Subject: Weather

• Heal The Bay Gives the Baby Beach a Clean Bill Of Health

  Heal the Bay has released its annual report card of California beach water quality. Each of Orange County's beaches has received a grade, and the 88-page report has some other info on the county. Let's break it down:We've got two "beach bummers." On Heal the Bay's list of the top 10 worst beaches in the state, Poche Beach in San Clemente comes in seventh and Doheny State Beach in Dana Point comes in tenth. Not great. Doheny received two F's and a D; Poche got F's across the board.The Baby Beach:

  May 20, 2009

• The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm

  January 15, 2009

• Can you hear me... Arrgghhh!

  Cell phones, as you know, can kill you. While there is still some controversy over whether your cell phone is capable of killing you slowly (e.g. brain tumors), there's no doubt about the cell phone's ability to facilitate a quick death (e.g. the idiot behind the wheel of a car whose phone conversion makes him oblivious to what's happening on the road). And now the British Medical Journal has discovered another way for cell phones to finish you off quickly: lightning. Talking on a cell phone dur

  June 23, 2006

• A Postmortem on the Heat Wave

  A story in this morning's New York Times on last month's heat wave makes for grim reading. According to the paper's examination of records, approximately 140 Californians died from the heat during the month of July, "a death toll unlike any the state had seen from high temperatures since 1955, state officials said, before air-conditioning went mainstream." What is extraordinary about the death toll, aside from the high number, is the range of the heat's victims. Typically, it's the elderly who

  August 11, 2006

• We're doomed, doomed...

  … or maybe not. The AP reports: Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday that God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would cause a "mass killing" late in 2007. "I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that." Robertson said God told him about the impending tragedy du

  January 3, 2007

• Baby, It's Warm Outside

  The Inconvenient Truth is on its way to becoming the box-office champeen of documentaries (pound sand, Michael Moore!). Orders are already brisk for the DVDs that won't be out until November. However, because Truth starred Satan's spawn Al Gore, there's a good chance many holy rollers skipped it and headed into whatever anti-Semitic Mel Gibson "Christian" movie was playing at the time. Well, fear not, Samson and Delilah: there is a new global-warming documentary coming that's especially for lov

  September 12, 2006

• Monday's Headlines & Surprises: Red Sky at Night

  As the sun rose this morning over Orange County, a huge plume of smoke near Irvine painted the horizon an eerie orange, blue, brown and gray. Renewed Santa Ana wind gusts up to 45 mph whistled through neighborhoods, blew trash cans down streets and slammed into palm trees seemingly ready to pop from the ground. Fallen trees rested on top of cars in Santa Ana and Orange, and presented hurdles for other drivers. Pete Weitzner at Daybreak OC reported early today that government officials called the

  October 22, 2007

• Fire Officials Seek Information on OC Arsonist

  The folks over at the Register are doing a fine job reporting on the massive Orange County arson fire that’s threatening to keep firefighters at work for another two days as winds approaching hurricane force continue to pound the region. Residents in Foothill Ranch are the latest to see their neighborhood in the path of a fire that’s consumed 8,800 acres in less than 18 hours. Reg reporters say that Orange County Fire Authority officials found three ignition points at Santiago Canyon Road ne

  October 22, 2007

• The Blakes Play The Doll Hut 11/1

  Last night I ventured to Anaheim’s famous Doll Hut to see Seattle-based rock band The Blakes. I was worried I had missed them, showing up at 10 when the show started at 9. Nope. Doll Hut owner Juan Reynoso, who was working the door (gotta love that!) told me they had yet to go on. I was in luck. . .or so I thought. The next band to take the leopard print stage were The Ziggens. Ever heard of them? Apparently they’ve been around for 20 years but left their sound somewhere in the early

  November 2, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines. No Surprises: Disney wins

  More dirt on Debbie? Yesterday we noted that Debbie Carona was doing her darndest to wriggle her way out of a case that's mainly against her husband. Wait a second, missy. Today, Christine Hanley and Garrett Therolf at the Times report that the sheriff's wife urged Orange County Fair Board directors to support a swap meet operator who donated thousands to her husband's political campaigns despite a proposal from rival firm. Hanley and Therolf are having tons of fun poking around the Costa Mesa

  November 28, 2007

• FOX NEWS: Why New Mexico is so close

  Some googly-eyed, drooly-mouthed Fox News talking head just said that the reason why New Mexico is so tight between Obama and Clinton (as of 10:50 p.m.) is because parts of the state were hit with a snowstorm today, and that many of Hillary's Latino supporters couldn't claw their way out of the snowdrifts to get to their polling places...

  February 5, 2008

• Bentastic

  I was just the other day lamenting the drought of free crap from the mail that used to provide so much blog fodder a year ago when I was brand new here. But it seems I can always count on Cartoon Network for the goods. I don't really know what the deal is with Ben 10, but I know they previously sent me a handheld electronic game to promote him, and now a DVD and a T-shirt to herald an "all new Ben." I've no idea what makes him all new, but check out the logo on the shirt. It looks awfully famil

  March 19, 2008

• To Do Tonight 4/16

  Xile, 9 p.m. Gothic Orange County comes alive! Belluno 12361 Chapman Ave. Anaheim CA 92840 714-971-8520 Hard Day's Night, 9 p.m. You should be sleeping like a dog. Proof Bar 215 N. Broadway Santa Ana CA 92701 714-953-2660 DJ Josh, 9 p.m. Josh DJs Kitsch Bar 891 Baker St., Ste. A10 Costa Mesa CA 92626 714-546-8580 California Guitar Trio, 7:30 p.m. A trio of guitars. From California. Cerritos Center 12700 Center Court Dr. Cerritos CA 90703 800-300-4345 Heatwave!, 8 p.m. Throw on some h

  April 16, 2008

• Crocoshit Dundee?

  Local water officials, who are looking to Australia for expertise on how to survive one of the worst droughts in California's recorded history, hosted former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie at its monthly luncheon on Thursday, something that prompted Rupert Murdoch's Aussie papers to mock Beattie, the Block of Orange locale and the Orange County Water Association. Beattie addressed our local water brigade in his capacity as the Los Angeles-based trade and investment commissioner for Queensland

  August 22, 2008

• Crystal Method

  November 4, 1999

• A River Runs Beneath It

  January 20, 2000

• Return of the Native?

  December 5, 2002

• Don't Fire Until You See the Reds of Their Flags

  NEWS ITEM: The National Weather Service announces today a red flag warning will be in effect the rest of the week in Southern California due to unseasonably warm weather increasing the danger of fire in the local mountains.. . . AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY: Little Saigon protesters vehemently lash out at the National Weather Service over its "commie-colored flag."

  January 14, 2009

• Nanny State Wants Us To Go Thirsty

  The South Coast Water District is considering an ordinance that, among other things, would prevent restaurants from bringing water to customers who haven't requested it. The law is intended to stymie water shortages or something, but screw that. My pet peeve: Restaurants cheaping you out on water and forgetting you asked for it. This will just add one more needless step in the journey to quench thirst after nachos. Shame on you, Water District, for trying to prevent a catastrophic drought.

  February 23, 2009

• The Glory of Easter

  Crystal Cathedral

  April 9, 2009

• Lightning: Ben Franklin was Lucky

  January 15, 2009

• A Woman's Touch

  September 11, 2008

• Sopping Wet

  August 7, 2008

• It’s the Humidity

  June 19, 2008

• Octopus' Garden

  June 19, 2008

• The Fire of the Century . . . of the Year

  Hellish fires now, Sahara Desert later, says UCI doom prophet Mike Davis

  November 1, 2007

• Theres Got to Be a Morning After

  June 3, 2004

• Letters

  'Give us all a breakthe Mexican wetback has become the majority.'

  March 1, 2007

• An Inconvenient Slope

  Big Bears ski resorts are covered in snow despite a chronic lack of natural snowfall. So where are the crowds? Dont blame global warmingblame the media

  February 15, 2007

• The Soiree Lass

  Are You the Keymaster? I am the Gatekeeper!

  December 7, 2006

• Bad News With Al

  OnDVD: An Inconvenient Truth

  November 23, 2006

• How Stella Got Her Groove in the First Place

  CSUF dishes up a little-known Tennessee Williams play

  November 2, 2006

• Typhoon in a Teacup

  June 1, 2006

• Snow Job

  December 14, 2000

• Live Review

  April 6, 2006

• See MirrorMask, Help the Hungry

  October 6, 2005

• A CLOCKWORK NARANJA

  September 1, 2005

• Electric Blues

  July 21, 2005

• Dam Us!

  Januarys flooding wasnt an act of god, but man

  January 27, 2005

• No Blood for Water!

  March 27, 2003

• A River Will Run Through It

  December 26, 2002

• Breaking News!

  March 15, 2001

• Swamp Land in Orange

  June 22, 2000

• When the Levee Broke

  June 15, 2000

• It's the End of the World As You Know It, and I Don't Feel Fine

  April 27, 2000

• A Sewer Runs Through It

  September 23, 1999

• [Trendzilla] Cute Drunk Guys In Shorts!

  June 25, 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

• Musician Swap Meet

  August 20, 2009

• Film Exposes Locals to WWI American Soldiers Known as the Polar Bears

  Dr. Peter Karpawhich, a Detroit area physician, plays a Bolshevik lieutenant firing a pistol at American soldiers as another re-enactor takes aim in waist-deep snow in "Voices of a Never Ending Dawn."​Voices of a Never Ending Dawn, a documentary on the 5,500 young American soldiers who were unexpectedly chosen to fight the first Communists in Northern Russia while the rest of World War I was being waged in France in other parts of Europe, makes its West Coast premiere Wednesday at Chapman Univ

  September 29, 2009