Ron's Log

Karl Baker Honored (old news)

This is worth watching if only to hear Pat Hammers say "pissed me off." Mr. Baker was honored on Memorial Day 2009 (but I just found this video) by The Veterans For Peace: "Elected Official Of The Year - Thank you for your tireless efforts to improve the city and for the cause of peace and equality in the Coachella Valley."

Low Altitude Training In Saline Valley

You may have to strain sometimes to see the jets, but that's life in Saline Valley. It's very hard to photograph them. The great advantage this video has over any others is you get to listen in to the radio traffic between the jets.

California Fair Political Practices Commission Minutes Of Meeting - October 8, 2009

Unapproved, subject to change, released today.

17. In the Matter of Henry Hohenstein, FPPC No. 05/489. Staff: Staff Counsel IV Melodee A. Mathay and Senior Special Investigator Sandra Buckner. Respondent Hohenstein was a member of the Desert Hot Springs City Council from December 2003 through December 2007. In this matter, Respondent Hohenstein violated the conflict of interest provisions of the Political Reform Act in December 2004 and February 2005, by making and participating in making six governmental decisions which had a reasonably foreseeable material financial effect on his interest in real property. By failing to disqualify himself from these governmental decisions, Respondent Hohenstein committed six violations of Government Code section 87100 (6 counts). Following a one-day administrative hearing in Los Angeles, Administrative Law Judge Humberto Flores issued a proposed decision finding that six violations occurred, and imposing an administrative penalty of $18,000. The Enforcement Division filed an opening brief requesting that the Commission accept the proposed decision in its entirety. Respondent did not file a written response to that request by the agreed-upon filing date of August 7, 2009. The Commission may hear argument on the proposed decision, and may then consider the matter in closed session.

Chairman Johnson asked if the Commissioners had any comments. There were none.

The Chairman asked if anyone in the audience had comments. Henry “Hank” Hohenstein spoke on his own behalf, as the respondent in this matter.

Commissioners Garrett, Hodson, Montgomery, and Rotunda asked questions, which were answered by Gary Winuk, Chief of Enforcement.

Chairman Johnson advised that the Commission would further discuss this matter in executive session, as noticed, and would announce any action taken at the conclusion of executive session.

Chairman Johnson recessed open session at 11:25 a.m. and advised they would immediately convene in executive session.

The Commission reconvened in open session at 12:10 p.m. Chairman Johnson reported the Commission affirmed the decision of the Administrative Law Judge in the Hohenstein matter.

Speaking of Hoarding

The story of a Debra Jean Higgins in Sunrise, Florida, who hoards so severely that "You can't walk by her house without gagging." The police hospitalized her in October for three days for an "evaluation." She has already accumulated $600,000 in liens for code violations. Volunteers have helped to clean up the exterior, but neighbors say the stench is coming from inside the house. The house is structurally sound, and Ms. Higgins refuses to allow anyone to come into her home, so the city is "in a little bit of a quagmire right now," according to Police Chief John Brooks.

Plus, there is a TV show on A&E (first I've heard of it) called Hoarders. They'll make a reality show out of anything.

Speaking Of Gang Tattoos

John Ditullio shortly after arrest.

At trial, with his tattoos covered by makeup.

Above you see John Ditullio who is on trial for murdering a teenager in Florida.

Last week, Circuit Judge Michael Andrews approved a request from Ditullio's lawyer that a cosmetologist be brought in each day to cover up Ditullio's tattoos, which he acquired while in jail.

Defense attorney Bjorn Brunvand said last week that the average juror might be offended or intimidated by them.

The cosmetologist expense is being covered by the taxpayers at up to $150 per day.

DHS Planning Commission - December 8

The audio from tonight's meeting of the Desert Hot Springs Planning Commission is available here.

Tattoo Parlor Zoning

This issue keeps inching along. Let's recap the history thus far:

At the June 16, 2009, city council meeting Mr. George Lopez commented that he wanted to open a tattoo parlor, but the DHS zoning code is silent on tattoo parlors and that means they are NOT permitted. He requested the city amend the zoning code.

At the July 13, 2009, city council study session the subject was discussed. Chief Williams said there is no connection between gangs and modern tattoo parlors. The city council voted 5-0 to direct staff to investigate a zoning text amendment that would permit tattoo parlors and bring that amendment to the Planning Commission.

At the September 8, 2009, planning commission meeting Martin Magaña alerted the commission that the issue would be coming to them at a future meeting.

At the October 13, 2009, planning commission meeting staff presented a chart outlining the legal status of tattoo parlors in the other cities of Coachella Valley. The consensus of the commission was to direct staff to continue and investigate the possibility of using tattoo parlors for gang tattoo removal.

At the November 10, 2009, planning commission meeting Mr. Magaña said he was collecting ordinances from other cities and would present them to the commission in December. If the commission wanted to proceed, then a proposed ordinance could be brought to the commission in January.

So tonight we got copies of those other ordinances.

From Cathedral City the ordinance banning "extreme body modification" businesses. By that, they mean scarification and branding. Tattoo parlors require a conditional use permit.

In Riverside tattoo and body piercing parlors must be at least 1,000 feet apart and at least 500 feet away from any "adult-oriented business," store that sells alcohol, and at least 100 feet away from any residential zone, and at least 600 feet away from a school, park or day care facility. Hours are restricted to no more than 7 AM to 10 PM.

The Huntington Beach ordinance includes health regulations. For instance, the tattooist must be free of hepatitis B and C, mononucleosis and tuberculosis. They even go so far as to mandate that the business must have a telephone, running hot and cold water, and a toilet. The hand washing cleanser dispensers must be wall-mounted. Tattooing and nipple and genital piercing of minors is completely forbidden. All of the rules are wonderful rules, but I imagine they must already be covered by some county or state health codes. In any case, if you want a perfectly safe, clean tattooing experience I would recommend you go to Huntington Beach.

Pomona permits tattoo parlos only in a "Highway Commercial" zone with a conditional use permit. But if it's in the "Fair" zone and connected with an exhibition or trade show, then no CUP is required. Hours are limited to 9 AM to 10 PM. They have to be 500 feet from any other tattoo parlor, any church, school, public park, day care center or community center. The ordinance relies on the Los Angeles County health codes.

Los Angeles County defines "body art" as tattooing, body piercing or permanent cosmetics. Body art does not include cutting of the skin or subcutaneous tissue, cutting or modification of cartilage or bone, implantation, branding, deep tissue penetration, threading, stapling or any other invasive procedure. A "body art technician" is required to complete a training course on blood borne pathogens and must register with the health department. A business that only pierces ears is exempt from the requirements of the lengthy ordinance so long as they use a piercing machine with a sterile, disposable, single-use needle. Nipple and genital piercing of anyone under 18 is completely forbidden. Kids under 18 may be tattooed with authorization from a physician plus parental consent. The parent must be present during the tattooing. There are additional lengthy requirements for anyone who wants to operate a mobile tattoo parlor and for temporary tattoo parlors (like at a fair or convention). The permit for that cannot be for longer than 30 days in a 90 day period.

On to the Planning Commission meeting...

Martin Magaña said that if the planning commission recommended going ahead with the zoning text amendment, then that recommendation would go to the city council. If the city council was favorably inclined, then the planning staff would come back to the planning commission with an actual amendment. So the planning commission would probably not be looking at an actual amendment until February or later.

Commission Versace said she was dismayed that no one from law enforcement had shown up at tonight's meeting. Police do not routinely show up at planning commission meetings. At the July city council study session Chief Williams said he considered tattoo parlors to be solely a zoning issue, not a law enforcement issue, so unless someone invited the police to be present, I wouldn't expect them to be there. Ms. Versace said the city is fighting a war against gangs and tattoos are a big part of gang identification and participation. She said it strikes her as disingenuous to expend money and resources, risk the lives of our public safety servants, and then authorize tattoo shops that could aid and abet gang participation, membership, and affiliation. She said she is completely, utterly opposed to tattoo shops in Desert Hot Springs and moved that the commission recommend an outright ban on tattoo parlors.

Commissioner King seconded for purposes of discussion.

Commissioner Romero said she had done some research on tattoo parlors and thinks the commission needs more information, especially on the correlation between crime and tattoo establishments. She also confirmed that she has no tattoos herself. She said would have a difficult time voting on this issue tonight because she doesn't have enough information. She did not want to vote against something that might provide an opportunity for a small business that was not detrimental to the city. She has been in touch with a former Navy Seal who is a tattooist and teaches blood pathogen classes. He has offered to make a presentation to the commission on tattoo establishments.

Commissioner King agrees with Ms. Romero. He had questions for the city attorney, but there was no attorney at this meeting. He also wanted to ask the police about tattoos and crime. He wondered if it would be a violation of the First Amendment to forbid the tattooing of gang signs.

I'm no attorney, but I would guess that would not be constitutional. Obviously, people can get themselves tattooed with Nazi swastikas, even though I think there would be great popular support for banning them.

Mr. King said he liked the Huntington Beach ordinance, but he wouldn't want an ordinance that duplicates the Riverside County health department's ordinances.

In a discussion on whether to recommend an outright ban or simply recommend no further action on this subject, Commissioner Versace asked what would happen if the zoning code were silent on the subject. Mr. Magaña explained again that that is the current state of things, and the silence on tattoo parlors effectively bans them. Someone who wants to open a tattoo parlor could go to city council again and the city council could direct the planning staff to prepare an ordinance and bring it to the planning commission to permit tattoo parlors [which is pretty much where we're at right now, I think].

Commissioner Versace said she would be happy to table the issue indefinitely. Chairman Gerardi said he agreed with that, saying the commission doesn't have enough information. He doesn't have a strong feeling one way or the other. He pointed out that almost all athletes have tattoos and they're very popular with younger people. He wants more information from the police department and from people in the business.

Commissioner Romero said she had spoken with her son the deputy on this issue, and he said tattoos were so mainstream they are not really an issue. He is not aware of any crime or gang connections to tattoo parlors and that gangbangers can't afford legitimate tattoo parlors and will get tattooed in prison or in some friend's garage. That's the same thing Chief Williams said in July. Ms. Romero said it would be unfair to permanently table the issue without clear information that shows a correlation between tattoo parlors and gang activity.

Commissioner Versace said she did not mean to make a direct correlation between tattoo parlors and gang activity, nor between tattoo parlors and crime. She went on to say that the war against gangs begins in 1st Grade. She went on to say that we don't want any more liquor stores in Desert Hot Springs, and there are bans on cigarette smoking because that's hazardous to health. We're telling kids "Don't participate in gangs," but tattoos are a part of gang activity. Permitting tattoo parlors strikes her as disingenuous and a bad example.

Indeed, tattoos are part of gang culture. So are small, fast cars, irritating music and handguns. But we don't ban small, fast cars, irritating music or handguns because they all have legitimate uses by free, law-abiding citizens. Instead, we regulate them.

Commissioner Romero drew a parellel with massage parlors which may have had a bad reputation among the poorly informed, but legitimate massage parlors have done a lot of work separate themselves from the ones that are low class. She doesn't want DHS to have a knee jerk reaction to any issue.

Finally Commissioner Versace's motion to ban tattoo parlors came to a vote. It failed 1-3 with Commissioner Versace being the lone favorable vote. Commissioner Gustafson was absent.

Commissioner King moved to continue this item to a time when the Police Chief and city attorney could be present, when some case law could be provided on the subject of First Amendment rights, and when some more information is provided as to any connection with gang activity. Commissioner Romero seconded saying she also wants someone from the industry to be present.

This motion passed 3-1, with Commissioner Versace in the minority again.

Travel Policy

A brief discussion of the revised travel policy and how it was really not a planning commission subject, but each commissioner needed to sign and return a statement acknowledging receipt of the new policy.

Nude Bowl Property

AKA APN 514-260-002 which is west of Pierson and highway 62 (the agenda continues to say it is east). This item was continued to January while outstanding issues are resolved.

Staff & Commissioner Comments

Martin Magaña announced the successful vote of LAFCO on our annexation. Commissioner King asked him to verify that the annexation was contingent upon approval of the parcel tax and whether LAFCO had specified at what rate the parcel tax had to be continued.

Actually, the LAFCO condition was to extend "the City’s public safety tax." When the busybodies on staff at LAFCO first wrote this condition up, they didn't even know the city had the utility tax, which is, of course, also a public safety tax, too. So we could approve ANY kind of public safety tax at any rate and satisfy LAFCO's condition.

Commissioner Versace said that despite the great efforts the city goes to in order to clean up trash in the city and get rid of blight, the city is lacking an anti-hoarding ordinance. She requested that be put on the agenda for discussion. Commissioner Gerardi assented to her request to add it to a future agenda.

Commissioner King said that yesterday during the substantial rain he saw that the water was undercutting the curbs in the construction area at Palm and Pierson. But today he says he saw they had done the must beautiful sandbagging job he had ever seen. I also saw public works down along Palm cleaning up the rocks and sand that had washed into intersections downhill from the construction.

He went on to say that he was going to do his best to stay on the planning commission, but if that's not possible, he asked the other commissioners to continue his tradition of requiring sidewalks get put in prior to the first house being put in, not the 125th. He also encouraged the commission maintain the standards they have done, and to stand strong on the DIF and AIPP. He said Desert Hot Springs doesn't need to be anybody's doormat and that we need to be proud and to have standards, we need to have good looking houses and commercial projects, we need arches that are at least 2 feet deep, we need architecture that is strong and bold.

33 minutes and 18 seconds by my audio recording. Mike Platt wondered if that was a new record, and it is. At least since I began recording in February. The previous record was 36 minutes 16 seconds for the October Planning Commission meeting.

1953 Kodachrome

Photo by actionlog. "Fishing along river New Orleans."

"Kids In The Hall" Returning

Or so they say.

Health Insurance Industry as Jesus

FЯED's production values have really improved

He's come a long way from this.

LIFE Magazine, June 26, 1964

ThorNYC has made the effort to locate and transcribe the infamous articles about "Homosexuality in America" that appeared in the June 26, 1964, issue of LIFE Magazine. He includes scans of the pages, so you can see the photos and text. So far he's written seven posts on the articles. The first article, "Homosexuality in America," tries to describe homosexual life. The second article, "Scientists search for the answers to a touchy and puzzling question, WHY?," purports to explain the causes of homosexuality. ThorNYC's posts:

1. The Way We Were (Reported) - 45 years ago
2. When gay was in quotation marks – Life magazine's "Homosexuality in America," part 2
3. The bitterness of individual homosexuals – Life magazine's "Homosexuality in America," part 3
4. The Homosexual Faces Arrest, Disgrace - Life magazine's "Homosexuality in America," part 4
5. The homosexual: Hungry for youth – Life Magazine's "Homosexuality in America," part 5
6. Emotionally unstable, immoral, and repugnant – Life Magazine's "Homosexuality in America," part 6
7. Science Explains Why and How You Got That Way - Life Magazine's "Homosexuality in America," part 7

His source was Google Books, where the text is just barely readable. You can download a text version of the complete transcript (except for photo captions) here.

The articles, while admitting that 90% of gay men are undetectable by outsiders, pretend to explain everything there is to know. Lesbians, of course, don't exist, except in a brief mention in the second article. Homosexuals are all men in LIFE Magazine.

The article, unintentionally I assume, helped millions of gay men to find other gay men by mass publishing this brief guide:

In New York City, swarms of young, college-age homosexuals wearing tight pants, baggy sweaters and sneakers cluster in a ragged phalanx along Greenwich Avenue in the Village. By their numbers and by their casual attitude they are saying that the street--and the hour--is theirs. Farther uptown, in the block west of Times Square on 42nd Street, their tough-looking counterparts, dressed in dirty jackets and denims, loiter in front of the cheap movie theaters and sleazy bookstores. Few of the passers-by recognize them as male hustlers.

By Chicago's Bughouse Square, a small park near the city's fashionable Gold Coast on the North Side, a suburban husband drives his car slowly down the street, searching for a "contact" with one of the homosexuals who drift around the square. A sergeant on Chicago's vice squad explains: "These guys tell their wives they're just going to the corner for the evening paper. Why, they even come down here in their slippers!"

In Hollywood, after the bars close for the night, Selma Avenue, which parallels Hollywood Boulevard, becomes a dark promenade for homosexuals. Two men approach one another tentatively, stop for a brief exchange of words, then walk away together. In the shadows that reach out beyond the streetlights, the vignette is repeated again and again until the last homosexual gives up for the night and goes home.

The article goes into more detail describing San Francisco's gay life, including the actual names of a couple of gay bars. In Los Angeles, LIFE Magazine talked to the police to get their facts:

Inspector James Fisk says that the 3,069 arrests for homosexual offenses made in Los Angeles last year represent merely a "token number" of those that should have been made. "We're barely touching the surface of the problem," Fisk says. "The pervert is no longer as secretive as he was. He's aggressive and his aggressiveness is getting worse because of more homosexual activity."

As part of its antihomosexual drive the Los Angeles police force has compiled an "educational" pamphlet for law enforcement officers entitled "Some Characteristics of the Homosexual." The strongly opinionated pamphlet includes the warning what the homosexuals really want is "a fruit world."

The article then goes on to detail how to conduct a conversation with a stranger on the street if you want to avoid arrest.

Movement to reform laws to legalize private conduct in some states is described.

But in Florida early this year the Legislative Investigation Committee's consideration of homosexuality produced an inflammatory report, calling for tougher laws to support the conclusion that "the problem today is one of control, and that established procedures and stern penalties will serve both as encouragement to law enforcement officials and as a deterrent to the homosexual [who is] hungry for youth." Its recommendations would make psychiatric examination of offenders mandatory and create a control file on homosexuals which would be available to public employment agencies throughout the state. The report, which included an opening-page picture of two men kissing and photographs of nude men and boys, was so irresponsible that it brought attacks from the Dade County state's attorney and the Miami Herald, which described it as an "official obscenity."

Some things never change:

Homosexuals are unwelcome in the armed forces, where forced segregation of the sexes develops more pressure for deviate activity (as it does in prisons). Many homosexuals are drafted for the service--and quickly weeded out when they have been identified. Homophile groups have protested the unfairness of a system that forces a man into military service and then rejects him with a "less-than-honorable" or "dishonorable" discharge because of a psychological condition over which he has no control. But a DOD official explains the policy: "If we didn't throw them out, we'd be condoning homosexuality. The services' position has to be that homosexual practices prejudice morale and discipline."

The second article runs the gamut, listing every cause for homosexuality that anybody has ever suggested:

• He cannot help it.
• Young men in big cities are thrown in with co-workers or neighbors who are gay and who flatter and befriend the young men, sometimes giving them money. Next thing you know, he's got his legs in the air.
• At puberty, young men are very interested in sex, but girls are not. Boys join same-sex athletic teams, go to boys boarding schools and boys summer camps. The result is that the most masculine of boys get the greatest opportunity to experiment with sex with other boys. The article has no explanation for all those boys who did all those things but still grew up heterosexual.
• Teenage shyness may scare a boy away from girls, so he "quickly embraces the other world." The article has no explanation for why he is not shy around men.
• Freud's narcissistic period and Oedipus phase; the overprotective mother. Again, there is no explanation for heterosexuals who had overprotective mothers, nor an explanation for homosexuals who grew up without any mother at all.
• Fathers are uninterested or hostile, even jealous or given to disparagement or ridicule. No explanation for the contrary examples, again.
• Psychosis.
• Imprisonment converts 70% of men into "practicing homosexuals."
• Thrill seekers take it up because it is illegal.
• It's caused by "the stimulation of sexy movies, books, magazines and outright pornography."
• Failure to "encourage heterosexuality."

Another interesting fact: the Institute for Sex Research says "...fully 85% or more of homosexuals look and act very much like other men and cannot be spotted for certain even by the experts [one presumes that the Institute consider themselves to be the 'experts' rather than the gay men who do the actual spotting]. Often the only signs are a very subtle tendency to over-meticulous grooming, plus the failure to cast the ordinary man's customary admiring glance at every pretty girl who walks buy."

Here's the one bit about lesbians: "There are also women homosexuals, of course, but the number is much smaller--by the estimate of the Institute for Sex Research, perhaps only a third or a quarter as high as the figure for men. One reason, some analysts have suggested, is that it is far easier for a woman who is afraid of men to perform adequately in marriage than it is for a man who is afraid of women. At any rate, women homosexuals are not nearly so numerous, promiscuous or conspicuous as their male counterparts, and the various studies have largely ignored them."

Keeping Up With The City (of Desert Hot Springs)

You will recall that at the December 1 City Council meeting there were several people who complained that they had not heard about the proposed residential rental inspection ordinance. Some on the council chided the public to pay more attention to what the city is doing. I'm afraid that some on the council may not appreciate the challenges that are presented to the ordinary citizen in keeping up to date with what the city is doing. On the city council, where they all talk to each other and staff freely, it might be easy to slip into thinking that the public knows everything the council does.

Take that rental inspection ordinance, for example. It was discussed at the public safety commission - twice! And how would the ordinary citizen know that? The public safety commission hasn't posted an agenda on the city's website since September, nor have they posted any minutes since August. So the only ways you might find out what's going on there are to (1) attend a meeting (they are very lightly attended), (2) read Ron's Log (nice, but hardly an official city organ), or (3) go by the Carl May Center a few days before the meeting and read what's on the agenda posted there. IOW, outside of the of handful of us who attend public safety commission meetings, no one knew what was going on there.

The city council discussed the ordinance at the November 9 study session which was not televised. The rental ordinance was on the agenda, which was available on the web. I showed up late for that meeting (which was also very lightly attended), didn't hear any of the discussion, so you won't find it on Ron's Log. The minutes for that November 9 meeting have not yet been approved and published by the city council.

As for media other than Ron's Log, I can't find any reference to the rental inspection ordinance in the Desert Sun before the December 1 city council meeting. On November 25 (the day before Thanksgiving) Desert Local News did pick up on the mention of the ordinance in City Manager Rick Daniels's November 17 memo and copied what he wrote, but neglected to include the subject, so the reader would not know it dealt with rental housing.

But there is C.M Daniels's memo, of course, and anyone interested in the city should read his memos to get an idea of the activities of staff. He does mention that it was discussed by the city council on November 9, so the alert citizen might know to go look at the agenda for that meeting and find the ordinance as it stood on that date.

Maybe the Mayor or some of the City Council members spoke to the Chamber of Commerce or other civic organizations on the subject of this ordinance. I would have missed anything like that. Other than that, the PR effort on this ordinance consisted of C.M. Daniels's reference to it, and the agenda item on November 9.

For someone like me, that's enough to know what the rental ordinance contained and that it was coming out, but how many in this city are like me? Retired and addicted to city meetings? Well, there's Vonda. I'm sure we still have some working people in this city, and working or not, somebody's got to be taking care of all those kids in this city. For a lot of people, the business of the city slides to 3rd or 4th or 5th place or even way lower in their priorities. And while agendas fulfill the legal requirements, they are legal documents more than they are a means of communicating with the public.

I'd like to see something more easily accessible being issued by the city. A simple list on the website of important activities with nothing more than one or two sentences of plain English and appropriate links to underlying documents could work. Something working parents could make sense of in a few minutes. It would look bloggish and if the city used blog software for it, then people could get the info via RSS feeds as well. If not that, then the same content delivered as a frequent press release might get the Desert Sun to publish it.

On the agenda at December 1 city council meeting, a study session was listed for tomorrow, December 7 at 4 PM. No agenda has yet appeared on the city's website. Is there a meeting? It's not on the city's web calendar, but I don't recall anyone mentioning its cancellation. OTOH, I know for sure that there will be a city council study session on Monday, December 14. That's the one where they're going to discuss the parcel tax. There's nothing about it on the city's web calendar. At the December 1 meeting they agreed to cancel the special meeting scheduled for December 22. It's still on the city's web calendar.

Might as well bring up the city's cable channel as well. Why, oh why, aren't the recorded meetings played continuously? Worse, what's going on at Time Warner that they cut off the end of the December 1 city council meeting? I could understand it if they were planning on showing the much beloved Heidi, but no, they just started showing NASA again. And as for the commission meetings, how about a single, simple consumer-quality video camera to record those so they can be played on the TV's cable channel as well? Put a wide angle lens on it so it gets the whole room and you don't need a photographer to aim, pan or zoom. Somebody just turns it on at the beginning and turns it off at the end. It would be unprofessional quality, but inexpensive and informative.

My point being, if the citizens are to stay informed on what the city is up to, the city needs to provide some means other than actual physical attendance at every meeting to stay up to date.

8m 30s of safe motorcycle riding on suburban streets

Yup, that's what we've got here. This came to my attention because Amazon emailed me an ad for the ContourHD – HD Helmet Camera. If you want it, use the coupon code CONTOURH to get an $80 discount (making it $170, which is comparable to what you would pay for it elsewhere). On that Amazon page there's a video you can watch, but of course for Amazon's purposes it's been compressed. If you blow it up to full screen it looks as bad as that toy video camera I attached to my bike at Burning Man. Not a good way to sell an HD camera.

Further searching led me to VholdR's [the manufacturer or distributor] own website where they host user videos using their cameras. Go to the HD videos to be sure you are getting the best quality. You'll find lots of videos by dirt bikers, mountain bikers, sky divers, hang gliders, skiers, Jeep drivers and other fast action, rowdy stuff. In searching for something a little more my speed, I found this video shot by user "crossbarphotoq" somewhere around Fort Collins, Colorado. It's his commute to work on a clear day through safe suburban streets. It's like watching a driver's ed video. His head (the camera is helmet-mounted) seems unusually stationary. He checks his mirrors once. The only slightly exciting moment comes when he enters the office plaza and maybe, almost lifts his front wheel. Finally, he parks illegally in front of an exit door.

If you like that, here's a similar video that he shot in SD.

If you'd like full info on the camera, B&H gives it to you best. And do not fail to compare it to the ContourHD 1080p which shoots what I would call real HD. But you gotta pay for that. $330 at B&H or Amazon or anywhere else I look. Check again after Christmas.

Scrapple

The NY Times recalls an 1872 correspondence in its pages on the subject of scrapple to illustrate that all these snarky, anonymous internet comments are nothing new at all. They include a PDF scan of the original articles, which has the original recipe, which I reproduce for you here:

Get a young pig's head (fresh) weighing five or six pounds, which can be bought for twenty-five or thirty cents—"one from the country preferred." Clean it well, cutting off the ears to enable you to clean them well inside. (Get the butcher to take out the eyes and teeth when you buy it.) Put the head in two gallons and a half of cold water. Let it boil until the bones can be easily separated from the meat. Chop the meat very fine, and put it back into the liquor it has been boiled in, and season with pepper, salt, thyme, sage and sweet marjoram. (Don't put too much of the herbs.) Then take equal parts of buckwheat and corn-meal and stir in until the compound is about the consistency of mush; lifting it off the fire while thickening, to prevent it getting lumpy. Then let it boil for about fifteen or twenty minutes, stirring it to prevent burning. Turn it into pans to cool. Cut into thin slices, and fry brown as you want to use it.

The cost will be about fifty cents. For that sum my family of five grown persons have plenty of breakfast every day for a week.

I've never eaten scrapple. The closest I ever came was one of my working trips to Social Security headquarters in Baltimore, where scrapple is on the menu in the main Social Security cafeteria. I was curious, but chickened out, not wanting to experiment with something so odd at the beginning of a long day in the bowels of SSA.

Another Non-Voting Republican Running For California Office

In addition to Carly Fiorina (Republican for Senator) and Meg Whitman (Republican for Governor), Damon Dunn, a Republican who (at age 33) has voted only once in his life, wants to be Secretary of State. He has never held elective office before. I would expect someone running for statewide office to have an interest in politics and government. An interest in politics and government should lead, naturally, to at least occasional voting.

Green Cremation

Rather than a gas-fueled fire for up to four hours, in the alkaline hydrosis method the body is put in a silk bag, and then reduced in a bath of environmentally friendly lye at 300°(F). Afterwards, you are left with some bone fragments and "200 gallons of fluid with a ph level that has been described as 'somewhere between hand-soap and ammonia.'" They call it Resomation^®. Isn't that a gentle name? Rather than going on a vacation or retreat, consider being resomated.

Here's the cold-hearted description:

A 300°F solution of a strong base, in this case lye (sodium hydroxide), is sprayed on a body at 60 pounds of pressure per square inch in what looks sort of like a body-shaped stainless steel pressure cooker. The base hydrolyzes the tissues, leaving a syrupy brown liquid and some bone residue. The bone residue could be collected and dried, if desired, similar to the collection of cremated remains.

So far, no state in the U.S. permits Resomation^® at any commercial funeral home, although there is a Resomator at the Mayo Clinic to dispose of donated cadavers.

Windfarms Have No Effect On Home Prices

So says a study funded by the Department of Energy. Here's the study report [PDF] itself, and its summary:

With wind energy expanding rapidly in the U.S. and abroad, and with an increasing number of communities considering wind power development nearby, there is an urgent need to empirically investigate common community concerns about wind project development. The concern that property values will be adversely affected by wind energy facilities is commonly put forth by stakeholders. Although this concern is not unreasonable, given property value impacts that have been found near high voltage transmission lines and other electric generation facilities, the impacts of wind energy facilities on residential property values had not previously been investigated thoroughly. The present research collected data on almost 7,500 sales of singlefamily homes situated within 10 miles of 24 existing wind facilities in nine different U.S. states. The conclusions of the study are drawn from eight different hedonic pricing models, as well as both repeat sales and sales volume models. The various analyses are strongly consistent in that none of the models uncovers conclusive evidence of the existence of any widespread property value impacts that might be present in communities surrounding wind energy facilities. Specifically, neither the view of the wind facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities is found to have any consistent, measurable, and statistically significant effect on home sales prices. Although the analysis cannot dismiss the possibility that individual homes or small numbers of homes have been or could be negatively impacted, it finds that if these impacts do exist, they are either too small and/or too infrequent to result in any widespread, statistically observable impact.

Before you all erupt in cheers and applause, let me cool your excitement by pointing out that the study included NO analysis of any of the California windfarms. I'm not convinced we can just assume that California real estate prices behave the same as prices in Texas, Iowa, or Pennsylvania.

The Oregon Music Scene

GOPS Hike In Desert Hot Springs

Today I went on a little hike with Great Outdoors exploring the eastern end of one of the most prominent features of the San Andreas fault close to Desert Hot Springs. That is, the pressure ridge that runs from near Long Canyon Road to Two Bunch Palms Resort.

This hill that we hiked around is a pressure ridge pushed up by the Mission Creek strand of the San Andreas fault. Can anyone tell me whose property that is on top of the hill?

More photos here.

Elephant Christmas Ornament

That's What It's All About

On the occassion of the passing of Robert Degen, one of the authors of Hokey Pokey, the N.Y. Times digs into the history and possible origins of that ubiquitous tune.

Model Railroad Videos

My oldest brother has always been into model railroading. He used the simple camera setup shown above (that's a plastic soap box) to make parts of this video:

If you're into model railroading, you probably love that kind of stuff. And you'll love this other video he made at the same meet.

Little Lost Pony

Found wandering the streets of Norwalk, California, this little pony only needs some pink pony dye and he will be the perfect Christmas gift for some lucky grandchild.

Chester H. Warlow

Along Route 99 there are three rest areas. The Chester H. Warlow rest stop near Kingsburg is the only one that is not a pair of rest stops; that is, north or southbound, you go off to the east side of 99 to get to the rest stop.

It was recently rehabbed and probably because of that I noticed this memorial plaque for the first time.

I set off on a search to find out who he was. On this page there's a photo of the plaque from 2007, proving it was there before the rehab. The photographer says there's another plaque near the Marin County end of the Golden Gate Bridge, but I didn't find any other references to that. Bay Area readers, if you can point me to a photo of that plaque, I would appreciate it.

Photos of the rest stop here.

From a history of Fresno County:

Chester H. Warlow, the youngest of the four children, was born on June 3, 1889 and was only six months old when he came to Fresno with his parents. He attended the grammar schools and then went to the Kemper Military Academy at Boonville, Mo., one of the best military schools of its size in the country, from which he was graduated in 1906. He then entered the Leland Stanford University and took the prelegal course and was graduated in 1911 with the degree of A.B.; and in the fall of that year he matriculated at the Harvard Law School, at Cambridge, Mass. For a year there he specialized in law, and the following year returned to Leland Stanford and completed the Stanford Law School course. When he graduated, as a member of the Class of '13, he received the degree of Doctor of Law.

Returning to Fresno, Mr. Warlow entered the law office of his father, and father and son formed the partnership of Warlow & Warlow. At the opening of the World War, Chester volunteered in the regular army, and was sent to Kelley Field, Texas; and later on he was assigned to the One Hundred Fifth Aero Squadron there, where he attained to the rank of First Lieutenant. He was honorably discharged on December 24, 1918, and arrived home on the following New Year's Day. The first of February he opened his law office at 812 Griffith-McKenzie Building, and since then has been busy at the commencement of his independent career in which, it is safe to say, he will ably and conscientiously maintain the enviable traditions of his honored father.

The San Joaquin Light and Power Magazine for Consumers and Employees of January 1914 published this poem by Chester H. Warlow:

An Invitation

Oh! Where is the land that God forgot?
  Some said 'twas Coalinga, you know,
But that was before all the drilling;
  Yes, that was long years ago.

You of the City, at present
  Would say He'd forgotten it still.
But what do you know of the Oil Fields—
  What do you know of a drill?

You've never had your hands grimy,
  Covered thick with black-blue oil.
You have never lived in the open;
  You think of this life as toil.

You have never heard the sand line
  Go singing against the rim
Of the great big twelve-inch casing,
  As the bailer went plunging down in.

You have never sat in the evening
  When the moon lit the derrick towers
And seen all the field lights gleaming;
  Just sat there passing the hours.

You've not heard the puffs of the engines,
  So quiet they seemed but a part
Of the magnitude of the Evening.
  Why, man! What's become of your heart?

If you cannot love our oil fields,
  It's because you don't understand.
You've been cooped up in the City
  'Till your life's throttled down by its hand.

Come out with us 'mid the derricks,
  Be it Kreyenhagen or Oil City lease,
Come out to a life worth living,
  Come out where there's quiet and peace.

Then you'll not say God has forgotten,
  If you're tired of living, my friend;
Come with me to our Oil Fields,
  Life will be worth living then.

A photo of Chester Warlow from the Shaver Lake Fishing Club.

Below is how he looked in 1951:

Mt. Warlow in Kings Canyon National Park is named for him.

Photo by Sierralara of Mt. Warlow.

From CalTrans:

WARLOW, CHESTER H. : Chester H. Warlow (1889-1963) was an attorney, civic leader, and conservationist who played an important role in the building of highways to Sequoia National Park and Kings River Canyon. He also served as a member of the California Highway Commission for 20 years. Mount Warlow in Fresno County is named for him, as is the Safety Roadside Rest Area off of Route 99 at Dodge Avenue in Tulare County.

Health Information

Found in this July 9, 1953, edition [PDF] of The Vista Press:

Send Messages To The Troops

Xerox offers the Let's Say Thanks where you can, at no cost, send a card to a randomly selected member of the U.S. military serving overseas. Looks to be genuine, and Snopes says it is.

Space Robots Attack!

Space aliens send robots to attack the city we know they've always wanted to destroy: Montevideo! This video is especially notable for the primitive state of the Uruguayan air force which seems to consist of 1947 surplus.

And this video, which cost $500 to make, is the basis for a Hollywood offer of "£30 million." We are sure, however, that Hollywood still likes to make its offers in USD, and that converts to about $49.6 million.

Pompeii Streetview

Google has added the ruins of Pompeii to streetview.

Colbert Acts The Bomb

In this video Stephen Colbert hilariously reproduces all the standard film footage of all the nuclear blasts that we have seen so many times using only his body and voice.

Jesus Christ Seen In Jefferson County, Alabama

And this time I believe it. Jesus Christ is a woman who changed her name and drew some attention when she was called for jury duty. She was excused from the jury pool for being disruptive. I don't understand, though, why, if she lives in Alabama, she is complaing about suffering under California's Prop 8.

On a related note, the future savior for the world's poultry was laid in Burleson, Texas, but God's plan was cut short when Tracy and Pam Norrell took the egg away from the warm nest of the hen who laid it.

LAFCO Approves DHS Annexation - with conditions

Here is the audio recording of the portion of today's LAFCO hearing that dealt with the Desert Hot Springs annexation.

This is the map prepared by LAFCO staff back in October. Since then they dropped their recommendation to exclude the parcel southeast of Palm and Dillon. Annexation 36 is the smaller inhabited area that is mostly north of Dillon, along Palm. Annexation 37 is the larger, technically uninhabited area and it's divided into two parcels. Parcel 1 is the small chunk north of Annexation 36. The rest of Annexation 37 is Parcel 2. The two parcels are only diagonally contiguous. Approval of 36 without 37 would have created an island (Parcel 1). Approval of 37 without 36 would have created an irregular border that they call a pocket (why not a fistula?). LAFCO doesn't like pockets or islands, so they voted on both areas simultaneously and they will be annexed simultaneously.

You might notice that the map seems to indicate that the area southeast of Dillon and Indian is in BOTH the DHS and Palm Springs spheres of influence, which should be impossible.

As staff was introducing this item, they used Google Earth to illustrate their points and fly around all the parts of the city. Twice they hovered over the "Cholla Gardens" island that is southwest of West Drive and Mission Lakes Boulevard. I sensed that the staff member (George) felt like he had an itch he couldn't scratch as he looked at at that island. I wondered if he might just urge the commission to throw due process to the wind and annex it today as well. But nothing like that happened.

Here is the palace of democracy where today's hearing was conducted in Riverside.

LAFCO staff recommended these conditions for the annexation, all of which were approved:

• The public safety tax (the parcel tax) be extended;
• DHS become a permittee in the MSHCP; and
• The city agree to maintain the east (as well as the west) half of Palm Drive north of Dillon - this means DHS would maintain all of Palm Drive starting from half a mile south of Dillon all the way north. (Does it mean we can reduce the speed limit from 55 to 45 north of Dillon?)

The staff report pointed out that while DHS has vast open areas already available for development, none of that was appropriate for large scale commercial or industrial development, and DHS was the only city in the valley without direct access to I-10.

There were no speakers against the item, but 10 people had signed up to speak in favor while 1 person wanted to speak as a "neutral."

Mayor Parks was first up. She referred to the 75% favorable vote on the utility tax, the last two years of infrastructure improvements, downtown land purchases, park improvements, the nearly ready Vortex Specific Plan, and the nearly-nearly complete General Plan Update. She said the re-election of herself, Scott Matas and Jan Pye was an affirmation by the voters of the direction the city is going. She said the annexation was needed for economic development. She said the property owner of the section southeast of Palm and Dillon wants to be included in the city. She made a glancing reference to the failed Palmwood annexation, saying that now the city has resolved all Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP) issues and have petitioned the CVCC to become a full permittee. No objections to this annexation have been received, and it has the full support of Cathedral City and Palm Springs. She also said that putting more jobs and retail on our side of I-10 could reduce greenhouse gases.

Next up was City Manager Daniels. He said the city has been working with the developer of the 160 acres southeast of Palm & Dillon who plans to build a "gateway project" (a big shopping center) there. 65% of the city's spending is outside the city. Every day 7,000 cars leave the city and do their shopping elsewhere. A shopping center at Dillon and Palm will help keep that money in DHS. The city objects to the annexation being conditional on the extension of the parcel tax. He said that the $900,000 generated by the parcel tax is big, but not the most significant source of revenue for public safety. There is also a "Parcel Tax 2" that is applied to all new development in the city (I had not heard of this before). The delay required by conditioning the annexation on the parcel tax would mean a loss to the city of $200,000 to $300,000, which would be enough to hire two more police officers. The county Sheriff is going to have to reduce patrols in the area due to budgetary constraints. The city can immediately put two police officers in there. He described the vote against the MSHCP as a "horrible mistake," and said it has cost us millions to get back in. LAFCO staff had shown some concern that by moving the fire station from Dillon Road to Skyborne, service had been reduced in the areas to be annexed. C.M. Daniels said that the station on Dillon was "horribly rundown" so the city made the brand new Skyborne station available at $1 per year. As for the Tabers [who will speak later], Mr. Daniels said the city will respect all county entitlements. County staff has already proceeded as though the city had annexed this area. The city has agreed to cover $2.4 million of what the county would contribute to the reconstruction of the I-10 interchanges at Palm and Indian.

Supervisor Bob Buster, who was chairing the meeting at this point, said he recalled having heard about this annexation at least 10 years ago. C.M. Daniels said "Supervisor, there are a lot of things the city talked about, but with the leadership that's been elected in the last two years, we're doing all those things." He said the city will come back with an annexation for for Cholla Gardens.

Chief Pat Williams came next. He said that in 2006 Desert Hot Springs had the highest crime rate in two counties for cities under 100,000. Currently, our crime rate shows we are as safe as Palm Springs, "if you consider Palm Springs safe," he added. He then listed more crime statistics showing dramatic declines in all crime rates in Desert Hot Springs. Since the Chief came on board the police force has expanded from 25 to 34 authorized positions. Response time to priority 1 calls is under 4 minutes. He referred to the two Cathedral City police officers we are taking on as well as the two DA Investigators that we are getting from the county. He talked about the police camera program. He talked about Tedesco Park, graffiti abatement, parolee and sex offender housing ordinances, and work to bring a parolee service center to the area. He listed the police community programs: community police academy, neighborhood watch academy, junior police academy, crime-free housing program, volunteer policing organization (COPS, I think he meant).

Supervisor Buster interrupted to ask if the Chief was saying that he is prepared to cope with this additional area without any reduction in protection in the rest of the city. Chief Williams agreed, saying the city has invested in the necessary infrastructure to do so. The Chief wrapped up with a little boosterism, saying "Collaboration, innovation and essential service are the hallmarks of our organization. Hallmarks of our city are the cleanest air, purest water, the best earth on Earth" and something about the wind I couldn't make out. Supervisor Buster asked about the water, acknowledging that the cold water had won awards, and wondered if you could drink the hot water. The answer, of course, is no, but Supervisor Buster described it as "the best sitting hot water." As he turned from the podium Chief Williams said "Visit our spas!"

LAFCO Commissioner Robin Lowe (who is on the city council in Hemet - you've got to check out their intimidating appearance! - and is President of the California League of Cities) said she had the privilege of working with Pat Williams when he was a councilmember in San Jacinto years ago and that he brought a lot of integrity to that council. She asked the Chief about the impact of the safety tax. The Chief said that no matter what happens, "we're going to make it work," and described the council's dedication to public safety.

Katie Barrows from the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, the body that oversees MSHCP, was the next speaker. She said they and other interested agencies had been working with the city to make sure it would all work. CVCC will work with the city on an amendment to bring the city into the MSHCP in the annexed areas.

Jim Ferguson, attorney for the Jakes Family Trust, owner of the 160 acres southeast of Dillon and Palm, got up to speak. He said they have been working with the city for two years. He called it a "going home center," as it is on the major route into Desert Hot Springs, on the right side of the road at a traffic light with easy ingress and egress. He said they want to develop it in the city and encouraged the commissioners to include that chunk in the annexation.

Chuck McDaniel, a resident of DHS and a representative of IBEW Local #440, expressed his personal support and his local's support for Mayor Parks and the annexation.

Larry Powell, representing some developer in Newport Beach also works with the Jakes Family Trust, Desert Land Holdings and Snellenberger, also spoke in favor of the development southeast of Dillon and Palm. He called that intersection a "fan point," meaning that as people come up Palm Drive to that intersection they will fan out east, west or north making it a "natural capture point" [for business, we assume]. He asked that the 160 acres be annexed into the city.

Chris Taber was the "neutral" speaker. He owns the "North Palm Springs Commercial Plaza" at Indian and I-10, which is included in the annexation area. He thought the planned annexation was premature, but after assurances from city staff, he has decided to withdraw his request for a continuance.

Commissioner Terry Henderson from La Quinta said she fully supports the condition suggested by staff, that the public safety tax must be extended before the annexation is final. She said she appreciates that the utility tax passed by 75% earlier this year, but she is concerned about the future and is afraid that support may erode for local taxes. She thinks voters may just vote "no" on everything. She thinks the tax is necessary to sustain this annexation.

Ms. Henderson moved to approve all staff recommendations, including the inclusion of the 160 acres southeast of Palm and Dillon in the city. The motion was approved 4-0.

Commissioner Lowe addressed Mayor Parks directly from the dais saying "You've come a long way, Mayor, and I'm damn proud of you!"

The annexation will be final 30 days after all conditions are met: passage of the parcel tax and an amendment to the MSHCP to include the annexed areas in the plan.

Citrus Quarantine

The Desert Sun is reporting today that the California Department of Food and Agriculture has extended the citrus quarantine throughout the entire Coachella Valley to protect against the Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri). This is based on a November 24 press release that other media reported on that day or even earlier.

The press release says, among other things, "Residents and people moving through the quarantine zone are urged not to remove citrus fruits with leaves and stems from the area." But in a November 18 press release on the subject of expanding the quarantine area in northern San Diego County it says "The quarantine requires that local residents not move home-grown fruits and vegetables from the property of origin and to consume fruits and vegetables on-site." In addition, the Desert Sun article quotes Steve Lyle, the Food and Agriculture Department's public affairs director, saying "Residents who have citrus trees in their yards aren't allowed to remove the plants, plant parts or fruit from their property."

That's a fairly extreme limitation that, if the California Department of Food and Agriculture really means it, will require some intensive education. It bans the traditional practice of sharing citrus fruit with your neighbors and friends. It would also ban the dumping of excess citrus fruit, or even citrus fruit waste, into your trash to be hauled to a landfill. Would it be okay to run that fruit waste down into your garbage disposal, or do people have to start composting their citrus waste on site?

Here is a pamphlet [PDF] with photos of the insect and the damage that can be caused by Huanglongbing disease, which can be carried by the psyllid, but has not yet been found in California.

Summary Of Some Annexation Issues

The California Real Estate Journal has an article about Desert Hot Springs, the plans for annexation, and some history about the MSHCP. The LAFCO hearing on the annexation is today in Riverside.