Tuesday Notes

ON MONDAY PAT ROBERTSON, host of The 700 Club, called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Robertson's narrow approach to diplomacy is not only irresponsible and dangerous but it is also totally inconsistent with what Jesus taught. At the very least he appears to be a few tacos shy of a combo plate (and I'm being generous).

FORENSIC ASTRONOMERS have dated, to the minute, a famous Ansel Adams picture -- 7:03 p.m., PDT, September 15, 1948. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as a forensic astronomer -- and I took astronomy (for dummies non-majors) at San Jose State University. For some reason I feel that the educational system has let me down.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING, the Central Valley dominates the FBI's list of best places in the US to get your car ripped-off. Modesto tops the list, with Stockton-Lodi a close second. Sacramento, Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, and Fresno all hold places of honor as well. Link

GEORGE BARNA'S LATEST -- 7% of Americans are evangelical Christians. The highest concentration is in Little Rock, Arkansas, where 22% meet his definition of "evangelical." According to Barna's most recent study, "There are more evangelical adults in the Los Angeles market than there are in the New York, Chicago and Boston metropolitan areas – combined!" There are lots of other interesting but not necessarily useful factoids in the study.

FUEL COSTS go up but Southwest Airlines is still making money. One reason is hedging. They made their fuel deals a couple of years ago and are now paying half of what other airlines pay. Link

THE RISE IN FUEL COSTS has created a demand for fuel-sipping motor scooters. Link

WHILE MARKETERS OBSESS with reaching out to youth, "The next half century is likely to see an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the younger to the older generation in the form of health and pension spending." And how will the over-50 crowd spend the money they inherit from their children? Trying to pretend that they are young.

SOMEONE ONCE SAID, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Franciso." (Contrary to rumor it was not Mark Twain, who gets credit for everything clever.) But it won't be cold enough to snow, so they're going to import 200 tons of the white stuff to turn Fillmore Street into a ski slope on Saturday. Link

HARVEST TIME -- The dust hangs heavy over our part of the Valley this morning. It will all eventually be our gift to Bakersfield as the afternoon breezes kick in.

IS GOOGLE going to introduce their own instant messenger on Wednesday? Or will it be a Google smart phone? Maybe it's Google Wi-Fi. It will be something related to "communication." Why is it that I'm so enthralled with every move these guys make? Link