Author: RonTopofIt

RonTopofIt is a complex personality, as are most of the small breed of modern day renaissance millionaires. He wishes more people were like him and yet believes that it takes all kinds. You've met RonTopofIt many times, you just don't remember him.

McDonald’s sued for marketing to children

Jackie Chiles - Attorney at Law

I am not sure what to make of this article about a Sacramento mother who, along with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, is part of a lawsuit against McDonald’s to get them stop using toys to market meals to young children.

Monet Parham said she is upset that her children request McDonald’s food after seeing the company’s ads.

My son requested an Apple iPad for Christmas, should I sue Apple for making them so darn handy? I mean, 9.7 inches of Bejeweled goodness. I am not made of wood you know.

They claim McDonald’s decision to markets its meals directly to young children violates several consumer protection laws because it exploits a child’s vulnerability.

A child’s vulnerability? To play with toys and crave French fries? How about the cereal aisle at the supermarket? The positioning of those sugary-sweet-teeth-rotters exploits a child’s vulnerability to not see anything above 4 feet, right?

Continue reading “McDonald’s sued for marketing to children”

Early flooding at Discovery Park?

Trail Closed SignsThese were not up in the morning

I was surprised to encounter flooding at the 2.5 mile marker along the American River Parkway this morning on my way to work. So much so I had to turn back and navigate my way to the Arden Garden Connector toward Truxel.

Discovery Park itself is quite flooded, too. Is it normal to flood out so far along the Parkway? My guess is the overflow area is actually the source of the, well, overflow.

UPDATE: Here are some photos I took on my home this afternoon… Continue reading “Early flooding at Discovery Park?”

2010 Holiday Services Schedule (City & County)

I had to look up my local garbage collection schedule recently and came across the holiday schedule for the City of Sacramento.

Be sure to put out your cans as usual and follow collection day parking guidelines. For loose-in-the-street collection for yard waste, please see Residential Garden Refuse & Street Sweeping.

This includes when parking meters take a holiday (Christmas Eve is on the 23rd and Christmas Day is on the 24th to the City). And read the fine print, “No” means “yes, they are enforced.” Here is a detailed PDF of the free, on-street parking locations (previously mentioned by CoolDMZ on November 17th).

I still wish the County offered the “Loose-in-the-Street” program. Or does it just seem more appealing?

For County folks, you’ll have to use the “e-Map-It” service which continues to be a great resource.

More festive and stuff

Robbers and Burglars and Assaults, oh my!
Robbers and Burglars and Assaults, oh my!

At least four Midtown businesses have had their Christmas decorations stolen.

“It’s kind of annoying. We are putting them out there just to make our place look more festive and stuff, but people come in and try to ruin it,” said Jared Agee, manager of Buckhorn Grill.

KCRA’s Crime Tracker informs me that 278 crimes have been committed from 12/01 to 12/07 (as reported by the Sacramento County Sheriff).

I do enjoy the crime icons they use on their map. Tracking the decay of civilization has never been so much fun!

Michael Jackson’s carnival rides for rent

Photo of the Dragon Wagon.
This is the “Dragon Wagon”
(uh, uh, huh, I said Dragon Wagon)

Back in 2009, the California State Fair had a promotion that fairgoers couldn’t beat (waka waka).

On Fridays, Butler Amusements will give the first 5,000 people through the gates a golden ticket good for one free ride on one of the four Neverland Ranch rides debuting at the State Fair.

Now these rides are available for rent.

A total of six attractions from the late singer’s Neverland ranch amusement park are available via Butler Amusements, although one of them now has a permanent home at the California State Fair and Exposition in Sacramento.

The cheapest ride will run you $5,000! Would someone really rent these *because* they were once ridden by the King of Pop?

Kings assistant coach arrested on DUI charges

OK, what’s the deal? Kings assistant coach, Mario Elie, was arrested for driving under the influence early this morning. Granted, you’d celebrate, too, if your team won a game after sporting the league’s worst record.

“We are very concerned and disappointed in regard to Mario’s arrest for DUI. This is an ugly form of history repeating itself. We expect better, knowing at the same time there are limits to how far you can go to protect people from themselves. In spite of all of this, we still respect Mario’s right to due process,” said Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

Man, Geoff must be simply swapping out the names each time with these statements. I did enjoy the line about protecting people from themselves. That’s good stuff.

The last few Kings players/coaches who have been arrested are no longer with the team. If the phone rings, Mario, don’t answer it!

Is it Sacramento? Is it professional sports? Is it professional sports in Sacramento?

American Idol contestant to perform at tree lighting

David Archuleta in bed with David Cook
Creative Commons License photo credit: Raptor_Jesus_LongLongCat_2

According to snarkyarchies.com (I smell a snark-off in the making), David Archuleta will be performing at the State Capitol Tree Lighting Ceremony tomorrow evening.

Who’s going? Tweet us at @snarkyarchies to be added to our Twitter list, and don’t forget to bring along some non-perishable food items for the WE Can Food Drive!

State Capitol Tree Lighting Ceremony
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
5 p.m. Holiday Celebration begins
West Lawn of the State Capitol

Hitt leaves CBS 13

Screenshot of Brandi Hitt from CBS 13
More questions than answers.
Given that this short post about Julie Durda is still our most viewed post (really?), I thought I’d share the status of another local departure from the Sacramento Business Journal (from November 30, 2011).

Brandi Hitt, an anchor at KOVR-TV Channel 13, has not renewed her contract with CBS 13. Her last day with the station was Friday.

While I am sharing old news, Rick Kushman has left the Sacramento Bee.

@SacramentoKings you’re not even fun to watch

The Sacramento Kings (yeah, they are still around, who knew?) are looking to reward “influencers” who tweet about them with the “royal” treatment during Saturday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.

“These influencers have tremendous online reach — they live to talk on Twitter,” Garth Holsinger, Klout vice president of global sales and business development, said in a news release. “The buzz comes in the form of a huge conversation on Twitter, Facebook and other major social networks.”

Will tweeting about the Kings make them play better? Can an influencer make them not cough up a 13 point halftime lead at home? Can the hash mark them enough to make the games exciting?

One person will be chosen to sit in on Coach Paul Westphal’s postgame news conference.

Oh, joy, that will be a scream. This person will get to listen to Westphal try and spin something positive out of another horrible performance. “Yeah, we’re doing some really positive things right now…we just need to execute down the stretch and not turn the ball over so much.”

Go professional sports!

Music and backscatter at SMF

I’ve been looking for an opportunity to insert this video clip into a post so I was pleased to read Screening methods leading some to drive, not fly in Sacramento on sacbee.com.

“We were thinking of flying to Oregon to see our family but instead we’re going to drive 11 hours,” said Sonja Wilson, 49, of Sacramento. Wilson said she flew two years ago and received a less invasive pat-down than those used in recent weeks. Still, she felt violated and doesn’t want a more thorough frisking. “I already felt totally sexually assaulted back then,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it must be like now.”

Ohh kay. I don’t get out much, so please share your experiences with airport security. Is it really this bad? I did learn that… “of the two secondary screening procedures – Backscatter scan and enhanced pat-down – Sacramento International only has the enhanced pat-down procedure available.” Man, that’s a relief.

Continue reading “Music and backscatter at SMF”