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Jerry Brown cemented the Coolest Governor of the 1970s title when he was sleeping with Linda Ronstadt *without being married* gasp! Water in California is a massive clusterfuck because our Mediterranean climate goes with a Mediterranean water supply, which is to say nonexistent during the summertime. Nonetheless, we are the tomato basket of the nation. Once you have lived in California you will never be able to tolerate the vegetables anywhere else; produce is just plain fresher here, because it hasn't had to be trucked forever. I moved to NoCal reluctantly because earthquakes! No winters! Now I realize that I would rather die hideously when the San Andreas lets loose than ever eat another unripe tomato. e: Also, we now have a citizen-run nonpartisan redistricting system that means gerrymandering is at least very difficult if not impossible.
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Jun 28, 2013 05:55
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etalian posted:It's also the porn basket of the US, a role for which the many red states are very grateful. Does anybody understand why San Francisco politics are such an insane clusterfuck and why nobody has successfully come in on a reform platform to do something about it?
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Jun 28, 2013 06:02
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UberJew posted:Hey let's not forget about the absolute invincibility of the prison system meaning that we are currently in direct defiance of a court order from SCOTUS like a modern day segregation era south. We quite literally had the director of corrections from Texas testifying that our prison conditions were inhumane. Let that one sink in.
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Jun 28, 2013 17:52
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Guidos Python posted:Could someone do a write up on the water issue? I'm from Bakersfield and I see signs saying how farmers have had rates increased yet they only revive 25% of the water they were getting 4 years ago. The classic discussion of California and water is Cadillac Desert, which I'm finally going to go put on the Kindle and read.
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Jun 28, 2013 18:13
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I can't provide links, so this is hearsay. Historically, Central Valley irrigation practices have not been water-efficient: open ditch systems, leaky pipes, lots of water lost before use. It takes a major capital infusion to switch to a drip system, and the state isn't going to provide any help to farmers AFAIK. You could still have booming agriculture in the Central Valley if you fixed the pipes and got rid of the ditches.
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Jun 28, 2013 19:08
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All Of The Dicks posted:The San Diego question was supposed to be separate and open-ended. Explain that city to me so that I get it, I guess. One of the best zoos in the world, as well as exciting close-up views of Nature's unsung masterpiece, the firestorm.
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Jun 28, 2013 22:37
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Apparently there's growing popular support for repealing Prop 13 for businesses. That would certainly help.
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Jun 28, 2013 23:39
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I'm reading Cadillac Desert and I just got to the part where LA fast-talkers flat-out stole the Owens River in order to get hella rich from real estate in the San Fernando Valley. The utter shamelessness is amazing. Somebody ought to make the movie (and yes, I have seen Chinatown, thanks.) drat. The book is, however, casually racist toward Native Americans, with references like "picking up squaws and other staples" and "empty except for Indians and bison". e: High-speed rail is still hung up in court.
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Jun 29, 2013 17:22
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Jerry Manderbilt posted:Anyway, it's going to be above 90 degrees here and holy hell I feel like going to Pride to escape the heat, but I don't think my dad would have it
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Jun 29, 2013 18:30
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The solution to overstuffed UCs has been to encourage students to attend community colleges for the first two years, then transfer. This led to the community colleges being stuffed, too, and with no extra budget to account for the extra students. This led to foundation courses for popular majors being overbooked for years. A bright chancellor at one of the SoCal community colleges (I forget which) proposed a solution: raise the prices on the most popular courses to cut down demand. No, seriously. 
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Jun 30, 2013 19:22
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San Francisco wants high-speed rail (and so do I) but holy cow is the San Francisco Peninsula NIMBY about it. A lot of businesses and people's backyards are at stake, to say nothing of noise issues. I still think high-speed rail is a very, very good idea, but the eminent domain costs (and the legal fees thereof) are going to be staggering. e: quote:Are people going to commute from LA to SD or SF? Or is this more an alternative to flying with ticket prices to match? High-speed rail is more energy efficient, more comfortable than air travel, less sensitive to weather, and connects city centers rather than outlying airports. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Jun 30, 2013 |
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Jun 30, 2013 21:35
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Ponsonby Britt posted:
e: "In general global warming will make the other natural disasters in California more dangerous." This is especially true of the summer grassfire season, which seems to be creeping earlier and earlier.
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Jul 15, 2013 17:03
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The best newspaper in the state is the Arcata Eye.
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Jul 16, 2013 01:06
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Papercut posted:I reverse commute to San Rafael so I see what the 101 is like every day San Francisco politics is hopelessly, hopelessly broken. I don't understand why, but the way the governance is framed (board of Supervisors, mayor) nothing can ever get done. The corruption is legendary. There have been triumphs like passing 3 different bond issues to earthquake-proof the same schools and never getting it done. There are activist groups for everything, and they can't push measures through but they can certainly keep anything from happening (see: the homeless problem). Also, Prop 8 can die in an unfunded fire, but that's true all over the state. It's a lovely city, and I'd still like to live there someday (I'm on the Peninsula), but you basically have to pretend the entire political system applies to somebody other than yourself.
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Jul 21, 2013 23:03
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Obdicut posted:We don't want to not sell it because it'll grow in value, we want to not sell it because we don't want to sell it. We want it to decrease in value. You have no idea how much pent-up demand there is around here, people desperate to buy a house who can't afford one. As a result, the market is propped up at insane prices because the supply is fixed (Peninsula's not growing any) and the amount of money chasing the supply is growing. As long as the investment bankers keep minting money, the luxury homes will be propped up. Would I buy a huge house in the Presidio as an investment? No, because lightning could strike. (Ask me about the collapse of the "Massachusetts Miracle".) Would I, owning a huge house in the Presidio, expect the price to collapse? Not bloody likely.
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Aug 13, 2013 21:25
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Hong Kong and Tokyo think public transportation is an uncontroversial public good, like public water and public electricity. Show me a place in the U.S. that thinks the same other than NYC.
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Aug 26, 2013 06:21
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BART has the severe problem that the original designers thought cloth seats were swanky. Cloth seats absorb odors and germs and filth. The new BART cars won't have permeable seats. Agreed with the earlier poster: the American belief is that public transit is for poors. I've seen that explicitly stated by councilmen in Charlotte, North Carolina: public transit is for poor people, and we don't want to make it easy for criminals to travel to the wealthier parts of town.
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Aug 26, 2013 07:42
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CrazyLittle posted:This is precisely why BART doesn't run to the north bay peninsula. (Marin, etc)
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Aug 26, 2013 18:43
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Thanks for the information! I note that San Mateo County and Santa Clara County NIMBYs are trying to prevent high-speed rail's going down this side of the bay.
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Aug 26, 2013 19:07
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It interests me that something that was intended as a net public good --get commuters off the road and reduce their contribution to pollution -- became a much-resented private luxury, taking up space where the public buses ought to go. I wonder if the buses were less luxurious, they'd be less resented. Don't tell me that the large companies should have put pressure on San Francisco and the Peninsula to run better bus service; nobody's got that kind of influence. (See: Google's inability to give San Francisco free wi-fi.) I get that the buses are very bad neighbors on the city streets, and I get that they're little cozy rich-people islands whizzing past the poor schmoes on the fast lanes. But I think they're a symptom rather than a cause.
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Nov 25, 2013 22:20
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 It rained in the Bay Area! Today's rain was more than we got in the entire month of January.
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Feb 3, 2014 01:56
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If you're renting a car in the U.S. anywhere near the border, you have to sign an agreement NOT to take it to Mexico, with very large $$$ penalties if you do. The car companies are not interested in losing any more vehicles.
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Feb 4, 2014 20:42
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Burritos are a good soft taco ruined. (duck, run)
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Jul 31, 2014 18:34
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I've been to paradise, but I've never ... oh, never mind. We once made a day trip to Sacramento. It was amazingly dull.
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Sep 18, 2014 05:15
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Leperflesh posted:Also if you live here for a year or two you're probably reasonably likely to feel a small earthquake. Don't panic, our buildings are built for them. Just stand in a doorway or get under a sturdy table, stay away from the windows, and when the shaking is done, unless it was bad enough to trash your home or you smell gas, you can probably safely go back to bed. You can't really prepare for the Big One, but you can make sure that you'll be semi-comfortable after a smaller major earthquake.
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Apr 17, 2015 19:06
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I fixed a broken sprinkler head I should have fixed years ago, and cut the sprinklers to running once every three days. I've been watering at night for years. I take short showers when I can (i.e. not washing hair). What I'm thinking about: setting up a minimal greywater system, the kind that lets you turn a valve and let washing machine water into the garden to water non-food plants. I have pretty much the perfect lot for it, running straight downhill from the room where the garage is to the back garden. I'm also thinking about going from the 1990s low-flow toilets I have to more modern dual-flush systems. Longer term, I want to turn our two tiny patches of lawn (5 feet at the widest) into probably a mix of native and dry-adapted plants. I'm in the Bay Area; I'm not competing with the Central Valley for water, because I'm in a different watershed entirely. I need to conserve water so there's enough to go around here, and because very little of our use is either agricultural or industrial. However, you will pry my old roses and fruit trees out of my cold (and very thorned) hands.
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Apr 17, 2015 21:48
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withak posted:Keep in mind that there is a ~30% chance that the earthquake will happen while you are at work so you should have an emergency kit there too. If there is a bridge or tunnel between where you work and where you live then you may not even be able to get home for several days. An especially important point for women: Keep a pair of comfortable shoes in your car if you ever wear heels or sandals. You don't want to have to walk home in dress shoes.
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Apr 17, 2015 22:41
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nm posted:The bay area gets water out of the sacramento san joaquin delta which is valley water. (non-ironic) Thanks for the correction. I thought the Peninsula's water was all coming down from the Hetch Hetchy.
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Apr 18, 2015 18:07
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In San Carlos, the next town south from Belmont, I recommend El Charrito taquería on Holly Street (hole in the wall, v. good), Rangoon Ruby on Laurel (excellent Burmese food), and, if you can get in, Refuge on Laurel, which has home-made pastrami, excellent burgers, and lots of different beers. Refuge has lines all through lunch and all evening. http://refugesc.com/menu/ http://www.rangoonruby.com/ In San Mateo, the next town north from Belmont, there's the Counter, which does customized burgers (have the bison, it's excellent). There's also the much-loved hole-in-the-wall ramen place, "Ramen Dojo"; the latter again has lines out the door and is worth it. http://www.thecounterburger.com/ http://www.yelp.com/biz/ramen-dojo-san-mateo?osq=noodles
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Oct 26, 2015 15:56
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Taima posted:I literally cannot roll my eyes hard enough to properly convey my thoughts on this kind of poo poo. They're simulating a Prohibition-era speakeasy. It actually looks like fun.
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Oct 29, 2015 19:51
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Why does California have no motor vehicle inspections except for smog? I think it's crazy that as long as I'm not polluting, I can drive around on bald tires, nonexistent brake rotors, and other deathtrap stuff. I think the occasional government-mandated "should this car actually be on the road" check is a good thing.
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Nov 4, 2015 01:11
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This year was supposed to be La Niña, weather's older, less funny work, but apparently that's unlikely. Spent the weekend in Mendocino, a coastal Northern California logging town repurposed as a tourist area. It's beautiful and quiet. If you want to so somewhere and just hang, alone or with a friend, I highly recommend it; you can also bicycle, kayak, hike, and so on. Beautiful botanic garden nearby, as well as many many wineries.. I feel much more at peace with myself. e: I saw the Milky Way for the first time in decades, at least. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Sep 21, 2016 |
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Sep 21, 2016 16:01
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I would second Petaluma; it's a fun and interesting town that has both cool antiques and cool stores that are useful to residents. You should also visit Mendocino and others of the small seaside towns. I don't know about real estate prices; Mendocino itself is probably expensive, but there are other villages nearby. If it were up to me, I'd settle in one of the modestly touristy towns on the seaside; they're more likely to have stuff like a "good" grocery store and bookstore and library and whatnot, because a small town alone can't support much in the way of stores and town services.
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Nov 16, 2016 22:54
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In LA or Orange County, rich, and don't want to serve your sentence in those nasty poor-person jails? Pay $100/day and you get the *nice* jails! Even if you were convicted of rape!
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Mar 9, 2017 18:42
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withak posted:Spend the extra 10-20 minutes to drive to Coyote Hills in Fremont IMO. Fremont also has an excellent Half Price Books store. A++ would spend a month's rent again.
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Mar 17, 2017 18:09
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The expat moron who was pushing Calexit has dropped it, says he wants to live in Russia permanently. His former allies are forming a new Calexit group.
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Apr 18, 2017 17:46
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I hate this. That is all.
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Sep 2, 2017 17:13
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We returned to the good old tradition of going out for a movie on a superhot day. Atomic Blonde wasn't bad at all.
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Sep 3, 2017 03:14
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Cat Face Joe posted:My wife will be there for work and we're gonna stay through the weekend, we'll have four days. Probably going to spend all our time in the city but people keep telling us to go see the red woods. I'm primarily looking for a good area to stay in, maximum of around $300/night. We have no fear of public transit or walking unlike many Detroiters. Every tourist goes to Muir Woods, so expect an experience only slightly less crowded than BART at rush hour. Parking is a misery; take a bus. Your best bet, I hear, is to go early in the morning. Do go to Alcatraz; it is a haunting and memorable experience. Get reservations on a ferry now. Consider the free Cable Car Museum, where you can see the equipment that keeps the cables running, as well as learn the history of the system and see some vintage cars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Cable_Car_Museum If you want to take the cable cars, do not start from Powell and Market. Take the California line, next to the Embarcadero MUNI stop, which is slightly less well-known to tourists. (e: And therefore has shorter lines.)
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Sep 7, 2017 19:02
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If you do hit Cambria, Linn's Pies really are fantastic. Olallieberry all the way. http://www.linnsfruitbin.com/linns-fruit-pot-pies/
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Sep 7, 2017 23:58
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