Subject: Manufacturing Sector

• Who Stole the Election from the Stealers?

  As Gustavo's recent post on Hugh Hewitt suggests, even Republican diehards are beginning to surrender. That raises an important question: how will conspiracy theorists explain the stolen election that wasn't? Many on the left had warned that the GOP had everything wired--from electronic voting machines run by Diebold to election-rigging legal changes--to steal this election. What happened?

  November 7, 2006

• Coyote Sale

  Friends of Coyote Hills—the group battling valiantly to protect the last undeveloped land in Fullerton—hold their fifth annual Garage Sale Fundraiser from 7 a.m. to noon Friday and Saturday at 925 Valencia Mesa, Fullerton. Promising "tons of bargains" (and advising shoppers to arrive early for the best selection), organizers say they'll also have water, coffee and Krispy Kreme doughnuts available. "You don't have to buy them by the dozen!" they note, failing to realize they had me at

  November 1, 2006

• Squeezing Money from Corpses in Irvine

  That companies which use magical accounting practices to rewrite history to fatten the bank accounts of their executives would try to squeeze money from corpses isn't really too surprising, but it is still disgusting. And it's happening in Irvine. The Wall Street Journal reports that dozens of companies used the collapse of prices in the stock market following the 9/11 attack as an opportunity to shovel more money into the troughs of their executives via the backdating of stock options. (The

  March 7, 2007

• Foxes, Henhouses, and the Fashion Police

  Just like breaking a leg can take your mind off a toothache, the major traumas the Bush administration has inflicted on the body politic make it easy to forget the lesser damage it's doing.  Or, as Ruth Marcus puts in her column in today's Washington Post, "The tornado of disastrous headlines -- a Pentagon that can't take proper care of its wounded, a Justice Department that can't be trusted to follow the law or tell the truth to Congress, a top White House aide who lied to a grand jury-- h

  April 4, 2007

• Burning Bush (almost)

  We were moments away from President Cheney last week, it seems. The Detroit News reports: Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation. Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of Ford's hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid at the White House last week. Ford wanted to give the Commander-in-Chief an actual demonstration of the innovat

  April 9, 2007

• Transformers: Less Than Meets the Need

  This past Saturday was the official release date for Transformers movie toys, and of the three toy-inspired movies coming out this summer (Bratz and Care Bears: Oopsy Does It being the other two), this was clearly the one with the must-have merchandise. Though the giant morphing robots in the movie are—perhaps deliberately—too complicated to replicate exactly in miniature plastic form, the folks at Hasbro have managed to come close, maintaining the general look and compromising only

  June 4, 2007

• OC Drivers on the Pipe

  According to the for-profit Orange County Automobile Dealers Association, the top new retail car and truck registrations this year through May: Toyota: 29.3% GM: 12% Honda: 11.5% Ford: 9.7% DaimlerChrysler: 6.3% Nissan: 5.6% According to the nonprofit Environmental Defense, the percentage of carbon dioxide--the main pollutant causing global warming--emitted by vehicles on the basis of brand through 2004 was: GM (64.4 million vehicles): 31% Ford (49.8 million): 26% DaimlerChrysler (30.4

  June 29, 2006

• Arnold Cuts Some Gas

  We keep waiting for Arnold Schwarzenegger to show his true colors, especially with the media reports over the weekend indicating that while the country may swing left in the next election, California may swing back to the right. Surely, then, Schwarzenegger is just biding his time, waiting for more Republicans to get into office so that he can ditch this moderate/left-of-center shit and be the goose-stepping Reaganite he's always dreamed of being. Well, if that's the future that awaits us, ol'

  October 16, 2006

• Comic-Con 2007: It figures, Dr. Jones

  Hasbro just unveiled the new Indiana Jones figures, all three based on Raiders of the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones, Ceremonial Belloq with Idol, and Sallah). They're Star Wars scale, with high articulation (the only one not fully-posable is a version of Indy with whip-cracking action) and attention to detail. The line will be launched with a mix of figures from Raiders and the new fourth film, but Temple of Doom and Last Crusade will be represented later. "No comment" on vehicles, but they do not ha

  July 27, 2007

• Last Night: Belt Sander Races in Anaheim

  By Deborah Song Rob Russell was all smiles posing for cameras in front of the racetrack with umbrella girls and trophy in hand. The 38-year-old purchasing manager for Kitchen and Connection might have placed third in the national championship race in Las Vegas, but his spruced up, sleek belt sander was no match for contenders at yesterday’s belt sanding race in Anaheim. Inside a stuffy E.B. Bradley Company warehouse, 75 feet of wood panel was laid out for belt sanders to race on, two at a t

  August 2, 2008

• Victory Through Tote Bags

  October 31, 2002

• The See & Sprout Project

  If your shiny new camera has permanently replaced your dust-collecting old digital  point-and-shoots, consider donating them to a  good cause while simultaneously supporting the arts. Founded by Stacie Krajchir, along with tsunami orphans from Thailand, the See and Sprout Project is an international creative collective that brings cameras to Third World regions, puts on children's photography workshops, then, with the help of Hewlett-Packard, hosts the results in a traveling exhibition

  December 1, 2008

• New Ice Cream Flavors: I Like Where This is Going

  On the Chowhound boards a few years ago, I remember someone asking for tips on where to find green tea ice cream.  We pointed him to the frozen dessert section of 99 Ranch or Mitsuwa. This weekend, I found it green tea ice cream at Vons.  Let me repeat:  AT VONS!!! What's even more amazing was that it wasn't Magnolia, Mashti Malone, or even Fubuki (which is the only brand that I knew of that made green tea ice cream) -- this was Safeway Select, the store brand! Surely there's no better indi

  December 22, 2008

• Special Screenings

  Movie of the Week: The 400 Blows

  January 3, 2008

• Chuao Chocolatier Gone From Irvine Spectrum (And Other Closures I'm Late To Report)

  So I'm walking through Irvine Spectrum the other day, between Macy's and Nordstroms, when I realized something was missing:  Chuao Chocolatier was gone.  The fancy-pants chocolatier, from whom I bought a box of nine decadent morsels for $15 in 2005, was history, now replaced with a specialty shop that sold candles and such.  Funny part was that I'd been to Irvine Spectrum at least a half dozen times in December. I guess in the Christmas rush, I didn't even notice that it wasn't there.  A

  January 14, 2009

• Inspired

  January 15, 2009

• Totally Wired

  September 4, 2008

• Earth Tones

  August 28, 2008

• Blue-Doo

  January 10, 2008

• Ain't He a Pisser?

  July 1, 1999

• Toys 'R' Summer

  June 7, 2007

• This Week In Food

  Our fave grub blogs of the week: Gustavo educated us on the Japexican delights (specifically, the jalapeños stuffed with spicy tuna) at Wafu of Japan. Edwin brought us news of two Domino's employees indulging in acts of unspeakable grossness relating to pizza ingredients and unmentionable orifices. And I'm still in London, so not much OC eating for me (back on Monday), although I was delighted to share the fact that Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day is next Tue

  April 17, 2009

• Indie Vs. Major: Who's Got the Flavor

  Urban music in 2006 was typified by what it wasnt as much as what it was

  December 28, 2006

• Electric Vehicle Charging Station at Mainplace Mall

  October 19, 2006

• All Charged Up

  June 29, 2006

• Six Degrees of Schwarzenegger

  October 7, 2004

• Dude, Wheres My Electric Car!?!

  May 15, 2003

• Coming Soon to Westminsters Giant Screen

  April 10, 2003

• Sweat Seal

  February 13, 2003

• Rage Against the Voting Machine

  December 19, 2002

• Human Rights and Wrongs

  May 16, 2002

• Dropping In

  March 21, 2002

• Felony Foods

  March 21, 2002

• Coffee Crusade

  January 24, 2002

• True Believers

  January 11, 2001

• Toys from Hell

  December 28, 2000

• Not Ready For Prime Time

  September 16, 1999

• No Dial Tone

  September 9, 1999

• Non-Windows Users of the World, Unite!

  February 11, 1999

• Garden Grove, Foothill Ranch Dealers on Chrysler Shitcan List

  As part of bankruptcy proceedings today, Chrysler LLC says it wants to eliminate 789 of its 3,200 U.S. dealerships, including Union Dodge in Garden Grove and Urban Automotive Group in Foothill Ranch. In its motion filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, Chrysler said sales are too low at many dealers on its shitcan list.  Dealers can appeal--and they won't be lonely. General Motors Corp. says it

  May 14, 2009

• Things That Kill Opening Reception

  May 28, 2009

• Things That Kill

  June 11, 2009

• Bigger PR Nightmare: Henry Nicholas III or OC Register?

  FishBowlLA.com connects the dots today between indicted Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas III, the Orange County Register's parent company and the "PR guy" for both of them: Sitrick & Co. does PR for Freedom Communications, Inc.Mike Sitrick is also the PR guy for Dr. Henry Nicholas III, the former Broadcom exec facing multiple federal criminal charges in connection with alleged stock options fraud and drug offenses in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana. The Orange County Register is owned b

  July 6, 2009

• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

  July 9, 2009

• Stockpile the Snickers! America Might Run Out of Sugar!

  ​That was the dire prediction made this week by a group of major food manufacturers such as Kraft, Hershey, Mars and General Mills, who claim that import restrictions will soon leave us bereft of the sweet stuff. Apparently, domestic sugar supplies are falling dramatically (the Agriculture Department said this week that it expects US sugar supplies to drop 43 per cent in the next year), and, according to the manufacturers, unless the government starts allowing them to import more tariff-free s

  August 13, 2009

• A Laptop for Every Kid in Fullerton--or Else!

  Friends For Fullerton's Future--which "supports candidates and causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County"--have their bloomers in a bunch over what they perceive to be "extortion" perpetrated by the Fullerton School District.The district is apparently telling parents to buy a $1,500 Apple laptop for each of their enrolled children or face having that student sent to a "lesser" school. As proof, Friends has posted the YouTube above th

  June 3, 2009

• Anna in the Tropics

  September 3, 2009

• The Ataris

  September 24, 2009

• Anaheim Ducks Owner, Broadcom Co-founder Samueli May Be Prison Bound

  Wikipedia.org Henry Samueli's next uniform may be an orange jumpsuit.The Anaheim Ducks owner, Irvine's Broadcom Corp. co-founder and UC Irvine Henry Samueli School of Engineering namesake may be prison bound. Orange County Register reports a federal court today dismissed an appeal by the billionaire, who had sought to overturn a judge's rejection of a plea bargain that would have kept him out of prison. He now faces up to five years in prison at his yet-to-be scheduled se

  September 24, 2009

• Jones Soda Co. to Release Tofurky™ and Gravy Soda

  Jones Soda Co.​Maybe you're trying to take those first steps into veganism.Maybe you know a vegetarian who's just had dental surgery.Or maybe you just want to play a really, really, cruel trick on someone.It doesn't matter, because Jones Soda is here for you with this year's Thanksgiving offering: Tofurky™ and Gravy soda. That's right, the people who brought you the original Turkey and Gravy soda (in 2003), Mashed Potato and Butter soda (in 2004) and Brussels Sprout soda (in 2005) have teame

  November 11, 2009