Monthly Archives: November 2007

More Alternative Christmas Gifts

By Site Admin | Published: November 30, 2007 | Comments closed
Reader Jackson Griffith recommends this nifty present from Ship of Fools – “Vatican: The Board Game.” “Forget Monopoly! Lift your eyes above the petty ambition of owning hotels, buying streets, charging rent and passing “Go”! Here’s the game in which you get to become Pope, no less, with a gazillion faithful Catholics around the world hanging [...]
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Good riddance, Spanos Park Wal-Mart superstore

By Site Admin | Published: November 30, 2007 | Comments closed
Plans to build a Wal-Mart “superstore” in Spanos Park West have been blocked by the Third District Court of Appeal. Double good. One-good, because Wal-Mart superstores kill other stores. One superstore is enough for any mid-sized city. Two-good, because of the glaringly arbitrary method through which the A.G. Spanos Construction Co. got permission to build this [...]
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1 in 8 Americans an immigrant, 1 of 3 illegal

By Site Admin | Published: November 29, 2007 | Comments closed
An immigration think tank has crunched some startling new numbers about immigration in America. My own concern about immigration, legal or illegal, is the skill level of the immigrant migrating to the San Joaquin Valley. A perpetual flow of people with sixth grade educations will permanently retard the Valley’s economic progress.   Anyway, here are the findings:   Legal, [...]
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Phone call of the day

By Site Admin | Published: November 28, 2007 | Comments closed
“Hi, Michael. This is Kristina Lee with Good Day Sacramento. I have a quick question. I was reading your article on “Giving Christmas Gifts They Won’t Soon Forget” and wanted to see if you knew where I can get ahold of one of the custom rocket belts. If you get this message please contact me on [...]
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Local boy makes Sondheim

By Site Admin | Published: November 28, 2007 | Comments closed
Great Performances’ production of the musical “Company” will air on PBS Wednesday, Feb. 20. The local angle: that’s Stockton’s Matt Castle on piano (keyboard, bass and vocals, too).
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Tiny House plays small role in commercial

By Site Admin | Published: November 27, 2007 | Comments closed
The bathtub-sized flagship of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, which I wrote about in this column, is featured in a new Google Maps commercial. Funny to see the orchard in which I just stood. You can bet the interior shot was not filmed inside the house. Cameraman, lighting, sound equipment, director and actor – no [...]
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Popular city retiree turns 90

By Site Admin | Published: November 27, 2007 | Comments closed
Emil Seifert, the well-liked head of Stockton’s Parks and Recreation Department for many years, and the man for whom the Seifert Center on Benjamin Holt Drive is named, turned 90 years old this week.   Recreation. It keeps you perkin’ along.   The party at Seifert’s Manchester Avenue home was attended by former City Manager Ray Cesar and such [...]
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Good Samaritans make elderly lady’s Christmas

By Site Admin | Published: November 27, 2007 | Comments closed
Rene Dinubilo thought the world has cooled into an uncaring place – until one day this week when she stranded herself on a median in Stockton.   Dinubilo, 82, was driving south on Pacific Avenue by Dillard’s when she cut a U-turn too close. Her car scraped up onto the median. At least one tire lifted. She [...]
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A call from Quentin Kopp

By Site Admin | Published: November 26, 2007 | Comments closed
Quentin Kopp, board member of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, drops a call to say “good work” on a recent column on bullet trains. So I ran by him the bugaboo of our region’s skeptics: that the Authority will choose the Pacheco Pass route over the Altamont Pass for the bullet train, and the bone they are throwing [...]
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"The gut of the earth"

By Site Admin | Published: November 26, 2007 | Comments closed
I don’t know who this off-the-wall blogger is, but s/he has some sane words about soil.
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