a prison!"
A commenter chimes in: "I have the same neighbor above me. ... Everybody here is just waiting for them to be evicted anytime soon."
Most of the postings are anonymous, which is just fine with site co-founder Brant Walker, 27, who came up with the idea when he moved and noticed a rotten smell coming from his neighbor's door.
Walker, a Web site designer from San Diego, said the site averages several hundred thousand hits per day. He said it is a good resource for people moving to a new neighborhood because it offers a glimpse behind closed doors -- "things that a real estate agent won't tell you."
But he admits the site was forced to add a "flag for removal" option after people complained that they were unfairly targeted as bad neighbors. If a post gets flagged a certain number of times, it is now removed.
Positive comments can also be found, such as the "new here but very nice" post from Torrance: "Young and fun, great to have them."
But red houses dominate, especially since Walker added a new feature: Posts showing the homes of registered sex offenders.
And there's more: Site co-founder Thomas Adams said RottenNeighbor.com is pitching ideas to major networks for a reality show based on the site.
"The goal would be to find a way to reconcile neighbors' differences," Adams said. "We're trying to showcase the beautiful side of what neighbors can be like when they help each other."
