Jaywalking Patrol!

Here is a story about how diligent the BHPD is.

First, a word about the BHPD.  There are so many officers in town, one cannot drive for more than 10-15 seconds without seeing one.  Some say it is the highest police to citizen ratio in the world.  All the more noticeable because the LAPD is perhaps the thinnest police force in the country.

So back to the story.  I was obtaining my daily coffee from Peet's (which has thankfully stopped asking me if I want "dark" or "medium" roast, and just gives me "dark," which in reality is their "normal.)  As I was entering, a police officer pushed past me.  I was thinking maybe he was going for the free coffee that officers always get.  (Police get free food wherever they go, in case you weren't aware.)

They usually don't cut in line, though.

But what this office was doing was not about complimentary coffee.  He was tracking down a jaywalker!

The guy was at the back of Peet's.  Apparently he had jaywalked, then entered the store and sat down.  The officer saw him, and decided he would pursue!

Following a short conversation (in front of the whole store), the officer and criminal stepped outside, where a ticket was written while everyone watched through the window.

These tickets are over $200 by the way!

So there is your brief tale.  Obvious moral of the story: don't jaywalk in Beverly Hills!

Signs of Fall

Fall foliage may not be as ubiquitous as it is back east, but it starts earlier and ends later. It's early September, and this tree is already changing.

Yet post-Thanksiving, there will still be trees with bright leaves scattered around.

Mile High Step

Denver's City Hall is very proud of the fact that it is exactly one mile above sea level.

In fact, this step is allegedly exactly 5,280 feet up.

I guess, however, some people investigated and it turns out the actual spot is six steps higher.  They haven't rechiseled the step, though.

When Songs Should Be Played

This morning I had a strange urge to listen to the self-titled Fleetwood Mac album.

I would call this strange because Fleetwood Mac may be one of the most overplayed bands in history; why would one want to hear them suddenly?

I then realized it was because it was Monday morning, and I had the song "Monday Morning" in my mind.

Some things you feel the urge to do are hard (climbing Everest, swimming from Cuba to Florida, giving up chocolate) but some are remarkably easy.   This one was really easy. Just put on the album, which I apparently purchased for 99cents at Record Trader in Framingham, MA.

Back to the song title; I put a lot two seconds worth of thought into this, and decided that these songs that mention seasons, days, months, etc....  They should really only be played at the appropriate time.

How often have you heard, say, "Summer in the City" in the middle of November, and thought, "Why are they playing this today?"

So what are these songs that should be saved for special times?  A partial list:

Monday Monday - Mamas and Papas
Tuesday Afternoon - Moody Blues
Friday - Joe Jackson
Friday On My Mind - Forget who sings this 60s tune
Friday I'm In Love - Cure
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting - Elton John

However Saturday Night Special by Lynard Skynard can be played anytime, as it's about a gun, not a day.

California Dreamin' can only be played in the winter, because the protagonist goes on a walk on a "winter's day."

September - Earth Wind and Fire.  Only to be played in September, of course.

See You In September - Can only be played first half of June

Of course all "summer" songs can only be played between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Unless the song is about wishing it was summer.  So Summertime Blues, Summertime, Summer Wind...  There are many.

But then "Summer Rain" by Johnny Rivers can only be played end of August / beginning of September, as it's about summer ending.

Speaking of rain, songs that mention rain, like Led Zeppelin's "Rain Song," the Doors' "Riders on the Storm," or even "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"....those songs can only be played when it is raining.  Not that anyone is going to play Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head these days, but just in case.

Definitely some legislation involving this is in order.

It's Supposed to be Hot!

You can see on here it's 88 degrees in Pasadena.  At 9:30pm.  High of 99 today.  Of course, everyone is complaining, but it's SUPPOSED to be hot.  It's summer.  In fact we've been waiting for summer all summer.  Now that it's fall, summer is finally here.

Of course summer technically ends in a couple weeks I think, but Labor Day = fall.  We all know that.  Which is why school should not start until after Labor Day.  (Obama, where are you on that?)

On a different note, while looking up weather, I noticed Yahoo's great new weather page. Their new logo is dullsville, but their weather page is very nice.  Each page has some kind of iconic picture from that location.  And they rotate and change.  Hit refresh and you get a new one.

Wow, chilly in Boston already.  And getting colder by the second apparently.  (Wait a minute - Boston, NY?)

They did a nice job of having the font be very thin so you can see the image.  And the graphics and logos are very hollow or translucent.  (The exception is the ugly ad to the right.  This was not there the first few days - guess they were testing it out.)

When you scroll down, there are more cool graphics that are easy to read without making the page cluttered.

The little icons on the bottom actually move.  The sun goes across the sky on the bottom right, sunrise to sunset.  The little windmills turn (although in this one they weren't, as the wind was 0pmh.)

It makes you want to start entering random cities and take a coffee table book type photo tour of the world.

Should really do something about the ad though.  It looked much more elegant and clean without it.  Oh well.

Actually if you turn off your cookies and Java, the ad disappears, leaving just a black box.

New Yahoo Logo

Looks like the logo for a women's clothing store.

Here is the old one:

Denver

This picture kind of sums up Denver.

License Plates

I visited Colorado recently, and as you might expect, I saw quite a few Colorado license plates.  Including the rental car plate...

It occurred to me that I kind of like their plate.  The mountain backdrop...it just looks right.  Represents the state well, is somewhat majestic, fits in well with the lettering.

I thought, "maybe Colorado has the best license plate in the US."

But then I saw an Alabama plate today, and thought, that one is not bad either.

I wonder if they are actually referencing the Lynard Skynard song (if so, a little tacky), but the graphics looked good on the car I saw.  (Note this isn't a real plate, but some kind of sample I found online.  As a side note, does anyone have a license plate of all zeroes?)

So I decided after viewing these plates it was time to look up license plates and see which ones were best.

I don't know if there is a definitive winner, but here are the contenders:

They apparently do not use this anymore, but the old Kansas plates were actually shaped like Kansas.

The wave on this Rhode Island plate is an effective design.

The award for plainest plate has to go to Delaware.

Of course later on they tried to jazz it up by adding something.  Maybe a product they make, or a geographical feature....

This kind of makes Delaware seem like a little kid bragging about being first in line. Would be funny if whoever is the second place state put "The Second State" on their plate.


Speaking of first and last, Hawaii could have put "The Last State" (or is it Alaska?) However, they did something much cooler.

It doesn't say "The Aloah State."  Just "Aloah."  Very simple, like you are saying hello to everyone on the road.  (Or goodbye, right?)

Of course later on they changed it to "Aloah State," which is unfortunate.  However they did add a cool rainbow.


Perhaps the oddest slogan is Idaho.

And of course, the most frightening is New Hampshire's.  Until 1970, they just had a plain old license plate.  However in 1971, they added "Live Free or Die" to the plate. Paraphrasing George Carlin, any state where they mention death on the license plate is probably one to avoid.

Of course that is offset if you add in a message about ice cream.   (And apologies to whatever "23RE" is.  This picture was too cool to pass up.)