Not sure if those are going to be flower buds or just more cactus. It formed similar, but much smaller buds last year and they eventually dried up and fell away, so I think those were flowers. ...

3rd Street got a layer of asphalt today. 1st Street got partially paved, too. It looks like the whole project includes a little widening and curbing on Cactus between 1st and 3rd (a little beyond 3rd, actually) which will be fabulous. I remember my very first night in Desert Hot Springs (it was magical!) and I tried walking down Cactus Drive in the dark. I thought it was nearly impossible, dodging potholes, not tripping on curbs that suddenly moved left or right (like it was Boston, or sump'n), and wondering about the dogs. Now I can negotiate it ...

Marmol Radziner will be launching a new line of prefab homes that will be 20% to 25% less expensive than current models. I never knew the Marmol Radziner was in famed Vernon, California, the industrial city. The linked article has several photos from the factory. ...

You probably know that tea is good for you, but we all know that making tea has two gigantic drawbacks:

1. You've got to be aware of how long you've kept it steeping, and
2. You have to lift the tea (the teabag, whatever) out of the hot water.

Oh, groan, my mind and back are already aching just thinking about all that effort. TeaCube to the rescue! You attach your tea bag to the plastic clip and stick it all into your hot water. In 3 minutes the TeaCube automatically drags your teabag out of the water. I'm sure that ...

On Pierson Boulevard in Desert Hot Springs. ...

I know the food at carnivals and fairs can be bad for you, but even I was shocked at most of the items on this list. Every single one requires deep-frying, of course, except the Kool-Aid Dill Pickles which are probably fat-free. Also, the "Cool Dog" is not deep-fried, and doesn't sound too bad. A cool dog will quench your hunger for salty and sweet. It's a hot dog that replaces the bun with sponge cake and replaces the weenie with ice cream. The condiments are replaced with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and sprinkles. Sounds pretty cool-dog-a-licious. ...

Fortunately the parents of 18-year old Ryan Schallenberger had kept themselves fully informed on how to tell when your child may be about to go off the tracks. So, when they picked up the 20 pounds of ammonium nitrate young Ryan had mail ordered they thought it would be a good idea to search his room. That's where they found the cassette tape that he had identified as to be played after his death. Once law enforcement became involved even more stuff was uncovered and Ryan was arrested. The basic outline of his plan was this:

1. Blow up his

...

Isn't it pretty? A metal bench in that rich blue with zero shade. I'm going to sit there at noon on the first day over 110° and see if I don't get permanently branded. ...

Photo by shadowplay. Click on the photo to read comments discussing what appears to be a Star of David. ...

Photo by bossco. This is the view last night from Desert Hot Springs. This morning the Desert Sun is still saying "near Idyllwild" and only 7 acres. I suppose it depends on your definition of "near." This morning I can see only smoke and can hear the drone of fire fighting aircraft. ...

Honest to gosh, after a thorough, complete and in-depth investigation of every single one of 320 complaints of racial profiling by Los Angeles police in 2007, each complaint has been dismissed, maintaining a perfect record for its sixth year! These fine, super-human officers who must have been the unfortunate victims of 320 instances of misunderstanding, are being wasted by being all concentrated in the LAPD. They should be farmed out to jobs in education, legislative positions and social work so that we can rapidly advance our nation to a glorious future of racial harmony. ...

Last autumn's Santiago fire uncovered remains from the 1969 crash of a Lockheed SP2E Neptune that had flown out of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The bodies of all seven seamen aboard were recovered at the time of the crash, but pieces of the plane have lain under the forest cover until now. ...

Ricoh has announced the G600, a water and dust resistant camera in a shock resistant case. You can even take it underwater as far as 1 meter and it will still work. It's got 10 megapixels with a 5x zoom which is equivalent to 28-140 mm. The lens zooms within the body of the camera, so it never sticks out. It's got a "skew correction" mode to correct for parallax, something I've done a few times in Photoshop. It'd be nice to see how well this works in a camera. Price and availability are not stated. Official ...

Overriding the governor's veto, the Oklahoma legislature has passed Senate Bill 1878 which requires that ALL women who request an abortion must first submit to either abdominal or vaginal ultrasound. The woman cannot refuse. The doctor is not allowed to determine which type of ultrasound to use. Only the great state of Oklahoma possesses the omnipotent knowledge to decide. Slightly more detail here. I have two suggestions, choose either: (1) all fertile women should leave the state of Oklahoma, or (2) abort all the Senators and Representatives who voted to override the governor's veto. Here is ...

I've got no info other than what my own eyes bring me, but there's a big fire on Mt. San Jacinto. It may be above Tahquitz Canyon, but it's almost impossible to say in the dark. I went outside to see why we have a low-flying helicopter hovering in the neighborhood and saw the fire on the mountain. The Desert Sun says this fire started near Idyllwild and had burned only 1.5 acres! Something's not correct in that info, since the fire would have had to travel many miles from Idyllwild to be visible where it is from ...

Microsoft has developed a plug-in device that law enforcement can use to override all security in a computer in order to extract forensic data. No longer will police have to turn off a computer, disconnect it and cart it away. The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB "thumb drive" that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company conference Monday. The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes to ...

Some of the new sidewalk construction in Desert Hot Springs: 3rd Street. 2nd Street. 1st Street. ...

...

An eight-minute, thirteen-second collagic video homage to the films of Stanley Kubrick, and some of their music. ...

From this...to this. Gary Dourdan (filmography), star of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, was found by Palm Springs police sleeping in a car parked on the wrong side of Sunny Dunes near Gene Autry Trail (i.e., close to Lowe's) at 5:20 AM on Monday. Actually, the linked Desert Sun article says it was on Sunday morning, but every other news source on Earth says it was Monday morning, so we can be pretty sure it was Monday, and I hereby announce yet another charitable fund for the benefit of the Desert Sun. This ...