Day trip: Chico [PHOTOS]

To follow up on my post about locations to watch the annular eclipse, we decided on a trip up to Chico since we had never been. The destination was the Chico Community Observatory, an outdoor observation deck in the city’s Bidwell Park. While we didn’t make it to the observatory, we did have great fun in Chico and primarily at the amazing Bidwell Park.

Last weekend happened to be Commencement weekend at CSU Chico, but Sunday late morning when we arrived there were no large crowds, much to our relief. There were small family groups out celebrating their grads which made it a really pleasant atmosphere, though I get the feeling Chico is a pretty friendly place for the most part. We had a picnic lunch at the Children’s Playground near Bidwell Mansion after an aborted attempt to picnic at the City Plaza splashground, which had a “creepy homeless dude” vibe as a result of being populated by creepy homeless dudes sitting and watching children frolic in the fountain. No judging.

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The next best way to avoid a ticket

In case you missed this story over at news10.net about speed traps in our area, here are a few highlights.

The one place where you are most likely to be pulled over for speeding is anywhere the highway opens up from two lanes to three or four lanes and there is a temptation to hit the gas. The most popular stakeout for CHP officers around Sacramento is the truck scales near Antelope Road…CHP officers do not have a quota for writing speeding tickets. And money from the fines does not go to the CHP. It stays in the county where the violation occurred.

And then what happens to it?

The CHP uses a variety of tools to catch speeders. The newest is LIDAR, which uses a laser beam to pick out a single vehicle in a crowd of traffic and clock its speed with remarkable accuracy.

A frickin’ laser beam? Let me get this straight, if I am speeding in a crowd of traffic (oxymoron?) how am I being singled out?

Any places they missed?

RIP Travus T Hipp

Travus T Hipp has died.

RIP Travus T Hipp

Here’s one for you old time heads. Long time reader Hecuba alerted me to the passing of KZAP’s free form radio hippie libertarian (with a small l) rantmaster Travus T Hipp (the poor hippie’s Paul Harvey). In addition to his hilarious and thought provoking appearances throughout the day, probably when he would spark a jay and bust into the studios, he had a Sunday night news show “Travus T. Hipp and the Rawhide Reality Review”.

Hipp got his start in the late 60s on KNEW. Until his death, he had syndicated his freedom speak on lefty stations such as KVMR, KPIG and KMUD through Cabale News Service.

“Play politics but keep your powder dry!”

Coming soon to the sky near NorCal…

Don't worry, we have our Eclipse Glasses

NorCal will be optimal viewing territory for two astronomical phenomena in the coming weeks. This Sunday evening is an annular solar eclipse — the Moon passing between Earth and the Sun and partially blocking the Sun. We’ll be right in line for viewing at roughly 6:20 PM, though we won’t have the best view. (Make sure you don’t stare directly at the Sun. We picked up some eclipse glasses so hopefully we’ll be safe.)

Even more special is the Transit of Venus which is coming up on June 5. This is our last chance to see Venus passing across the face of the Sun.

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The Fair’s a-Comin’

By Flickr user alice_mercer

I share in the Sac Rag’s love of Big Fun, but heat, crowds and cost usually conspire to make me skip out on the event, if we’re being honest. For me, the real fun is the smaller but still very fun Sacramento County Fair, which comes around every Memorial Day. Squeezing all the fun of shows, exhibits, food, and midway action into just the area taken up by fried foods during the State Fair, you really get your money’s worth…especially since kids under 12 are free!

One of the main showcases at the County Fair is always the work of the schoolkids and young livestock farmers from FFA (Future Farmers) and 4-H. The livestock halls full of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs is endless awwws for all ages.

Music-wise, this year’s event has Country music from McKenna Faith and Road 88, “Shasta County Idol” Stacy Stone, indie rockers Walking Spanish and The Generals, as well as singer songwriter Clay Hawkins, Norcal bluegrass weirdos Hot Tar Roofers and of course local sensations Dog Party.

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Concerts in the Park removing beer gardens?

Carla Meyer’s article in today’s Bee celebrating the start of this year’s Concerts in the Park program includes the detail that this year there will be no designated beer garden (“at least for the first performance,” she writes.)

I don’t have a knee-jerk overreaction to easing restrictions on “demon rum” or something, but I’m not sure this is a good idea. I haven’t been to CIP as much in recent years but it seems like the beer garden in Cesar Chavez gets pretty rowdy, am I wrong? I’m not talking about beer fans but about Sacto d-bags. Isn’t that going to hurt the family atmosphere? I personally wouldn’t take my kids somewhere that the general public was imbibing in beer garden quantities.

More importantly though, it seems like this will make it much more difficult to keep minors from getting in on the beer action. Sure, if you’re caught with liquor and no wristband you’re toast, but is there going to be enough security to scan the whole crowd. Seems like Cesar Chavez is the place to be for some underage drinking this summer!

Electronic weekend

In an odd coincidence, one of the nation’s top electronic music artists is in town at the same time as the Sacramento Electronic Music Festival.

Your choice is to see dubstep guru Bassnectar at the Memorial Auditorium tonight, or see three nights of shows from a few dozen artists for less money.

No brainer. Support your local music scene, people, and see a variety of great artists lovingly curated by cool peoples.

Sacramento Parent goes glam

Sacramento Parent is one of those free advertorial magazines you see in places that moms tend to gather. Typically it features local parents, mostly moms, and articles of interest to families.

The cover of this month’s edition features “The Real Housewives of Sacramento” (2009 called, it wants its pop cultural reference back). The article itself is light on substance (the moms struggle with trying to do too much! Some random person that you don’t know turns out to be a gun lover!) but the cover photo is pretty barftastic:

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Powering forward. Together. Unless.

Remember, you have a choice here.
A friend sent me a letter she received from SMUD letting her know how important it is to offer their customers options when it comes to many aspects of her electric service. In particular, the letter discussed her options regarding the installation of a smart meter at her home.

We also have a responsibility to all of our customers to provide reliable electricity at the lowest cost possible. When customers do not have a smart meter, there are additional costs and conditions for the alternative meter and equipment, as well as for ongoing maintenance and meter reading. If you choose to opt out of having a smart meter, the following will apply:

  • You will be charged a one-time fee of $127.00.
  • You will have an additional monthly fee of $39.40 added to your SMUD bill.
  • You must be current with your bill, and allow monthly access to your meter.
  • We’ll install an alternative meter at your home in 2013.

Unlike a smart meter, the alternative meter will not be able to provide daily updates with your hourly, daily, or weekly electricity use. Also, it will not identify power outages. And, you may not be able to participate in future energy-saving programs such as those using a home area network.

They will also automatically add these charges to her bill if she DOES NOT call SMUD to make an appointment for installation or indicate that she would like to opt out of having one.

Much has been made about the safety of these smart meters especially with regard to radiation exposure so it is great to see SMUD showing such compassion and understanding with such a tough personal decision.