I finally ended my boycott of the evilly city of Santa Monica and once again had a please dinner with my daughter on the Santa Monica pier.  I gave a $5 tip to a street musician who was playing outside the Marisol terrace where we were eating.  The evening was pleasant, Santa Monica was surprisingly crowded with tourists and/or locals. Kids were splashing about ankle deep in the surf, the overcast sky and chilly January conditions notwithstanding.

Well, as noted from earlier posts, on my last visit I was given a ticket by a foot patrolman for blocking the intersection ... a ticket that in my view was not merited (the car behind me was blocking the intersection, not me); and in additional was as much the responsibility of law enforcement, which was causing the blockage, as the driver(s).

This visit I noticed a significantly different law enforcement approach: many intersections featured one or more traffic officers holding drivers out of the intersections or flagging them in as conditions required.  Probably reduced traffic revenues, but a much more user-friendly approach to downtown Santa Monica.

Don't know if this was an occasional staffing because a large number of drivers was expected for the weekend, or if it is a regular approach, but it certainly is better than leaving angry and vowing never to return.

Oh, but it does make me nervous when the light is red and the traffic officer is apparently waiving me into the intersection!

So, as the result of being a San Diego customer of SDG&E, I was invited to participate in a Customer Insight Panel.  After wasting my time answering the stupid questionnaire to "qualify", I find out that the website/Customer Insight Panel will be bound by the laws of the territory of British Columbia without reference to conflict of law issues.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  US CITIZENS AT THE SOUTH END OF THE US WILL BE BOUND BY CANADIAN LAW????

There is no depth to which the 1% will not stoop.

In some thousands of years, the Gulf of Mexico may ... MAY recover as a functional ecosystem.  But, the pain and death commencing from Fukushima will never end.  Worldwide, people will now be ingesting radiating molecules.  This is not "low dose," because once those molecules are inside you, wherever they choose to lodge, you have your own personal "hotspot" that is receiving a maximum high dose radiation 24/7.  Well, you will have multiple hotspots throughout your body, of course.  A little from that spinach, a little from that milk you drink, a little from the cheese and the hamburger.  And seafood or sushi from the Pacific ocean?  Are you kidding yourself?

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so, i was very appropriately being curmudgeonly, when suddenly i had a "happy feet" attack or something.

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As noted here at CR, the totally evil city of Santa Monica, California hammered me with an absurd ticket for "blocking the intersection."

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