Month: April 2010

Library offers live chat with Cory Doctorow!

Portrait, home, Hackney, London
Portrait, home, Hackney, London (by Paula Mariel Salischiker, pausal.co.uk, CC-BY) Uploaded by gruntzooki on 25 Aug 09, 2.15AM PDT.

Tech activist, blogger, and novelist Cory Doctorow, of BoingBoing.net, one of my favorite sites on the entire interweb, will be appearing live via Skype to chat directly with Sacramento Library patrons. Doctorow is the author of several young adult science fiction novels including Little Brother:

When he ditches school one Friday morning, 17-year-old Marcus is hoping to get a head start on the Harajuku Fun Madness clue. But after a terrorist attack in San Francisco, he and his friends are swept up in the extralegal world of the Department of Homeland Security. After questioning that includes physical torture and psychological stress, Marcus is released, a marked man in a much darker San Francisco: a city of constant surveillance and civil-liberty forfeiture. Encouraging hackers from around the city, Marcus fights against the system while falling for one hacker in particular.

The webcast will be presented at 8:00AM on Wednesday, April 21, at the North Natomas Library. This is a very cool and special event. I hope enough people show up!

More info: Live Chat with Cory Doctorow

Earth Day Celebration Sunday

Earth Day is officially April 22. But here in Sac, we like to do things ahead of the trends. That’s why we’re celebrating Earth Day this Sunday, April 11th at Southside Park from 12:00 to 5:00 PM, conveniently located across the street from the Downtown Farmers’ Market, so you can plan for a very earth-friendly day.

Earth Day festivities include music, cuisine, and one of my favorites: a capoeira performance!  If you aren’t familiar with capoeira, it’s a high-energy form of Brazilian dance that mixes in martial arts technique. Trust me–it’s super cool! Sacramento’s popular capoeira studio Agua de Beber will be performing. They begin at 1:00 PM with a big batucada parade followed by the capoeira demonstration.

You’ll also find a host of vendors sharing information about how to make your life a little greener and healthier. Come on out for a little peace, love, and earth-hugging. It’ll put a smile on your face.

Help KYDS

We here at The Rag have frequently sung the praises of KYDS, El Camino High School’s student run radio station at 91.5 on your FM dial. Even though their annual budget is a mere $2000, they manage to be one of the least boring radio stations in the Sacramento area. Their annual Spring Audiothon takes place this weekend starting today at 3pm. If you are a fan, please consider helping them out with a small donation to pay their FCC fine. (see update at end of story)

As The Bee reports, KYDS was fined $1500 for failing to file their FCC license on time. I suppose this is a hazard of having a radio station run entirely by students, as the FCC license renewal process was reportedly and understandably overwhelming for a kid. As a consequence, the forms were a few weeks late.

Continue reading “Help KYDS”

“All On a Adventure to Sacramento”

I stumbled upon this article from newsregion.com today about traveling to Sacramento. It has to be written from a translating tool as I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the statements…

Sacramento is really a medium-sized city of about 500,000 men and women. Several people travel on the city to visit the State Capitol…There are also several museums within the location which might be superb choices for persons interested in California background…The latter is located during the Old Sacramento place, which can boast of having a touristy edge. The following, you possibly can ride a historic locomotive along the river…Simply because summers below may be hot, you might pick out to cool off inside American or Sacramento River following your educational day…

I think I may start using some of these phrases. Especially if I mix in the “Jive” style from Airplane!:

“Jus’ hang loose, blood, simply because summers below may be hot, you might pick out to cool off…shiiiiit“

Best. Pulled. Pork. Ever.

Imagine, if you will, a place that serves a pulled pork sandwich topped with bleu cheese Napa cabbage slaw, dill havarti, shallots, and spicy barbecue sauce, all on a toasty ciabatta roll. Now imagine eating such a sandwich and having never tasted its equal. Now imagine sitting down and writing about said sandwich on a local blog. If you’ve imagined all that, then we’ve pretty much had the same day: you in your head, me in reality.

All I can say is make the effort to go to Fog Mountain Cafe on the corner of 10th and I streets. Hell, even if you have to get a parking ticket so that you have to go to City Hall to pay it so that you have an excuse to be on that corner. Even if you have to taint a local well so that you have to go to the CalEPA building on the adjacent corner, do it.

Fog Mountain Cafe– 1000 I St. Sacramento

Open Mon-Fri, 7am-3pm

Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos

The Avid Reader at the Tower continues its impressive author lecture series with discussion of a new book that has particular relevance for Sacramento. Seth Masket from the University of Denver will be in town to discuss No Middle Ground: How Informal Party Organizations Control Nominations and Polarize Legislatures. Masket’s book focuses on California politics and how extremist political views are encouraged. If you love politics but are frustrated by California’s status quo of hyperpartisan clashes and gridlock, this book and discussion are for you.

Thursday, April 8, 2010
7-9 pm

Pinkberry VIP grand opening

Benji Madden Jason Evigan and Joe Manganiello
Hope we get this kind of star studded affair.
Creative Commons License photo credit: @Photo .

By now you know that the LA frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry is moving into the Sacramento fro-yo market, with several stores “swirling soon” around the area, including Howe ’bout Arden and Loehmann’s Plaza, Elk Grove, Sunrise and Davis.

I’m not the fro-yo aficionado that some of my compatriots are, so I’m sure this will get adequate coverage here on this Web log. I merely want to highlight the fact that for the grand opening at Howe ’bout Arden on Thursday, the PR folks behind the Pinkberry entree into Nor Cal are setting up a “VIP tent” and inviting all the movers and shakers in the area including top bloggers and Yelpers as well as politicians. For their sake, they better make sure they don’t snub the Deputy Secretary on Dry Toppings or the Assistant to the Commissioner on Parfait Regulation, or their kiwi processing bill is going to stall in committee, that’s for damn sure.

Kings continue push for #RekeROY

As the Kings wind down a forgettable season (7 losses in a row and counting…) their “totally unnecessary” campaign to get Tyreke Evans the Rookie of the Year award (ROY, get it?) reached ludicrous speed when they enlisted the talents of Dude Perfect to make crazy shots around Sacramento.

Hey, I’m not made out of wood, these shots are pretty cool.