Sacramento Residents: How To Determine Your City Council Member and Contact The Council and Mayor

Sacramento Residents:

Call your City Councilmember and the Mayor.  Let them know that you support the rights of all Sacramentans.

We do have the Constitutional Right to our Freedom of Speech under the 1st Amendment.

Even if you do not agree with the Occupy Wall Street movement you can let the politicians who run the City of Sacramento know how strongly you believe in our Constitution.

All of us have the same rights.  Our veterans fight for us every day to support those rights and those of us at home have a duty to do what we can to make sure that politicians do not trample on those rights.

Need help to figure out who your Councilmember is?  Things have changed recently so it can get confusing for residents.

Go HERE to the Council District map.

Once you know what District you are in you can  Go HERE and get the phone numbers and fax numbers

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A Moment of Truth—–A Mathematical Fact That Explains Our Economical Crisis

This intense video explains the basis of our economical crisis in a way that no one else has done.

WATCH THIS—–>A Moment of Truth—–>This Is A Mathematical Fact!!!

Watch it and share it.  Make it go viral.

Blogging Awards

My Blogging Awards 

Click the award

voodooDr Receives The “Versatile Blogger” Award And Passes It On To Some Great Sites

Wow.  Imagine my surprise.  I had a new linkback and comment notice this morning.  Went to look at it, half expecting something that has nothing to really do with my blog or someone trying to link to me and sell something or some porn site.  Get way too many of those.

But this was different.

My blog had received an award!  Really, I said?  Still half disbelieving….kind of my normal first response I must admit.

So I almost just deleted the comment but instead clicked on the guys link.  And lo & behold it is a real award thingie called the Versatile Blogger Award.  As I read thru Seans post I began to realize this was a real award that he was offering to me.  Seans blog is called Censorship in America and I have enjoyed reading his posts as he promotes intellectual freedom.  Such an important issue especially with growing threats to the internet and freedom of speech in public.

All I have to do is comply with 7 simple rules and then post the award opn my site.  OK, I think I can manage to do this.

The rules

1.  Thank the person who shared the award with you by linking back to them in your post. (see above)

2.  Pass this award to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know that you included them in your blog post.

3.  List 7 things about yourself. (end of post.)

I have an older post about blogs that I read but I have to admit I have not updated it and it is always good to take time to publicly recognize and honor those folks that we value, so here are blogs/websites that I enjoy and read as often as possible:

Photography sites:  the web provides such a perfect platform for photographers that you may never otherwise hear from to allow you to share in their art.  Some sites I enjoy include:

• Wild*Lives Trish Carney Photoworks:  Wow….such beautiful nature photographs, primarily from one of the greatest parks in the USA, Yellowstone.  Her latest post “Trading stares with bear, pleasures of place” takes you straight into the lives of these giant grizzlies and black bears.
• John Wall’s Natural California:  I was born and raised in California and sometimes become jaded thinking I have seen it all.  But California is so diverse and John shares so much of it in his photographs of landscapes, flora and his fur & feathers.  You start looking at one picture and by the time you know it you have missed dinner and spent hours looking in awe.
• Native Images PhotoGraphics:  My native blood craves opportunities to share the past and the future with others.  This blog satisfies that craving and stays true to the dreams of our ancestors.  Photography and words of wisdom primarily from Native Americans of California.
• Emad Islam’s Photography Blog:  Emad is a young guy who sometimes just astonishes me with both his art and his wise words.  His latest post, I Wish I Was The Moon, includes a breattaking shot and a bit of poetry.  Perfect.
• Bird Light Wind:  I stumbled into this blog accidentally and fell for his post on a family of Owls living in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  If you have not been to San Francisco, Golden Gate Park is stunning for it’s natural and cultural diversity.  It is a huge park on the order of NYC’s Central Park.  The photographs of the owls and the story that Walter told had me jumping at the chance to subscribe.  he also turned me on to some of the other sites that I still visit today.
• Stories From Home, Photography, family and friends:  What more could we want than out passions, family & friends?  The latest post is about fall foliage in Acadia.  It’s still sprintime in my part of California so it always surprises me when other folks are already into the real season.

Cultural blogs:  My interests vary and so do the blogs that I enjoy.

• Newspaper Rock, Where Native America Meets Pop Culture:  This could be a car crash with multiple injuries, but instead it is a true pleasure.  The latest post is on a Diane Sawyer report “A Hidden America: Children of the Plains”  can make your heart weep for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  If you missed the piece on October 14th I’m sure ABC will show it again and you can search Youtube or the ABC website for the video online.  Rob educates us with his blog and he provides us with a great “Decolonize Oakland” poster.
• Project 2,996:  This project was started a decade ago with the goal of having one writer each write a piece about individual souls that were lost in the September 11, 2001 attach on the New York City World Trade Centers.  Over time some of the posts were lost/forgotten, links became disabled and now there are 900 stories.  We seek writers to complete the project.  Please join.

Blogging:  I know I still need help with blogging, the technical as well as the writing.

• Life & Bits, Easy to follow blogging tips:  Reynaldo says his blog provides tips and help for “beginners” on “wordpress.com”.  I am not a beginner but I am always learning, and I do use wordpress.com but most of the help on lifenbits can assist folks on any platform self-hosted or not.  I ran into the blog when I wanted to learn about site counters and Reynaldo’s straight forward writing style helped me gain a fast understanding of a complicated subject.  I later wrote a post about counters trying to provide some measure of help to others and credied lifenbits with the little bit that I do know.
• TheBloggoSchloggo:  I’m calling this one “blogging”.  It has it’s own little niche though.  Cultural, political but not “slanty”, funny, interesting.  Definitely check it out.  I had to add it to my list and issue another award in November (which I will do when I find a good blog).  He was nice enough to mention one of my posts which is how I found the Bloggo.

Techi:  ok, I am about 50% nerd way back to my time building clone PCs for myself and family & friends.  But as with most subject, I learn something new almost every day,

• Adam Savage From Mythbusters:  Not a blog, but a nice site from an interesting guy.  Even if you don’t care about the show you can appreciate his site and even more you can appreciate his Tweets.  I don’t know how he finds all of the curious videos, photos and posts that he shares with folks on Twitter, but I say “Thank you Mr Savage”!
• Dan’s Wild Wild Science Journal:  I bumped into this blog and found “Scientific Facts That Are Not True”.  Excellent explanation of a tough subject about things we believe are true but it turns out that they are flase.  Science is cool!!  Dan is a Chief Meteorologist in Alabama, and thank you Dan for sharing your knowledge.

Motorcycles and Hot Rods:  I am a nut for hot rods and badass bikes.  Always have been since I was a kid and we would sit on the steps, watch cars go by and have to name them.   I wanted a ’44 Ford pickup and a ’56 Buick Roadmaster SOOOOO bad!!  In fact, I still do.

• Deus Bali, The 2 Wheeled Bicycle:  I enjoy getting notifications about new posts on this blog and checking in to see whats up.  Not only do they write a great blog about one of my favorite subjects, they make some really nice stripped down motorcycles and have great pictures.  And now I really want one of their motorized bicycles.  They look like old 1915-ish motorcycles.  The real deal.
• Between 2 Wheels:  Just a lot of stuff about the 2 wheeled life.  Pictures and good posts about a lot of different bikes and links to other good sites.  I like the fact that they understand and share the importance of history.  They say “Explore, experience and evolve”.  That is a bit of motorcycle zen right there.
• Classic Velocity: a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.  That’s the way brother.  This blog is primarily about vintage vehicles.  Classics.  My favorites, most definitely.  He has some mother blogs in his “Garage” mostly about his cars, some of which he still owns.  And a store with a coffee mug and a baseball cup.  I love coffee!
• ……..THE 6.9%er…….. :  Steve says “This Blog is about my interests, my friends, my
  bikes…..nothin’ more..nothin’ less… & nothin’ to prove”.  Nice and simple.  I like that.  Great pictures and nice stories.  Plus links to other great chopper and hot rod sites.
• Eat The Rich, UK:  It almost looks like a 1940s motorcycle site.

Travel blogs:  I love to travel.  Who doesn’t?  But I hate to fly.  It used to be so much fun.  Comfortable, lots of space (I am 6’6″ and space on a plane is a requirement), nice employees who treated you well.  Now?  It’s just a damn bus and too many rude employees, restricted space and airlines that just don’t care about their customers.  Enough of that.

• Flights of fancy…travel  :  Actually a travel and photography blog.  2 of my favorite things.  And Mary is a good writer too which helps tell the story of her travels and make her photos come alive.  I always look forward to her new posts and the latest, about the Taos Pueblo was a thrilling read with stunning photographs.
• Backroad Journal:  Karen and her husband moved to a small town in New Hampshire after 30 urban years in Florida.  They live in a 1730s home with a small apple orchard and I am so jealous!!  Karen shares their local and long distance travels with humor and some really good photographs.  I wish they would adopt me and take me on their treks!!

Politics and stuff:  I was always involved in politics and even in my retirement I make my voice heard.

• The Upside of Inertia,  when life gives you alligators you make gatorade:  Mostly the liberal sidee of things because the right is wrong.  I don’t Facebook so I like it when he says “Don’t look for me on facebook, twitter or anywhere else.”  Cool.

Note:  The Upside of Inertia is moving to a new address HERE

• Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner  I am sticking this one under politics, but it coulda gone under music or culture or just general good stuff!  Bumped into by accident on his post about the Oakland General Strike.  Well thought out crap I tell ya.  Check this blog out if you are like me and appreciate politics, hip hop and urban culture.  That’s the way to roll Davey D!

Poker:  It’s not just a game.

• Dr Check Raise:  OK, it’s not a blog it’s a forum.  With some bloggy aspects.  And you have to register to see anything, but the Dr doesn’t give out your name to anyone and doesn’t bug you with a ton of useless emails.   Just an opportunity to check in and learn about the world of poker.  I bumped into the Dr when I played at an online club.  Not a regular gaming site but a place where you paid a monthly fee and played all the poker you wanted for free or small money to medium money pots.  I followed him because we were both Dr’s.  I don’t play much anymore but I check in to see what the Dr is up to.

About me:

I never enjoy this.  Will I get a date with a hot chick out of this??

1. I was born & raised in California and still live here in the Capitol, Sacramento.  It’s a good city and I can’t imagine living anywhere but California.  Except maybe in Italy.  Or Spain.
2. My family was in California just before the gold rush and then steady on both sides of my mother’s family since 1850.  Always in or around Sacramento.  We have deep roots and a sense of history and our place in it, things that are  important to me.
3. O worked nearly 30 years in local government.  Almost always a boss, retired as Deputy Director of a county department.
4. Retired to take a job as the Director of a small non-profit.  I loved it and learned a lot about running a small business.
5. After being diagnosed diabetic I took a prescribed medication that pushed me into heart failure and eventually retired from the non-profit.
6. I developed more (!!) health problems (like dialysis 3 days a week) and am now in a wheelchair but am working hard to get out of it.  Many docs don’t believe it but I promise you I will walk again.
7. So that I can travel and visit friends and get involved in local politics again and play poker and drive my Cadillac…..
8. So now I bore peeps with my blog and crap.  That’s the way it is.

So now I can accept my award as The Versatile Blogger!!  Yay!!  thank you, thank you.  Speech speech….uh, no I don’t think so.

How To Light Your Tapwater On Fire

Want to light your tap water on fire?  Well, here is how you can do it in a few easy steps!!

• Live in Pennsylvania
• get your water from a well
• have nearby natural gas drilling

Ms Vargson can actually turn on the tap, add a match or a lighter and Ala-Kazaam—-you have a firey water show right in your sink!!  How cool is that?

Well, not too cool.

Here is what natural gas drilling can o to your water supply.

Here is a bathroom sink and a cigarette lighter=a better water fire display for you.

Pennsylvania is not the only place where this is happening and apprently natural gas drilling is causing problems with water supplies that are not well driven (i.e. public water supplies).

Copperopolis, A Gold Rush (??) Town In California

Image via Wikipedia

Of course, California has many many gold rush towns, even a few ghost towns.  But it may have just one old copper town.

Copperopolis is a special gold rush town.  It is definitely not a ghost town although the spirits of some of the old-time miners may still be hanging around the town.

Especially in the historic Old Corner Saloon.

Copperopolis is south of Sacramento, a little past the small city of Stockton in Calaveras County.  Have you heard of the famous Jumping Frog Jubilee in Angels Camp, California?  Mark Twain wrote a story about it?  Well, that is in Calaveras County.  Pretty area and historically important.

Copperopolis has a population of some 3,600 residents and was founded in 1860.  And, of course, the town was named after the copper strike in the area.  Shortly after the town was founded. copper became very important in the U.S.  The Civil War created a boom for copper miners because the ore was needed to make bullets.  The boom ednded as the war ended and the mines closed.  The population dwindled.  But World War I and World War II both created new boom-times for copper miners, the mines reopened and the population grew once again.

Now Copperopolis hosts Dog Days, in 2011 this event will be held on October 22nd.  Dress your dog up and come to Copperopolis.  There are special categories for Lady GaGa and Johnny Depp lookalikes.  (I’m trying not to laugh here).  But, that is not what this post is about…..thank god.

“Tucked away among the rolling hills covered with oaks, Copperopolis in the Copper Valley looks much as it did when miners first discovered the riches the valley had to offer.”  With their new Town Hall, Copperopolis has a lot of events, you can find a list here.

The Sacramento Bee had a nice article recently about Copperopolis about both the old and the new Copperopolis.  The little town has seen a 35% population spurt in just the last 10 years.  There are authentic gold rush and copper rush buildings and brand new structures.

The Old Corner Saloon was built and opened in 1862.  There is a general store that opened in the late 1860s and an old brick armory (remember the bullets??) built in 1864 but now closed.  many of the old Victorian homes have been converted to mom-and-pop stores including a flower shop and a take-out grill.

Old timers drink a bit, chat and play pool in the Old Corner Saloon.  On the wall is a picture of the famous highway robber, Black Bart.  Bart used to throw back a few whiskeys in the Old Corner Saloon way back in his stagecoach robbing days.  The Saloon is an authentic cowboy, wild west and trucker kind of place.

The walls are covered with hats nailed, tacked and stapled in place.  The ceiling is covered (every inch) in dollar bills that customers place there.  Many many years of hats and dollar bills.  Make sure you take one of each and join the party!!

On the website for the Saloon, there is a great story about the old covered bridge in the Copperopolis area.

If you go to Copperopolis there are some very nice, well-appointed “bungalows” at the Saddle Creek Resort where a rich halibut will set you back 24 bucks, but oh what a halibut!  The bungalows cost $125-$165, a bit more for a suite.

The resort has a great gold course too.  it is a fine example of that 1860s vs 2011 dichotomy.

At Matt’s Take-Out on Main Street, they  have a great Angus beef cheeseburger for just $4.95.  Nice deal!!

“While it’s far from the every day hustle and bustle, the Copperopolis Town Square is close to it all. Ideally situated less than two hours from the San Francisco Bay Area and one hour from the Central Valley, the Copper Valley is
perfectly positioned between San Francisco, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Foothills.”

Here is a map:

in the Copperopolis area.

Related articles

• Copperopolis to rise again (independent.co.uk)
• Gold Rush Days in Sacramento, Sept 3-5, 2011 (voodoodr06.wordpress.com)
• Apple Hill in California’s Sierra Foothills (voodoodr06.wordpress.com)

The 2011 Milwaukee Rally Thru September 5th, Largest Motorcycle Rally in the Midwest

If you are not already at the 2011 Milwaukee Rally,  this is a great place to celebrate your Labor Day.  Ride your bike, show it off, check out all the others plus food, drink, chicks and….

This is the largest motorcycle rally and event in the Midwest so I know there will be a ton of good folks and bikes there.

If you still need tickets you have to check the Rally Info Tent at the dealerships during the Rally to see if any have
become available.  The 2011 VIP package and the Bingo Casino run are sold out!!

You can find the Saturday and Sunday events here (even the rest of Friday for us late-comers).

And don’t forget to check out the Harley-Davidson Museum.

And download your free Wisconsin biker guide and map here.

The most comprehensive biker guide and map available for the state of Wisconsin In each map you will find: Wisconsin Rustic Roads, current road construction information, featured Wisconsin destinations, biker friendly bars and establishments, Wisconsin lodging, hotel and casino information, plus our highly sought after motorcycle events list.

Sign up for the email updates and newsletter and get your name in early for the 2012 Milwaukee Rally.

If you are in the Midwest it is definitely the place to be.

If you are at the Rally or intending to go….ride hard be safe and have fun!

PC Tablet Musings: Verizon, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy, Apple iPad et al

OK, so get this:

I am a Verizon customer with a Droid phone which I like a lot, but my contract has passed and I am trying to decide what (if anything) to buy.  You can see that post here, if you care.  I have basically decided to wait for the Droid Bionic and/or iPhone 5 to release additional info and get one of those.

So today Verizon sent me a discount offer on a Motorola Xoom tablet.  One of those “certified” pieces of equipment, which really doesn’t bother me if they provide a warranty that is equal to a new device which I think this is.

This tablet was like $800 off contract and $600 with a Verizon contract.  They are offering this one for $299 plus a contract.

I have a HP quasi-tablet already.  I say “quasi-tablet” because the device is actually part of one of the HP printers and you can read a bit about the tablet here at Engadget.  This 7 inch tablet works fine on WiFi without any kind of contract but has  limitations beyond the screen size.

But reviews of 10″ tablets started out “wow” and now certified techies are saying they really don’t need one.

The Apple tablets are pretty & easy to use, but no flash means your browsing experience is the shits.

I worry about Motorola with Google buying Motorola Mobility.  Apple sued the fuck out of Samsung in Europe, won the tablet lawsuit and threatened to follow up against all tablet makers in the US.  Guess that scared Motorola enough to sell….plus it must be hard to say “no thank you” to $12.5 Billion with a B.

Google has their own problems with Apple but might be able to stand up to a lawsuit better than Moto.  But Google may abolish the Moto brand name, which is a shame since Motorola basically invented the cell phone.

The other thing is a contract for a tablet.

1)  I am not making phone calls on a tablet.  10″ is just a tad large to hold to my ear.

2)  With more and more WiFi networks, and my home network, I’m not too worried about being in a spot I can’t use the tablet.  Not like I put it in my pocket and carry it around.  But I carry it in a bag when I go some places or in a suitcase on a vacation.  And most, if not all, hotels and resorts have highspeed wireless now.

Signing a contract for a tablet has not made sense to me except the discounted price as opposed to off-contract.  And now this discount which is pretty significant since I missed the damn $99 sale a week ago on the 10″ HP tablet (yeh, I know webOS.  But for $99 it’s almost disposable).

So those are my musings.  With four days on this Verizon sale I’ll probably pass it by.

But, in the meantime I think this is what I really want.

Why??

1. It’s WiFi only
2. The form factor:  8.9″ screen and just over 1 pound.  Portability in a tablet anyone??
3. Samsung Galaxy tablets are brilliant and can compete with the iPad II pretty well
4. Yes, it does flash

Anyone have any thoughts or experiences that can help me on tablet and/or service provider?

Update September 19th:

Sammy is about to sue Apple for patent infringement.  Turnabout fair play?

Update September 20th:

So this link takes you to a detailed article laying out the battlefield on patent infringement between Apple and Samsung.  Tablets, phones, everything is involved in this war between the Big Boyz.

This link will take you to a CNET video about the Apple iPhone 5 plus some other Apple goodies.

Leave me a comment here or twitter me @zenDR.

UPDATE:  Sale is over and I did not buy a Motorola Xoom.  Good choice dude!

Thanks

Don’t Ya Be Yappin’

from http://www.born2ride.org    Twitterize @Born2Ride

Or Elvis…..

Ya’ll tryna tell me sumpthin??

Nothing Much To Say Today