September 2008 Archives

If you're one of those people who perks up when co-workers bring pie to work, or if you're the one always bringing the pie and want to jazz things up a bit, the American Pie Council has a Web site you might find particularly suited to your taste. You'll find more than a baker's dozen of National Pie Championship-winning recipes, including the 2008 winner in the apple pie category, Apple Yum Crumb Pie.

Other recipes include the California Mudslide Pie (the 2008 winner in the classic chocolate category), Buckeye Pie (2008 winner in the peanut butter category that features brownie mix, Philadelphia cream cheese and peanut butter) and the Razzle Dazzle Splenda Pie, made without sugar, which won in this year's Splenda category. Onion lovers can try the Vidalia Onion Pie.

These and several other recipes are free to browse. Those who are more pie-minded can become a member and swap recipes and gain greater access to pie info from The American Pie Council, which describes itself as the only organization committed to preserving America's pie heritage and designed to raise awareness, enjoyment and consumption of pies. Sweet!

Where's the Bubbler blogger Mary Ruth posts the first pic of the season of how her Halloween decorations are coming together. So elaborate.

LA Farm girl reports that Ishibashi farm now has pumpkins.

And, this isn't a blog item, but I thought I'd throw it in because when I think of pumpkin patches, I think of the Cottone patch. If you missed it Saturday, here's the obit for Tony Cottone, who started pumpkin and Christmas tree lots in the South Bay in 1959.

RELATED POSTS:


L.A. Farm Girl on where to get the best produce in the South Bay
Q&A with MaryRuth, a South Bay blogger and foodie
Meet Easy Fiend blogger Denis faye
Q&A with Cap'n Bob
Awkward adolescence and open house horrors
Snail torture and secret MB streets
Real Simple's favorite blogs

You should be following us on Twitter, where we are posting breaking news, links to our favorite stories and what we're covering. We're also posting from meetings and events as they happen.

Twitter is a social media microblogging platform where users keep their "followers" up-to-date with what they are doing with short posts of just 140 characters or fewer. The service launched in 2006, but it has taken off like gangbusters this year.
According to Compete.com, Twitter more than quadrupled its users from November 2007 to June 2008. There are now more than 1.2 million Tweeters.

Lest you think it's just for kids, a Time magazine article last month reports the largest age demographic is 35-to-44-year-olds, which make up more than 25 percent of users. And the 55+ demographics are growing, too. Interestingly, more than 57 percent of Tweeters are from California.

Here's where you can find us, so you'll know when the pagination system crashes or when we get cranky phone calls or drunks barge in to city council meetings:

Editor Phillip Sanfield: www.twitter.com/editorbreeze
Managing Editor Toni Sciacqua: www.twitter.com/dailybreezeME
Assistant City Editor (and pets blogger) Josh Grossberg: www.twitter.com/dbdog
Crime Reporter Larry Altman: www.twitter.com/dbreezecrime
Courts Reporter Denise Nix: www.twitter.com/dbreezecourts
Beach Cities Reporter Andrea Woodhouse: www.twitter.com/akwoodhouse
Gardena, Lawndale, Hawthorne Reporter Sandy Mazza: www.twitter.com/dailybreezeSM
Harbor Area Reporter (and pets blogger) Donna Littlejohn: www.twitter.com/dbbark
Copy desk chief Jack Mulkey: www.twitter.com/jacko75
Features Editor Leo Smith: www.twitter.com/dailybreezearts
Prep Sports reporters Tony Ciniglio and Dave Thorpe: www.twitter.com/breezepreps
Soccer columnist Nick Green: www.twitter.com/LAsoccerblog

Last week, the Daily Breeze's Sam Gnerre went through the archives and found photographs of old supermarkets, which inspired him to compile one of his many great Top 10 lists. He found the names of grocery stores that fed many households in the South Bay.

There was a time when supermarkets had names other than Ralphs, Vons or Albertsons, and a time when shopping at Whole Foods meant a whole year's salary and not just a whole paycheck.

Want to know whatever happened to such chains as Alpha Beta, The Boys and Smith's Food King? Their histories, along with other markets throughout North America, live on in Groceteria.

The site compiles a collection of photos and "commercial archaeology" from fans of grocery stores — a most ornery bunch. It also has a message board for fans to ask questions and share their own stories.

Grocery store fandom goes beyond Groceteria to the more photographically inclined. Flickr, the photo-sharing social network, has the group "Vintage Supermarkets, Grocery & Convenience Stores." It has a melange of old photos and present-day photos of older supermarkets extant and repurposed.

Barring any unforeseen "suspension" of the campaigns, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will face off in their first of three debates tonight at 6 p.m. In the interest of democracy, we thought we would help you, the people, become part of the fray.
1. Throw a debate party.
The official Web site of the Commission of Presidential Debates has tips on how to host a "DebateWatch." The kit includes discussion questions. The site also has transcripts of past and present debates and a section on debate history.

2. Do a dramatic interpretation.
Re-create what you saw, or stage your own confrontations with candidate finger puppets you can download at www.folduscandidate.com.

3. Twitter your profound thoughts and see them on TV live.
Social media site Twitter and cable network Current TV plan to team up to get real-time reaction to the debate through a project they are calling "Hack the Debate." You need a Twitter account and the ability to use a computer or mobile device to send Tweets. Then post your comments and include #current in your tweet. For example: "All this talk about global warming is making me hot. #current." Then moderators will sort out the riff-raff and put up as many tweets as they can. Here's how they expect it to work, according to the Current Web site:

"We're expecting to be flooded with tweets during the debates, and the space provided to display tweets on TV will be somewhat limited. So, we will be filtering for the obvious stuff (hate speech, death threats, anything that violates broadcast standards, etc.), but we will also be pulling primarily from tweets that include the #current hashtag and really stand out.
When you get flooded by someone tweeting inappropriately on Twitter, you simply un-follow them, but when watching our broadcast viewers won't have that ability. So we will help out in that regard.
Not every tweet can make it to the screen, but we will try to cram as many in as possible within the time allotted."

Cold Stone Creamery is giving it away Thursday between 5 and 8 p.m., with donations benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

You get two options for the free 3-ounce scoop: They are marshmallow ice cream with Oreo cookies, chocolate chips and fudge, or Nutter Butter ice cream with white chocolate chips, Kit Kat and yellow cake. Both were created by Wish children.

To attend "the world's largest ice cream social," find a Cold Stone near you.

From our wire services:

Movie fans eager to see their idols up close will be able to enter a lottery for seats along the red carpet on Oscar night.
Beginning Sept. 22 at 9 a.m., movie buffs and star-gazers can enter an online lottery conducted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a chance to win one of 300 available seats along the 500-foot-long walkway in front of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
Following the stars' arrivals, the winners will be invited to watch the Academy Awards telecast at a nearby location.
The lottery will be open for one week only. Applications can only be made online, at www.oscars.org/bleachers.
Applicants can register for up to four seats, but only one form will be accepted per person or group.
People whose names are selected will be notified in early October. They then will have to submit additional information for security purposes prior to final approval.
Winners will receive a confirmation letter in early December.
In previous years, as many as 20,000 fans have applied online for the bleacher seats.
The Academy Awards ceremony for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be held on Feb. 22, 2009.

I haven't done the roundup of South Bay blogs in a while, but I found a few interesting things this week, so I thought I would share.

Ever wonder what goes on in your house when you leave your real estate in there alone to show it for you? MB Confidential has the hysterical answers.

Easy Fiend blogger Denis Faye preps for his "Mortified" audition and worries that he wasn't geeky enough in his youth.

Erika at SP Good and Bad posts about a bakery find in San Pedro.

Cap'n Bob and the Damsel took a recent trip to Catalina and came back with lovely photos of the Casino and the Holly Hill House, among others.

Random Madness in Torrance has resumed blogging after a hiatus and reviewed the South Bay's International Printing Museum.

And Where's the Bubbler puts her culinary skills to the test and reviews chocolate-bacon bars.

Know any South Bay bloggers you think should be included in our blogroll? Email toni.sciacqua@dailybreeze.com.

RELATED POSTS:

Girls' Guide to San Pedro
L.A. Farm Girl on where to get the best produce in the South Bay
Q&A with MaryRuth, a South Bay blogger and foodie
Meet Easy Fiend blogger Denis faye
Q&A with Cap'n Bob
Snail torture and secret MB streets

Better late than never ... or is it? After almost a quarter-year of politicking and stalling, California has something resembling a budget. It's not perfect. It's barely adequate. It's bound to put California into the same predicament next fiscal year.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he has struck a compromise with the Democratic-controlled legislative leadership, and if he signs off on the budget, it is bound to mean deep cuts to some programs - and many angry Californians.

The same vigor, charm and charisma that proved successful in the bodybuilding arena and in Hollywood seems to be yielding diminishing returns in Sacramento. He can't strong-arm the legislature into passing a budget on time.

If the star of "Kindergarten Cop" can't get lawmakers in line, who can?

How about you?

Next 10 invites Californians to step up to the plate.

Next 10 is a nonpartisan think tank, made up of academic and environmental organizations and businesses primarily in the Silicon Valley, and it studies and makes recommendations on where California should focus its budgetary and infrastructure priorities.

The think tank launched an online simulator, California Budget Challenge, as an education device.

California Budget Challenge offers a chance for the public to focus on budgetary priorities for the next five years. The budget begins with a baseline deficit of more than $12 billion.

The list goes down through a list of choices to be made for how much should be budgeted for K-12 and higher education, health care, social services, the environment, the legal system and jobs programs. Then, choices are available for how revenues should be raised - through sales, income, business and vehicle taxes, and whether a new carbon tax should be levied.

Every time a selection is made, the budget updates to relects costs or savings of a proposed action. Also, every selection shows how many Californians support the action.

Afterwards, there is the option of sharing the custom budget results.

The California Budget Challenge is both fun and informative, yet it fails to capture the difficulties of real-world consequences. It's simple to click on buttons and go from a billion-dollar deficit to a surplus. In Sacramento, though, politicians are concerned with procedural gamesmanship ... and all those dreaded "special interests" who'll come to demand elected officials' heads on pikes.

Still, anyone concerned about California's spending should give the Budget Challenge a try. Then, come back to the Daily Link and share your experiences and choices on our comments board.

One budget line Wendy Li isn't watching even in this tight economy is spending on books. She uses PaperbackSwap.com, one of the book-trading sites that are growing in popularity.

"All I have to pay for is the postage," said Li, a 44-year-old banker in New York City. A diet of three books a month costs her only about $6, clearly a bargain for an avid reader.

Start Swapping: If you've got books to barter, check out sites such as PaperbackSwap.com, Bookins.com and BookMooch.com.

The rules are simple; generally you list the books you're willing to trade. Every time you mail a title out, you get a credit or point, which you can redeem for a book. At PaperbackSwap.com, which lists 2.4 million books, you can purchase credits for $3.45.

Membership is free on all three sites, so your only cost is shipping. Mailing a paperback at the lowest rate typically takes around seven days and generally costs less than $3. After you get a book, it's yours to keep if you wish.

Because you're trading with strangers, you won't get the same guarantees as with a retailer. But the sites may be able to help mediate a dispute, or award credits for losses. Check their rules.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
— U.S. CONSTITUTION, ratified Sept. 17, 1787

Happy Constitution Day! In Philadelpha 221 years ago today, the United States' founders gathered to create a document that would guide the fledgling country from a motley collection of former colonies to a player on the world stage.

To help you celebrate the government's birthday, the National Endowment for the Humanities has assembled documents, background essays and a bibliography to help you deepen your understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Check out an interactive tour of Howard Chandler Christy's famous painting of the founders, which currently hangs in the U.S. Capitol; get an up-close look at the document itself (whose handwriting is that?); and even see George Washington's annotated draft.

For more primary sources, visit the National Archives' Charters of Freedom page. There, you can read a detailed history of the Constitution's creation, drama and all.

The Constitution is the foundation upon which our government is built, and in this election year, understanding it is more important than ever. In the words of founding father George Mason, "The Eyes of the United States are turned upon this Assembly and their Expectations raised to a very anxious Degree. May God Grant that we may be able to gratify them, by establishing a wise and just Government."

With the hurricane season under way and the tragic train wreck in Chatsworth, now is a good time to donate to the Red Cross. Relief efforts cost millions of dollars, so money donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund are welcome. You can donate online or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS. For those of you who are tech savvy, you can donate $5 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by texting "GIVE" to "2HELP" (24357). Another way to help disaster victims is by giving blood. According to the Red Cross, every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. So those of you who are 17 years old or older and weigh at least 110 pounds are asked to schedule an appointment to donate by calling 1-800-GIVELIFE or by visiting their Web site. There are many other ways you can help, so find out more at the Red Cross.

It's back-to-school time. You're busy with transporting your kids to and from school, helping them with their homework and fixing their lunches. And hopefully, your children are just as busy with schoolwork and extracurricular activities.

But if they still spend the weekends pulling at your sleeves and whining about having nothing to do, worry not. The Internet is here to help. KidsDomain has put up two extensive lists of freeware games for children.

Got a PC? Go to http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/pc/_subjectfreeware-index.html. Own a Mac? Type in http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/mac/_subjectfreeware-index.html.

Download everything from coloring books to origami diagrams to puzzles, mazes and games covering reading, writing, 'rithmetic, science and history. Your kids can even learn Japanese or Arabic. You can view the list organized by subject or age group (most of the games will pique the interests of children 12 and under).

As far as we know, there are no viruses hiding among these links. What's great is that most of these freeware games don't require anything more complicated than your basic operating system and perhaps a printer.

And since they can be downloaded onto your computer for your kids to use offline, you won't have to fret about anonymous Web surfers stalking your children.

Canine owners all over the South Bay showed up in San Pedro Thursday for the audition of "Dog Whisperer With Cesar Millan," but why resort to a pet shrink when you can be your own?

Reader's Digest has five tips the Dog Whisperer himself urges every canine owner to heed.

If you need to go away for a while or just want an extra helping hand, PetWatch Club can help you find someone in your area who might want to pet-sit for your canine companion or feline friend. Find others who might have advice for your problems, or alert members in the neighborhood if your pet goes missing. Enter your ZIP code and find fellow pet owners. The South Bay is well-represented in the PetWatch club database.

If you're planning a trip but don't want to keep your furry pals at home, Petswelcome.com lists more than 25,000 pet-friendly hotels, campgrounds and beaches that'll cater to your needs.

Good pet owners should always be prepared. The Department of Homeland Security advises pet owners to have emergency plans for the care of their animals.

We've saved the best for last. By far, and without irony or hyperbole, the single best source for pet news and resources is the South Bay Pets Blog. Read the items and see the videos, then bookmark it or even make it your home page.

Full disclosure: The South Bay Pets Blog is run by the Daily Breeze. That's what makes it so great.

The memorial being built in a Pennsylvania field to the passengers and crew who died on United Airlines Flight 93 during the Sept. 11 attacks will be only about 40 percent finished by the time of the ribbon cutting on the 10th anniversary in 2011.
An Associated Press story says the memorial at the crash site is being built in three phases as a way to manage the funding for the new national park, with the first phase being done in three parts. The first part is not expected to cost more than $22.5 million and will be 40 percent of the project. That section will be ready by 2011, providing "a complete visitor experience" and able to accommodate the estimated 250,000 visitors annually, according to the National Park Service.
For more on the memorial project or to make a donation, go to the Flight 93 National Memorial.
The National Park Service also has a Web site on the memorial that includes a detailed description and artist renderings of such features as The Tower of Voices -- a 93-foot-high structure containing 40 large wind chimes "evocative of, and a tribute to, the sound of the wind and voices aboard the plane during its final moments" -- and The Field of Honor, an existing large bowl-shaped area that forms the heart of the memorial and park.

Wait! Before you walk out your door, you may as well know what you're facing, right? Think about it. Everyday you walk outside, and any unknown force could take you by surprise. One time, my sister was just walking down the street and got hit in the face by a lady with a bag. The lady just slammed the bag into her face out of nowhere and left my sister standing there with a chafed eye.

But I digress. I'm here to talk about umbrellas, not bag ladies. The point is, you may as well be armed and ready for the easier battles. Autumn is creeping up on us, which means the potential for rain to sneak up on you is greater. Umbrellatoday.com is a simple solution to little things like a change of season. You just enter your zip code and they tell you, yes or no, if you'll need an umbrella that day. There's no ambiguity as to whether 56 degrees with scattered showers equals umbrella weather. They tell you straight up whether it's an umbrella day or not.

And to make sure you're prepared at a moment's notice, just enter your cell phone number and they'll text message you on days you'll need umbrella.

You may never know when somebody is going to whack you square in the eye with a bag, but on those rainy days, at least you'll have an umbrella to fight back with.

Eighteen months into the presidential campaign, we're finally getting down to the wire. The citizens will choose their next president in less then two months. Here are a couple of links to help you get ready for the first Tuesday in November.

Register
If you're not an official voter yet, you have just over six weeks to get your form in to take part in the Nov. 4 general election.

Go to the California secretary of state's Web site to fill one out. After your online submission is received, you will be sent a registration form to sign and mail. You must register by Oct. 20 to cast a November ballot.

Research
FactCheck, run by a bipartisan organization, can help you decipher a candidate's true position and separate the facts from the spin.

FactCheck went through the acceptance speeches of all four major candidates -- the Democratic ticket of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden and the Republican ticket of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin.

Their quick assessment of McCain's address? "He made some flubs in accepting the nomination."

How about Obama? "He stuck to the facts, except when he stretched them."

The site can also help you put each candidate's ads in context and decide whether their attacks on one another stand up to scrutiny.

And if you can't find the answer you're looking for, send FactCheck your question. They'll check on it for you.

The Democratic and Republican conventions are over, and the presidential campaigns are in high gear. John McCain and Barack Obama are competing in one of the most exciting election years in recent memory -- and likely to be the most expensive.

So just who is paying for all of this?

And, do contributions end up influencing positions -- or the wording of law?

As Deep Throat famously said in the 1976 Watergate-scandal film "All the President's Men": "Follow the Money."

Now you can.

Open Secrets is here to help.

The Open Secrets Web site is the most visible service provided by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research organization not affiliated with any political parties. The center says its activities are funded through individual donations and foundation grants, and that it does not take money from businesses, trade groups or unions.

The center combs through volumes of campaign finance data and makes it easy to search by who is receiving money, and from whom. The money can be screened by region, individual or corporate contributions, and economic sector. Besides the presidential races, data are also available for congressional races and funding by party.

In the 2008 race, Obama is far ahead of McCain in the fundraising game. Through July, the Democratic nominee has raised more than $389 million. The campaign has more than $65 million cash on hand, and debts are $915,894.

The McCain campaign has amassed an impressive record itself. The Republican's candidacy has raised more than $174 million, with more than $32 million in cash on hand. McCain has more than $2 million in campaign debts.

Obama received more than $37 million in contributions from California donors. John McCain received more than $17 million from the state. California contributed the most money -- more than $109 million -- out of any state.

Altogether, 2008 is looking to be the single most expensive campaign year ever. About $942 million has been spent in 2008 -- so far. By November, it's not inconceivable that America will have gone through its first billion-dollar campaign. The lowest figure for presidential contributions was about $161 million in 1980. The number has steadily increased ever since.

The injured American black bear cub who gained international fame after his rescue last month from the embers of a Shasta County wildfire will soon have a Web cam to complement his new rehabilitation blog.

Li'l Smokey, who was the focus of a recent "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" segment, will be seen on a 24-hour Web cam starting this week, said Cheryl Millham, executive director of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, where the cub is recovering from his burns.

The care center has been keeping track of Li'l Smokey, as well as all the other injured critters, through a black-and-white closed-circuit camera system unavailable to the public.

The new Web cam images will be in color and will be available to anyone who wishes to go to the nonprofit group's Web site.

Millham hopes to have the Web cam up and running sometime this week.

The paws of the adorable, but sometimes feisty, bear cub were badly burned during the Moon Fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. It is hoped his severe burns will heal well enough that he can be released back into the Shasta-Trinity National Forest during next year's hibernation season.

September 1981 marked the release of the IBM 5150, their first attempt at a personal computer. Before that, most computers were huge, filling a whole room. At the amazing low price of only $3,000, you could have your very own! This may sound like a lot, but it doesn't compare with the pricetag for the first portable PC in 1975. That little gem went for an astounding $19,975, and at 55 pounds, wasn't really very portable. Check it out along with dozens of others at The Obsolete Technology Web site.