And in local news...

cbs2.com - Police Discover Stabbing Victim In Mar Vista

(CBS) MAR VISTA, Calif. A boy's body was found inside a car in Mar Vista early Wednesday morning. According to police, he was fatally stabbed in what appeared to be a gang-related killing.

Officers found 19-year-old Jaime Julio Padilla inside a car at Braddock Drive and Slauson Avenue at 8:15 p.m. yesterday, said Officer Marta Garcia of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section. He had been stabbed numerous times, she said.

Police were called to the scene by someone reporting a car fire, said Officer Jason Lee. Although the car was not on fire when they arrived, it appeared that someone had tried to torch it, Lee said.

"It appears the suspects may have tried to set the car on fire to cover the homicide but were unsuccessful," Lee said.

Three youths who looked like gang members were seen running from the car, said Officer Jason Lee, adding that the stabbing appears to have been gang-related.

3000Watch: Ashlee Simpson IS AshleeSimpson3000

Best Week Ever ? Blog Archive ? Jessica Simpson in Weekend at Bernie’s III

Bucks Lake (circle)

  

Modernize LAX Shops - Los Angeles Times

Modernize LAX Shops - Los Angeles Times

Modernize LAX Shops
City has a chance to run the airport like a business and not a patronage dispenser.

September 11, 2006

FOR SCORES OF MILLIONS OF VISITORS every year, Los Angeles International Airport is their first impression of the city and the region. Luckily, they're not coming there for the concessions. The shopping at LAX is as bland as L.A.'s is glamorous.

That could soon change — but only if city officials are willing to buck their own system. Contracts for 51 storefronts (of more than 200) at LAX are once again up for review by the Airport Commission, which is expected to make its decisions sometime next year.

The signing of multimillion-dollar deals to run duty-free shops, restaurants and other businesses at the city-owned airport has for at least two decades been the source of some of L.A.'s worst political scandals. Under Mayor Tom Bradley, airport commissioners solicited campaign funds from contractors, and some political insiders collected millions on contracts without actually managing any concessions. Mayor James Hahn was also dogged by allegations of pay-to-play shenanigans involving airport contracts.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had to give back thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from employees of a Florida company seeking an airport concession. It remains to be seen whether Villaraigosa is willing to cross his union support, which favors maintaining the status quo at the airport because new contractors might not hire union workers.

LAX's concessions are characterized by generic national chains, cookie-cutter storefronts and inflated prices. It's little wonder that in 2005, 21 airports surpassed it in sales per departing passenger at their retail facilities. This matters to taxpayers because a quarter of the revenue for the city agency that runs Los Angeles' four airports comes from concessions.

The Airport Commission, whose seven members are appointed by the mayor, deferred a decision last week. At issue is whether to continue awarding concessions to companies that then lease the shops, or to lease the spaces individually. Or the city could hire developers to essentially build and lease malls in the airport, an approach that has been successful in cities such as Pittsburgh. Then maybe LAX could have shopping as interesting as the city it serves.

Better have Poison Control on speed dial!

Huell Howser: The Drinking Game

Celebrity Birthdays - Sept 8

Happy Birthday, Neko Case.

MetaFilter, on the death of Steve Irwin

>_,_,/

Shiny!

Now that I've got an official-type Web 2.0 logo, I'm ready to sell this blog. $40 million ought to be about right.

via the Web 2.0 Logo Creator

Hmmrrruurrrrghhhh...

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

You're On Notice, William Carlos Williams!

The Steven Colbert "You're On Notice" Board Generator

Better Than A Wax Cylinder Upside The Head

(via the Vinyl Record Generator)
If it's good enough for Matt...

Christmas in August: Lieberman, McKinney Lose

It's been so long - I have completely forgotten how to react when things go right.

With 95 percent of the precincts reporting, Lamont led Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent, according to The Associated Press.

---

Also on Tuesday night, Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney lost in a runoff to Democratic challenger Hank Johnson.

All right, world -- what's the catch?!?

Sen. Joseph Lieberman conceded to anti-war cable executive Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary for the Connecticut Senate nomination Tuesday night but vowed to run as an "independent Democrat" this fall

Oh, right. Carry on, then.

Prohibido Entrar

The LA Times reports: Two miles of beach were closed Tuesday because of a spill in Culver City that released 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of sewage into Ballona Creek. (©Bryan Chan / LAT - August 8, 2006)

The Golden Gate, from Crissy Field, SF

  

Four Years + One Week

While you weren't looking, this blog passed its fourth anniversary.

Pay no attention to that seven month gap between posts (7/13/02-2/20/03). I was resting up.

(blogging is hard.)

Tales of Wikipedia, Part One: The Jewish Autonomous Oblast

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a small district in the Russian Far East, on the border with China, which was created by Stalin in the late 1920s as an alternative Zionist state.

via Wikipedia's "Random article"

Dr. Katz

A Dr. Katz parody (via Slate)

4th of July

Hey, baby - it's the Fourth of July!

(Mexican kids, are, of course, shooting fireworks below at my apartment too!)

One Way

Discovery's launch (from the BBC.)

A very muddled afternoon

Some random filler: the emails at work have been flying fast and furious about mojito recipes.

Ms. B____ started things off by asking for recommendations for "a light rum, but with excellent flavor".

Mr. A____ recommended Bacardi, and suggested raspberry flavor.

"Mojito fanatic" Mr. C_____ disparaged the raspberry idea: "Rasberry?!? That is not a real mojito. Go simple (Limes, rum, mint, sugar, soda) and always use fresh materials, no mixes. Bacardi is yucky. Use Myers White AND Dark rums."

Countered Mr. A____:

Depending on what you like and what flavor....i love raspberry ones and an original that has a little spicy kick to it by adding crushed and chopped chilies but no seeds..... Yeah I know... Chilies....also you have to follow the steps. Do not do one step over the other.

Here is the original firecracker mojito,,

In a cup, put 5-6 slices of limes, a medium size batch of mint, once small red chili chopped, and half and half (sugar and water that was boiled with a small amount of brown sugar). Take something you can smash all ingredients with. When it is all smashed together having all lime juice out, pour in 3-4 oz (I like mine strong) of bacardi light rum and top it off with soda water. Take a shaker it shake it 3 times and pour. But make sure all ingredients are on the bottom or else your will be sipping most of it in your straw.

There are also other recipies. I can put a whole list together and send it out on Monday

Bacardi is the best cuz it does not give you a hang over and its cheap unless you want to use more expensive rum..... I can tell you more.

Mr. B________ sent out a link to Bacardi's website, Ms. P____ recommended blending the mint into the drink (rather than mashing or smashing), and Mr. C_____ provided his own recipe suggestion:

A Mojito is a very personal thing.

Always use more rum!

In a tall glass, put a large amount of mint, a small handfull, in with a tablespoon of sugar, a little extra if it is a very big glass. Grind the sugar and the mint together with a blunt instrument, the handle of a wooden spoon works well. Fill the glass with ice. FILL! Use a strong shot of white rum (I suggest Myers White), as much lime juice as you are willing to squeeze, at least one large lime, and then fill the rest with soda. Stir. Float a little Myer’s Dark rum on top.

If you are going to make a pitcher, make sure you use a lot of lime, mint and sugar, and not too much soda... Often people get tired of squeezing limes and short themselves... Here is a stolen recipe for a pitcher of mojitos.

3 cups (packed) fresh mint leaves
9 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups light rum
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
6 cups club soda
6 cups crushed ice
6 lime wedges

MOJITO SHOWDOWN!!!!!!

That's all well and good, but it needs more wresting mask. Youtube?


I feel we got a lot accomplished today.

Jacaranda Days 2006

  

Egg-Fu

The Absorbascon's "Scipio" has had a couple of really good posts this week. Due to the reverse-chronological nature of blogging, I read the second one first - a wonderful reintroduction to the Batman villain Professor Radium. (Comics blogs + scanners + free image hosting = crazy delicious!) Good stuff, Maynard.

The other post is an analysis of the latest issue of DC Comics' 52-week series, "52" (#6). Or, more specifically, of the writing on the blackboard left behind by the missing time travel expert Rip Hunter. This led, in comments, to added analysis of the clues hidden in the comments of mad scientist T.O. Morrow, and of the secrets behind the Chinese superhero team, The Great Ten. Both commenter Jamie Ott and I noticed a disturbing possibility -- that the mastermind behind the Great Ten may well be the Silver Age Wonder Woman villain (and hideous Sixties racial stereotype) EGG-FU!

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

A Trip To GlitterMaker.com

http://www.GlitterMaker.com/ - Glitter Graphics

Thou Shalt Not Mock "Today"

We learn from a posting at "Dispatches From the Culture Wars" that the 2006 spoof issue of the Calvin College student paper, "Chimes" (a parody of the incredibly dull CRC devotional Today: The Family Altar), has been banned by Calvin.

Student journalists at Calvin College are being given an unexpected lesson: When the subject is piety, there are limits to parody.

The annual spoof issue of the student newspaper, Chimes, often has ruffled feathers among conservatives at the Christian college. But this spring the college said staffers went too far when they parodied "Today," a daily devotional published by the Christian Reformed Church.

The spoof version, dubbed "Cliche," ran afoul of campus censors who had trouble with some of its mock meditations and prayer parodies. They also objected when it poked fun at Calvin benefactor and gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family.

After a three-week standoff between the Chimes staff and a subcommittee of the college's Student Life Committee, the newspaper, led by Editor-in-Chief Nana Yaa Dodi, announced Friday it would not publish "Cliche."

Scott Admiraal, a Grand Rapids senior who worked on the spoof, said when staffers chose the format, they assumed not everyone would like it.

"At the same time, by using this format, we knew we could make a comment we could not make in a dry, academic way," he said.

Despite the publishing ban, the tract found its way onto the Internet, a move that led to the firing of two Chimes staffers, college officials said.

Though the so-called "spoof subcommittee" had served in an advisory capacity in past years, the panel was given more power this year and demanded changes.

"The prayers invoke God's name inappropriately and the Bible passages in some cases are not used in a context that is honoring the holy Word of God," said the committee's memo to the Chimes staffers.

A tongue-in-cheek meditation that encouraged readers to revere DeVos for his family's donations to Calvin also was forbidden. "Don't critique a friend of the college merely because he is a friend," they warned the editors.

The decision to censor the DeVos reference proves their satire was on target, Admiraal said. "The whole point was that we were pandering to donors' dollars," he said.

As for the references to Dobson, former managing editor Justin Pot said they were willing to change them to "Jim Dorbsin" to avoid legal problems.

"The spoof for a long time has been a sensitive thing," said Pot, a junior from Ontario. "But we never thought it would come to this."

Jennifer VanAntwerp, an assistant professor of engineering who chaired the spoof subcommittee, said the rules changed this year to include veto power over the final product. The Student Life Committee, which includes faculty, students and administrators, always has held final authority over college-funded activities, she said.

"Is the content edgier this year than in other years? Not really," she said. "We probably would have blocked things in previous years, too."

VanAntwerp said she was disappointed by the end-run publication of "Cliche" on the Web. "We're a community and we're tying to come to a community decision. We all in good faith followed that process."

On Friday, college officials said editor Dodi fired Admiraal and Pot, in part because she believed they were involved in putting the spoof online. It is on a Web site registered to a Chimes alumni, students said.

Both Pot and Admiraal said they did not know how the forbidden tract made it online. Pot said he resigned from Chimes after a discussion with Dodi, who declined to be interviewed. Admiraal could not immediately be reached for comment on the firing.

Pot acknowledged he knew the alumnus who posted the spoof, but said they are not close friends. The junior said the edition has been on Chimes' computer servers for three weeks.

The newspaper staff was not without its defenders on the subcommittee.

Christopher Smit, an assistant professor of communication arts and sciences, said he argued for publication.

The 1996 Calvin graduate said the spoof is taken too seriously by some. "I agree that they pushed some buttons, but they knew they would set off alarms," he said.

"When I look into this thing and see what's under it, I respect what's under it."

This being the 21st century, the issue has been placed online, of course.

All Songs Considered - Neko Case concert mp3

Awesome: NPR has an mp3 of alt-country goddess Neko Case live in concert at Washington DC's 9:30 Club available for download.

Awesome squared: Blogger "Kaya Na Kisser" has, magically, split this 128k concert mp3 into individual song mp3s, at 192k!?!

Modern Mechanix

"Yesterday's tomorrow, today."

Truly, this is an age of miracles!

"Hold me like a mother would, like I've always known somebody should"

In honor of the recent release of the film documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, I present to you one of Mr. Johnston's songs, performed by Kathy McCarty, from the 1989 Bar/None sampler Time For A Change (this version is far better than the version from Dead Dog's Eyeball.)



mp3 link: Kathy McCarty, Living Life

LA County 4 Lyfe: Jury Duty, Part I

Your Pal Mister Jeff's week of calling in to the LA County Courthouse has finally caught up with him: I get to drive down to the Airport Courthouse at La Cienega and Imperial early tomorrow morning to fulfill my Civic Obligation and (potentially) sit in judgement upon my fellow, uh, person.



Originally the County had decided that I would, if Called To Serve, sit out my hours in the Inglewood Courthouse, but as their week-long window of opportunity drew to a close, desperation set in, and the Powers That Be settled on assigning me to the nearest available courthouse, just to make sure that I served (at the very minimum) my one day of service.

Of course, I'm game. Homie, as it were, does play that. Hell, it's the closest thing I've had to a vacation day since I called in "sick" a month and a half ago. In fact, since The Company pays for 10 (ten) days of jury service, I just might pull a "Twelve Angry Men" and make sure I get my money's worth out of this.

Eat This, Part I

Mr. Jeff Recommends: Ben & Jerry's The Gobfather ice cream.

suddenly, tammy! - Beach Song

From 1994's Warner Bros. CD sampler, "Trademark of Quality":

We know that in the past we may have seemed, well, a little cocky. Maybe even snotty. But all that's changed. If you don't like this music, please don't hestiate to tell us. You know, if you like the big guitar solos or girls singing "ooh, daddy," maybe we could find more artists who make music like that. Just tell us. Hey, if you don't like that, maybe we could cook you dinner or something. Will you call us? You know, only if you're not too busy. Will you call our parenst and let them know we're alright? They worry about us. But don't tell them about this sampler. Because all of the tracks are can't-get-anywhere-else one-offs that won't directly promote any of our product--the already nostalgic result of the insane notion of running an artist-oriented record label. It was too late to stop this one. Please. We'll do anything you want.

suddenly, tammy! - Beach Song

---
Extra bonus track: suddenly, tammy! - Places We Go

---

Also, it looks like this Google Pages thing is really going to work out for me. Especially the 100 MB file storage (see links above).

Brrrrring!

Ask MetaFilter vs. Logic Problem

The only thing we have to fear...is fear itself. And Dracula.

PBWiki

Dear Friends -
You know how it is. You're working in an office, but TPTB* have made the decision to slowly downsize the permanent staff, and rely mainly on temps. (The MAN has his reasons, stupid and self-destructive though they may be.)

So your collective continuity, your knowledge base, is gone, mostly replaced by a bunch of people who are just killing time until the next paycheck. You've never had a definitive manual for your department's policies and practices -- you've never needed one until now. How, in this 21st Century, Information Superhighway era, do you tap the knowledge of the remaining fulltimers in a way that all your staff can access? And how can you do it for free?

One word: WIKI.

Your pal MRJEFF's choice for this solution? PBWiki (much thanks to Lifehacker.com). No, I'm not going to give you a link to the wiki I've created - there's far too much confidential information on it. Besides, you need a password, and I'm not going to tell you that, either. But it's a great tool for the sharing -- and updating -- of knowledge. AND FREE. Highly recommended!

Check out the PBwiki tour!

Get a free wiki at PBwiki.com.





* The Powers That Be

Acting Tips, with Harrison Ford

Here are a few pointers.

Evolution Sunday: Feb 12, 2006

(From the Clergy Letter Project)

On 12 February 2006 hundreds of Christian churches from all portions of the country and a host of denominations will come together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science. For far too long, strident voices, in the name of Christianity, have been claiming that people must choose between religion and modern science. More than 10,000 Christian clergy have already signed The Clergy Letter demonstrating that this is a false dichotomy. Now, on the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, many of these leaders will bring this message to their congregations through sermons and/or discussion groups. Together, participating religious leaders will be making the statement that religion and science are not adversaries. And, together, they will be elevating the quality of the national debate on this topic.

Sadly missing from both the list of congregations, or the list of clergy: the Christian Reformed Church in North America. (C'mon, guys - the RCA is all over the place in the clergy list! What are you afraid of?)

Edit: double-checking, I found one! The Rev. John Terpstra, Pastor, Immanuel Christian Reformed Church, Fort Collins, CO -- YOU ROCK! Still: no Van Antwerpen, no Marlink, no Van der Klay. (sigh)

Window Office

Yer pal MRJEFF's department has been moved (for a few months, anyway) to a new office down the street. And this one has a window!

Totally awesome!

Another Stupid Internet Quiz: What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Your Birthdate: [date removed*]

You take life as it is, and you find happiness in a variety of things. You tend to be close to family and friends. But it's hard to get into your inner circle. Making the little things wonderful is important to you, and you probably have an inviting home. You seek harmony with others, but occasionally you have a very stubborn streak. Your strength: Your intense optimism Your weakness: You shy away from exploring your talents Your power color: Jade Your power symbol: Flower Your power month: June

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

(via)

* You've got the information - it should be easy to figure out my birth date!

Animal Crossing: Wild World blog

F O U R H M A N . C O M : weblog archive / AC Wild World Diary

Speaking of blogging AC:WW, why don't I do a little right now? I'm getting tired of only having pears (Skullton's native fruit) and peaches (Mom sent me one, I planted it and harvested and replanted) so I sent letters to a lot of the animals, asking them for fruit. (I enclosed a pear in each letter.)

• Jay replied with a tall cactus, which he dug up in his backyard.
  
• Punchy replied with a gas pump, which he said fell out of a tree he shook.
  
• Wart Jr. sent me a pinball machine.
  
• Gladys sent a classic chair, which she said she won in a contest.
  
• Annabelle's letter said, "I bought two of these, so now we'll match!" It was a stone tile.

Well, better luck next time, Mr. Jeff.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

ABC Confirms Shift to Wieden: "ABC Confirms Shift to Wieden
January 26, 2006
By Kathleen Sampey

NEW YORK Wieden + Kennedy here has won media planning and buying duties for ABC TV network and the ABC Family cable channel, the client confirmed.

Omnicom Group's OMD in Los Angeles handled the business for eight years.

The assignment covers categories such as entertainment, news, daytime and late-night programming for the cable channel and network, which air shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and Desperate Housewives.

Sources estimate billings close to $100 million. TNS Media Intelligence lists ABC's media spend at $140 million in 2005.

I'm pretty sure there's got to be a downside to this, but for the moment all I can think is, SO LONG ACTIVE INTERNATIONAL!

T-Shirts I Have Owned, Part II

 
My latest purchase from Threadless.com.