Letters to My Neighbors

AM Alert: ‘Ambassadors’ waddle and slither through Sacramento

Most of the delegations that visit Sacramento to meet with lawmakers have a few bills they’re advocating for, or at least a vague agenda, but it’s a little hard to press your cause if you lack opposable thumbs and the capacity for abstract reasoning. Yes, a team of “animal ambassadors” from SeaWorld will be dropping in on the State Capitol today to spread some furry cheer.

The current guest list includes two penguins, two lemurs, a kangaroo, a peregrine falcon and a boa. You can come say hello on the north steps from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Assuming they’re not feeling too temperamental, the penguins and the lemurs will be venturing into the building, first to meet legislators in the Senate Lounge and then to drop in on the governor’s office (hopefully they don’t get spooked by the bronze bear).

Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy….

We could almost be friends.

-YN

brooklynmutt:

@mebuell: This is why Twitter exists RT @felicitymorse: BREAKING NEWS: a man is stuck in a high chair at a McDonald’s. 

Dear Sir,

Excelling at life and all that it has to offer.

-YN

At last, the fiscal moment we’ve all been waiting for. We’ll get a better sense of where things stand on Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2013-2014 budget after he releases the updated version during a 10 a.m. conference at the state Capitol.

Posted by Jeremy B. White 6:00 AM | 6 Comments (via Sacramento Bee — Capitol Alert)

Dear Jeremy,

I just can’t stand reading your articles. Something about them is so….. what is it? Cheesy?

-Me

shortformblog:

breakingnews:

Solar-powered plane starts cross-country journey

NBCNews: A Swiss-made, solar-powered airplane called Solar Impulse took off Friday morning on the first leg of an aerial odyssey across America, beginning what’s expected to be the slowest flight from San Francisco to Phoenix with nary a drop of fuel.

Adventurer Bertrand Piccard piloted the craft, which has the wingspan of a jumbo jet but the weight of a typical passenger car, from Moffett Field into the Bay Area’s skies at 6:12 a.m. ET (9:12 a.m. ET) and headed south toward Arizona.

“Everything looking fine down here,” Mission Control told Piccard after takeoff.

More from NBCNews here.

Considering international flights use five gallons of fuel per mile, this seems like a possible long-term solution to solving the high energy usage of airplanes.

Dear Neighbors,

THE FUTURE?!

-YN

Train blocks Sacramento streets after evening incident

Update (10:45 p.m.): The train has since moved and is no longer blocking vehicle traffic.

A Union Pacific freight train stopped this evening in midtown Sacramento, obstructing vehicle traffic while railroad authorities tried to determine whether rocks were thrown or paintballs shot at the lead locomotive, according to Union Pacific spokesman Aaron Hunt.

Hunt said Union Pacific dispatch received an incident report at about 8:45 p.m.

No one was injured and the locomotive was not damaged, but he said railroad authorities held the train while they investigated.

“We apologize for any inconvenience we are causing motorists or residents,” he said in an email.

Dear neighbors,

Did you have a similar experience of needing to go to the grocery store last night, or just anywhere from east to west only to realize THERE WAS A TRAIN IN THE WAY AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE??? I suppressed the images of that scene from Anna Karenina where that man gets caught under the train and ripped in half and let my hobo tendencies run rampant and climbed that train in search of sustenance. I sure do hope they caught those hooligan paintballers, because really, who cares about shutting down midtown, which has no viable pedestrian alternatives if there is a train in your way, as long as we catch those punks!

-YN

Dear Jeremy,

Killing it with that real newz.

-YN

BAKERSFIELD – A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the past year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent to 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables.

A conclusive explanation so far has escaped scientists studying the ailment, colony collapse disorder, since it first surfaced around 2005. But beekeepers and some researchers say there is growing evidence that a powerful new class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, incorporated into the plants themselves, could be an important factor. The pesticide industry disputes that. But its representatives also say they are open to further studies to clarify what, if anything, is happening. (via The Sacramento Bee : Rise in bee deaths alarms growers)

Hey farmer, farmer,

Put away those neonicotinoids now. Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees, please.

-YN and a Canadian musician

“Twilight” Shooting Plot Foiled A Missouri man bought two assault rifles, 400 rounds of ammo and one ticket to a screening of Breaking Dawn Part 2. (via “Twilight” Shooting Plot Foiled)

Dear Neighbors, 

So… it’s agreed that we will all just wait to go see movies the week after opening weekend, right? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!?!?

-YN

Yesterday, President Obama toured the Hurricane Sandy-damaged areas of Staten Island with Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg, and other city and state officials. While it was a hugging extravaganza for Obama, the visit exposed one of Bloomberg’s major flaws: he’s not a cuddly human being. (via Frigid Mayor Bloomberg Called Out For His Inability To Hug: Gothamist)

Dear Bloomberg, 

You look so grumpy. Is that hug fest stressing you out? 

-YN

The British journalist Ed Luce, whose book Time To Start Thinking is subtitled America In The Age Of Descent, argues that its failure to invest in infrastructure, research and education has been hugely damaging. He told me: “The American dream no longer exists. If you compare income mobility, for example, you’re twice as likely to move up an income group - up a class - in Canada or Germany as you would in the US. It’s got to stop these trends; otherwise it’ll cease to be the America we admire; and I think it’s to a large extent already ceasing, or has ceased, to be the America we admire.

“That foundational creed of a country that offers equality of opportunity, of a country that has great class mobility, that’s much more seriously that soft power you’d associate with America, its universal attractiveness.

“That’s really in headlong decline and I think that is a far more serious sense of concern than the relative economic decline that we should expect anyway with China and India and others lifting themselves out of poverty.” (via BBC News - Is the US caught in the slow lane?)

Dear Neighbors,

I thought this article, while not really saying anything groundbreaking or new did a fair job of talking things that I have feelings about. I am definitely concerned about our failure to invest in our future development through an emphasis on education and research, and I do feel that opportunities for me to be socially mobile are limited and shrinking. The article mentions that this pessimism could just be a result of our present economic situation, but I don’t see any plans in place to help alleviate my concerns. I am so sick of our government fighting about stupid things and worry that this political atmosphere of “US vs THEM” is undermining our ability to solve bigger problems and be more forward thinking. Anyway, back to Brooklyn.

-YN