Category: Misc

Speaking of crap detectors

Ok, I can’t hold it in any longer. This “Weeping Mary” thing is just too much. Not sure where to begin. I think I’ll just make a few observations and be done with it.

  • Why is it so hard to find out if she is really weeping blood or not? Did I miss something? Crack that thing open, look for a red food dye pump and call it a day. And we all know there are folks camping out 24 hours a day so no one is climbing up it and placing the tears…oh, and call in the CSI and send those tears to the lab!
  • “Even if it turns out the tears are not real, people at the church said the effect is the same — more people are praying to God and rekindling their faith.” — Hmm, can’t you hear the “who really got hurt? people got back in touch with their religion because of this, it’s a victimless crime” speech in a few days when the truth is revealed?
  • Isn’t the timing of this “story” a little suspect, too? And how soon until this grows to the point of “Red November” status?

Ok, there, I feel better now.

Had to be Wal-Mart

Once again, Sacramento shines brightly as we learn of two carjackers who forced a driver to take them to Wal-Mart to make shopping returns AND out to dinner.

“The truck was still in the parking lot. We brought out the CSI to look for prints from the suspect off the vehicle”, says R.L. Davis of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department.

The CSI? Jack in the Box?

Anyone else hear their crap detector going off?

Sacramento Singles Unite

I came across a list today of the Best Cities for Singles as provided on Forbes.com that I thought was rather amusing. Mostly because of their methodology. But our fair city did manage to rank in the top 15 (#15) which is a step up from 2004’s rank of #31.

{Reader’s Note: Sacramento’s worst ranking came in the category of Nightlife. Kissmekate, this is a special call to action for you to continue pounding the pavement, sipping those foo-foo drinks, and report back on why our Nightlife should kick #28 San Diego’s ass! (we tied for 30 with Salt Lake City)}

It appears that the author’s “Cost of Living Alone” was determined by a proprietary index which incorporated the average cost of a metro area’s apartment rent, a Pizza Hut pizza, a movie ticket and a six-pack of Heineken. Man, there’s gotta be a better way to determine this information, right? Heineken?

And the Singles category was based on the percentage of a metro’s population above the age of 15 that has never been married. 15? {insert West Virginia crack here}

All in all, we beat out some pretty big little cities. Portland, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City to name a few. Not bad Sacramento, not bad at all.

Do you believe the statue is crying real blood?

Just in time for the holidays, a local statue of the Virgin Mary has begun crying tears of blood. Because parishoners at first suspected the work of local hooligans, the on top of it parish priest wiped the tears clean, only to see them reappear over the weekend. And since hoodlums and other assorted toughs usually take the weekends off, that settles that question.

Make sure to head right on over to CBS 13/UPN 31’s page and, without experiencing the statue for yourself, vote in their handy online poll, “Do you believe the statue is crying real blood?” Because whatever the situation is, the only important thing is whether Web site viewers believe it or not.

Blunts & Doobies

I’m sorry, but is 8:15 a.m. just a teensy bit early to smoke a fat one? My light rail commute this morning made me feel so old. I arrived at the 59th street stop running late and at a different stop than I usually use. There I observed a group of 6 teenagers smoking a nauseating amount of pot before walking off to school. I’m not sure if I’m was more annoyed at the smell or that they made me feel so old when I reacted with total shock that such young minds were getting so high that early in the morning. I made a joke with the business man standing beside me and he said they do it every single day there. Can anyone tell me, am I really getting old or is that maybe just the slightest bit excessive? I’m suspecting a combination since I’m also increasingly horrified by MTV. Squirty Tip, this is your chance to go off about medical marijuana, with love from yours truly.

Starbucks® Nation

The story of Starbucks is no secret. I think we all understand that there literally IS a Starbucks at every corner. In fact, there are currently 4,666 Company-operated coffeehouses and 2,222 licensed locations in the United States alone. I also think we can agree that whether you like their coffee or not (I’m a Peet’s guy actually) they are here to stay. What got me to post today is best illustrated by the photo I’ve provided and the number 13. Why 13 you ask? Well 13 is the number of cars in line at the Starbucks on Eastern and Arden this morning. What’s worse? That 13 people decided that waiting in line for 20 minutes for a cup of joe rather than drive down the road a mile or two to another location OR that 13 people chose to use the drive through for a cup of joe rather than park their car and go into the store which is FAR less crowded than the drive through line (I’ve been paying close attention to this over the last few months and find it to be true).

Reader’s note: Should you find yourself near this location in the future, the coffee at Whole Foods Market is quite delicious and they rarely have more than 2 or 3 people in line. “But Whole Foods Market is so…” I know, I know. Just go for th coffee, dammit.

Sacramento Loves a Line

As we’ve noted here in the past, Sacramento loves anything new. People find no trouble freeing up some time, grabbing a lawn chair, and hopping in line to check out something fresh. Well I caught a story recently on KCRA that I really need your help with. Apparently over in Orangevale there was something to get in line for.

As part of Thursday’s grand opening for the 99 Cents Only store, the first nine customers got an iPod Nano for just 99 cents.

Now stay with me here as this is where your help comes in. The first nine customers, right? Meaning that, say, 10 to 15 people might show up and hope some of the lucky first niners will pull a hammy or something and have to remove themselves from contention, right? Or did I miss something in the fine print? Because if you watch Suzanne Phan‘s video report you’ll find that folks came to play…the day before! With camping gear in tow. Now if only the Kings showed this much heart.