Author: CoolDMZ

"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?"

Sac-centric Yahoo! Groups

As a prominent local blogger, I’m always on the lookout for online sources of local gossip. When I discovered today that most Yahoo! groups publish their message archives as RSS feeds, I was excited at the prospect of getting choice scoops right from the keyboards of Sac’s most dedicated nerds. Well, Yahoo did not let me down (for the first time ever). I present to you a list of 250 Yahoo groups catering to Sacramento residents. But before you click that link, maybe you’d prefer to play my new game “Is it a Real Sacto Yahoo Group or Not?”
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‘Operation Boo’ Targets Offenders

Well tonight’s the night for walking around and asking for candy, and as we all know there are some major creeps out there. But don’t worry, Sacramento’s on the case. The article is short enough, I’m just going to post it in its entirety:

Law enforcement officials are hitting the streets to keep children safe from sex offenders on Halloween.

“Operation Boo” will put parole officers out among the trick-or-treaters, knocking on doors and checking up on high-risk registered sex offenders, who have been warned to turn off their lights and not answer the door on Halloween.

“We physically go to the home and knock on the door … to see if they are complying with that. If they answer the door we have a problem we have to deal with,” state parole administrator Rick Burrows said.

Some parents said it is comforting to hear that agents will be on the streets.

“So, if a sex offender were to open the door and try to get my child in the house, they wouldn’t be able to. The best measure is for parents to be active on Halloween with their children,” parent Tuesday Airola said.

Where to start? Since these offenders are definitely able to follow society’s rules, why not just make it up to them not to do something that is perfectly legal, like answering the door for any reason. Second, I’m not sure how paragraph three will work.
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The Day the Lights Went Out in Southport

Spent an idyllic Sunday late morning at Dave’s Pumpkin Patch in West Sac. Did the usual family guy stuff; snapped some nice photos, petted farm animals, walked amongst the pumpkins, stared in horror as subdivisions actually appeared to spread into the farmland. The weather was wonderful, one of those days in Sac that makes you remember weather can actually be nice, rather than just a giant thumb pressing down on you every day. Didn’t plan on putting the CoolDMZ hat on, preferring the blissful anonymity of being just another citizen, rather than one of its foremost chroniclers.

And then everything at Dave’s Pumpkin Patch went haywire, and as you know my friends, that’s when CoolDMZ goes to work.
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Tom Duhain: King For a Day?

Tom Duhain; Edward Woodward
Left: KCRA’s Tom Duhain;
Right: “The Wicker Man”‘s Edward Woodward

I had never seen the cult classic “The Wicker Man,” which has been in rotation on IFC, until last night. The resemblance between KCRA’s solid reporter Tom Duhain and Ed Woodward’s Christian martyr Sgt. Neil Howie is too great to pass without comment on The Sac Rag. As you can see in the picture, however, Duhain’s standard expression is the smile of the ultimate news professional, and I don’t think Woodward cracks a smile once (who can blame him, with all those filthy heathens, right?).

BASE Jumper Tragedy of ’05

Was it just my wife and me, or was the BASE jumper story last night the funniest local news piece in a while? I don’t think print reports do it justice; to really get the local flavor of this story of a daredevil yahoo jumping off a TV tower and getting stuck on his parachute about 200 feet up, you had to see Miguel Almaguer reporting live from the scene for the 10:00 news on WB58. (Was it a slow night for TV or what? We actually found ourselves watching “Joey” for like 5 minutes. We were eating May Flower at the time so our hands were occupied.)

Unfortunately the video clip on wb58tv.com does not contain video of Almaguer with his makeshift model of the tower and the guide wires that the jumper was caught on, which he used to demonstrate the different scenarios firefighters were considering for freeing the idiot. He did not, unfortunately, use a GI Joe figurine to stand in for the nimrod, who has titanium rods in his legs from a previous unsuccessful jump. Dumbass.
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Let’s Talk Talking Heads

And you may ask yourself-well…how did I get here? Just kidding. I feel like dishing about local news personalities. Today it’s Paul Joncich and Eileen Javora. I like Joncich because he’s not afraid to get caught with his arms crossed when the camera cuts back to the anchor desk shot. It goes a long way toward creating the persona of a no-nonsense newsman. I mean look at that biography: 2 Emmys, who knew! and “one of the first local television reporters in the country to visit the Soviet Union after the fall of communism.” That’s some resume.

The thing about Eileen Javora is that I fear she might be a cyborg. Try to guess how old she is–she could be anywhere from 23 to 42 as far as I can tell, and until KCRA releases a full DNA test I will continue to use whatever public power I have to out her as an ageless half-robot.

Folsom RT Woes

Apparently the huge popularity of the newly opened Folsom light-rail line caught Regional Transit off guard, too. I know that nobody likes the backseat urban planning guy (especially when he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about), but I’d like to know how something as large as a commuter rail line gets completed without a clear picture of how it’s going to be used. Survey, anyone? Polling? Calling random numbers? Anything ringing a bell?

But from the picture of RT this article paints, I guess the lack of user sampling is not the biggest obstacle RT faces.

Last week, a consultant for the south line extension told an RT committee it now looks like capital costs for that extension will be $150 million – a whopping $38 million more than anticipated.

And that’s not the only project over budget. If the people at RT misplace their tickets, they might want to look up their collective ass.
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It’s a little suspect…

Again with the unhelpful suspect decriptions, Sacramento.

Victims described the men as 22 to 29 years old, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall with thin builds. One was wearing a black beanie and another had his hair in braids, [Police spokeswoman Michelle] Lazark said.

Okay, so the first one is a Sailor and the second one is a Viking? As I’ve said before, fashion comments do not make for good suspect descriptions. After all, when I hear “beanie” I sometimes picture the multi-colored pinwheel hat (like the one Calvin gets hoping it will make him fly–by the way, thanks SacBee for rerunning Calvin).

Finally, the Daisy Spot

Let’s give a big Sac Rag indie bossa nova “welcome back” to Sacto’s quirky pop duo Daisy Spot, who are celebrating the release of their self-titled “debut” album tonight at Old Ironsides with Golden Shoulders and Prairie Dog.

I know they’ve only been gone for a little while but while we’re bringing back cutesy pop m/f duos let’s hear from Park Avenue Music. Man, I don’t know what I’d do if I had people telling me not to name drop.