Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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If you're looking for a locally-sourced, light and humorous summer (or anytime) read, Peter Borresen's Jones of the Bay might just hit the spot. This episodic detective novel blends comedy, Santa Monica satire, and murder mysteries that increase in intensity leading up to a final nail-biter and a well-earned triumph for the book's hilariously relatable protagonist, the aging wannabe police detective Gwyn Jones. But be warned! This book is not for those who wish to retain the utmost respect for...
If a cat could write a wish list to Santa, they'd probably put down some requests like world domination or a whole ham. But those items aren't necessarily healthy for your cat in the long run. With that in mind, here is a revised wish list of items your cat wants that will enrich their life and your bond. Disclaimer: none of the products mentioned have sponsored or endorsed this article. 12. A delicious meal. There's controversy as to whether dry kibble is truly bad for cats, or just...
This Spooktober, the Observer has been featuring articles about cats -- first the black cats that are the hallmark of the season, followed by their festive ginger counterparts. This week, we're featuring a trick-or-treating bag brimming with a wide variety of cat mythology and superstition from around the world. While not an exhaustive treatment of the subject, we hope the taste of some of these legends might spark your interest. Japan: Bakeneko and Nekomata. Ancient beliefs in parts of Japan st...
Last week, in honor of the beginning of Halloween month, we featured a few fascinating facts about the flashy black felines that have become icons of the holiday. This week, we're dishing out a sweet celebration of Salem and Bastet's counterparts -- orange, or ginger, cats. While they may have less of an association with Hallow's Eve, ginger kitties fit right in amongst a pumpkin patch, and their striped leggings recall cartoon and film witches, from the Wicked Witch of the West to J.K....
Usually, September and October are the months when we can look forward to walking around the neighborhood, admiring the front yards of Halloween-loving homeowners who go all out with decorations. This year, however, looking at the polystyrene figments of the macabre that adorn only a fraction of entryways, I must admit the typical elements that have become party-store staples in recent decades, just aren't so appealing. Zombies? Please. During the eight-month quarantine most of us have begun...
Sorry folks. Turns out, your tax dollars are being used to torture kittens. The Veterans' Affairs Laboratory divisions in Louisville, Cleveland, and right here in Los Angeles are conducting cruel "experiments" on cats and kittens. Healthy animals' spines are snapped, devices are implanted in their bodies to force on-demand bowel movements, constipation is induced with the help of squeezing harnesses; and at the end of the process, any survivors are simply killed. After all, we can't afford to...
Delilah Demilo is a frustrated songwriter, a college dropout, and a venemous blue-ringed octopus. In The Benthophonicks, my debut comic, she sets off on a journey to find herself as an artist, but ends up finding a bunch of randos on the way – randos who turn into unwanted bandmates... who ruin her plans... and turn into true friends! In our last installment, Delilah experienced the torment of the song bearing her namesake in a ridesharing experience with a hermit crab. When he dropped her o...
Delilah Demilo is a frustrated songwriter, a college dropout, and a venomous blue-ringed octopus. In The Benthophonicks, my debut comic, she sets off on a journey to find herself as an artist, but ends up finding a bunch of randos on the way – randos who turn into unwanted bandmates... who ruin her plans... and turn into true friends! The story begins in Delilah's native town of Benthoston, at Hatt Hair, Ltd., a hair salon run by Xander the Jewish Christmas-tree worm – a mari...
Delilah Demilo is a frustrated songwriter, a college dropout, and a venomous blue-ringed octopus. In The Benthophonicks, my debut comic, she sets off on a journey to find herself as an artist, but ends up finding a bunch of randos on the way – randos who turn into unwanted bandmates... who ruin her plans... and turn into true friends! The story begins in Delilah's native town of Benthoston, at Hatt Hair, Ltd., a hair salon run by Xander the Jewish Christmas-tree worm – a mari...
Delilah Demilo is a frustrated songwriter, a college dropout, and a venemous blue-ringed octopus. In The Benthophonicks, my debut comic, she sets off on a journey to find herself as an artist, but ends up finding a bunch of randos on the way – randos who turn into unwanted bandmates... who ruin her plans... and turn into true friends! In last week's installment, Xander the Jewish Christmas Tree Worm refused the bald octopus's request for a pixie cut and received an ominous comeback: he can't p...
Delilah Demilo is a frustrated songwriter, a college dropout, and a venomous blue-ringed octopus. In The Benthophonicks, my debut comic, she sets off on a journey to find herself as an artist, but ends up finding a bunch of randos on the way – randos who turn into unwanted bandmates... who ruin her plans... and turn into true friends! The story begins in Delilah's native town of Benthoston, at Hatt Hair, Ltd., a hair salon run by Xander the Jewish Christmas-tree worm – a mari...
Anyone who thinks the world has been combed over and all its mysteries have been figured out should take a plunge into the ocean. Even today, NOAA declares that over eighty percent of our ocean remains unexplored. (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html) And you don't have to dive particularly deep to find questions no research has yet been able to answer. Many such questions linger around the seahorse's relative, the seadragon. Until recently, there were only two known species of...
If you're looking for a meaningful and different experience for a morning or afternoon this season, whale watching organized by the Birch Aquarium at Scripps and facilitated by Flagship Cruises and Events might just fit the bill (or baleen). From mid-December through Mid-April, Flagship Cruises sends two ships a day carrying capable crew members, Birch Aquarium tour guides, and visitors eager to see these larger-than-life marine mammals. With friendly tour narrators, comfortable indoor and outdo...
Island Packers Cruises sends cutting-edge, environmentally-conscious vessels bearing experienced crew and curious guests to explore the unique wildlife of the Santa Barbara Channel, its islands and protected waters. The Ventura-based company offers a variety of guided trips, including summer and winter whale-watching, harbor dinner cruises, and disembarcations to explore the Channel Islands, with their endemic foxes and topographical natural-artworks such as the Painted Cave, one of the world's...
Watch a mother langur nurse her tiny baby while battling the half-fatal advances of her teenagers. See a dog lounging with her best friend who happens to be a cheetah. Soar above the treetops in a basket that conveys you across the entire campus and sets you down safely by a store where you can buy useful fanny-packs. All of these things and more can be accomplished at the San Diego Zoo (http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/). This attraction is one of a whole slew of museums, gardens, performances and...
We Americans are constantly "upgrading" our Smartphones and similar devices – the new software demands new hardware, the fashions change, the company carefully makes things fall into place so the device is out of date within about a year ("planned obsolescence.") In fact, the average U.S. Smartphone user will ditch the old phone and buy a new one every 14 months. Many obsolete phones end up in landfills. Others sit invisibly in their owner's forgotten enclave, waiting for the trouble to be t...
If you haven't seen a flamboyant cuttlefish before, picture this: a plushy purple almond of about three inches long, abutted at one end with a set of ten lacy wire appendages, one or two of which seems to be bent perpetually up in what looks curiously like a hand giving you "the finger." Two of those appendages, the arms, beard languidly down from the chin and become a set of legs, manoeuvering in a left-right-left pattern along the sand, just the way a human would walk – except trailed by three...
While the people of North America have been squabbling over truck routes and pipelines across the continent, there is a population that really could not care less. Their arms are falling off. And no matter what happens with the Great Wall of America or the DAPL pipeline, this population of underserved yet beautifully simple individuals will crumple into a sad moldy mound unless we take action. Said population, as you might have guessed, consists not of two-legged folk but of sea stars. Sea Star...
In the scintillating Pacific Coast's cradle, where palm trees soar and cactus flowers bloom, the Santa Barbara Zoo rises boldly to smile at the oil tankers encroaching from the horizon. In this 30-acre, 146-species sanctuary, people of all ages can learn about the last remaining gems of magic on our planet – the animals of each of Earth's corners – and can be inspired and empowered to protect them from human-controllable threats, such as the burning of fossil fuels. As a bonus, the Santa Bar...
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I consider myself something of a yogurt expert. Present to me any supermarket shelf laden with a rainbow of yogurt cups made by various companies, each one boasting unique subtleties of texture, flavor, origin, or nutritional value, and in no time flat I will pick out the best brands based on my experience. Having bought enough yogurts to fill landfills with all those plastic cups, I was ready for something new and different. For a while now I've longed to be able to make my own yogurt. I...
2/26: Like many in SamoHi's Marine Biology class, taught by Mr. Benjamin Kay; I attended the movie "Last Call at the Oasis" at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. I learned that las Vegas has made some effort to conserve water, but is still in a situation of extreme water shortage it gets water from Lake Mead and Hydro electric power from the Hoover dam, but if the water level at Hoover Dam drops to 1050 feet, Las Vegas will lose all its powers This may happen in four years, the movie says. Las...
Life’s never dull when you’re the daughter of a newspaper publisher. New and random curiosities make their way into your home all the time: one day there’s a novel from an up-and-coming author on your desk, the next day you’re presented with free stationary, and every so often you even get free admission to an amusement park, all submitted by various businesses in the hopes of being featured in the paper. One of the most enjoyable perks to the newspaper business –free Disneyland tickets a...
