Blue Moon California Omen

During the height of California's New Year's Eve celebrations, just before the midnight countdown to 2010, a Blue Moon will reveal its fullness.  Will this mean something special, or even something strange for California?

A Blue Moon is something rare which occurs, well, "once in a blue moon".  However, given the precise timing of the 2009-2010 lunar event, it warrants some observation.  Could this particular Blue Moon be an omen for the Golden State?

Interesting, is how the full moon's power maximizes just before the Big Countdown, and how the energy carries all the way through the LIVE, worldwide telecast of the Tournament of Roses Parade.  The eyes of global humanity will, once more, be upon our 21st Century Eden.

While a crowd of one million Californians will cheer under Technicolor skies and perfect palms, many in the world will marvel at how such a society can dance in the streets with glee --- in the dead of Winter --- after living out headlines from Hell in front of the planet throughout 2009.

That's just so totally California!

Believe me, on the midnight before, most Californians will be "ringing-out" 2009 with pleasure.  So many have experienced changes during the past year, but what changes will 2010 bring?  What about the Blue Moon omen?

Just as the Blue Moon straddles the "midnight hour" and the "morning after", California hovers between darkness and light;  victory and defeat;  good and evil;  poverty and prosperity;  disaster and survival;  fear and love.

With the planet's media focused on the mythical land of California, amid the rarest blue lunacy, what subliminal tone will the Golden State set for a new day, a new decade, and the future for generations?

Will our celebration of the Rose, on the first-born of all the year's days, signal a new dynamism that spreads from the County of the Queen of Angels all across the goddess Minerva's assigned principality...

... and into the psychology of humanity?

What will we do with this strange moon, this renewed energy, this new day, this new year, this new decade, this global audience and this overwhelming responsibility?

May our Golden society, which has birthed infinite images out of Hollywood, show the TV-watching world what HOPE looks like as we bravely grasp onto 2010 with shocking confidence.

The Golden State on center stage under a Blue Moon means only one thing for 2010:

The Year Of California.

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Japan Hot For California Biotechs

California's major biotech companies welcome investors, and Japanese pharmaceutical companies are responding with big bucks to develop and sell new drugs.  The California economy is getting another shot in the arm!

Japan's largest drug making company contracted with San Diego's Amylin Pharmaceuticals, within recent weeks, to develop and sell an obesity drug projected to be worth $1 billion.

The deal comes right after Japan's second-largest drug company paid $110 million to Medivation of San Francisco to develop and market a prostate cancer drug that could be valued at $655 million.

Recently, biotech titan Amgen of Thousand Oaks received a $200-million investment check from another Japanese company for rights to its pain, inflammation and cancer drugs.

Japan considers pharmaceutical care as a social service, while America treats it as a business, so it's easier for companies to secure patents.  It's also cost-effective for Japanese companies to invest and develop compounds with a California company.

Recent agreements reached by Japanese and California companies are centered on experimental cancer treatments.  Cancer is the #1 cause of death for the Japanese, according to their government statistics.

I can see why Japan gets excited about doing business with California's great biotech companies.  California is all about innovation, experimentation and the quest for perfection.  We do quality with style!

California and Japan share many things in common and, hopefully, our two lands will share in a successful cure for cancer.  When that day comes, we will surely celebrate together ---

--- and I'll cook the Oyako Domburi myself!

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California Walnut Sales Skyrocket

California's walnut industry fell flat on its face last year, but walnut sales are now going 'nuts' --- up 50-percent --- and setting sales records month after month. It's a California comeback that's taking many by surprise.


China, Turkey, South Korea, Italy and Germany are purchasing California walnuts in record tonnage, boosting California's economy in the process.  There are many excited folks here in the Golden State!

"We had 70,000 tons shipping in the month of November. The highest we ever had before was 48,000 tons!" said California Independent Handlers Coalition chairman Pete Turner.

This year's walnut harvest might top 425,000 tons, which would be California's second-largest crop of all time.  Shipments of California walnuts are up 50-percent from last year, and prices are stronger.

Walnuts are very valuable to the California economy and are San Joaquin County's #3 commodity, with the total walnut crop worth approximately $180 million annually.  Go Central Valley!

This is great news for the California economy.

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California Home Sales Hotter!

The median price of a California home is up from a year ago, sales are up nearly 12 percent from last year, and foreclosure resales are falling.  It's a sustained economic recovery success, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

November saw 35,860 homes and condos sold during a typically slow month.  Apparently, last month was not just about Thanksgiving turkeys.  Folks all over California were shelling out the big bucks for houses.  Talk about giving thanks!

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $261,000, up from $257,000 in October.  Up $4,000 in four weeks?  Sounds like success to me, so bring on more!  Last month also saw the lowest percentage of foreclosure resales in more than a year.

California's home sales are being helped by a federal tax credit for first-time home buyers, record low mortgage rates and the availability of government-insured, low-down-payment mortgages for first-time buyers, according to DataQuick President John Walsh.  Hey, whatever works, dude!

Gerd-Ulf Krueger, economist and founder of HousingEcon.com proclaims, "We have been in the middle of a kind of mini recovery in California."  Mini?  Well, I say that's right in step with all the Mini Cooper cars and mini-skirts I see everywhere these days, so we'll take it!

California's year-over-year increase was the first since July 2007, so it's kind of like we're saying goodbye to 2007, 2008 and 2009 in a few days.  Isn't it the right time to 'ring out the old' and get on with some exciting, new success?

Happy New-New-New Year, California!

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Californian Is New World Surf Champion

California surfing phenomenon Greg Long, of San Clemente, has won the world's premiere surfing contest.  The Southern California native scored a perfect '100' in the prestigious Quicksilver, winning the world surfing title and $55,000.

The event was held at Waimea Bay, Hawaii, on Oahu's North Shore.  Greg Long won his title after beating the world's elite big-wave surfers with an immaculate performance.  The thousands of excited spectators were shocked by the gigantic waves, then stunned by Long's showmanship and perfection.

"I'm humbled just to be in this event!", said Long, after he mastered a jaw-dropping 42 foot wave which could have killed or crippled any experienced surfing professional.  Hawaii's current high surf conditions provided a dangerous challenge to all surfing competitors, with many surfboards being shattered.

The Quicksilver surf contest is held in reverent memory of the Hawaiian surfing legend, Eddie Aikau, who died in 1978.

Way to go, Greg, you're on top of the surfing world!  What a tremendous example of the California 'can-do' spirit.  All Californians can be proud of such dedication, perfection, professionalism and sheer guts.  You intensely ROCK, dude!

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Best 2010 California Governor Candidate

California will have a new governor in 2010, but who will it be?  What kind of person would be the best head of state for the Land of Gold?

Could California's 2010 gubernatorial election see the biggest political upset in California's election history?  Will a political "dark horse" win the governor's race?

Will a political earthquake in California rock the world in 2010?

One known factor is that California voters are sick of the 'Good Ole Boy' system that's played-out, overexposed and down-right boring.  There are six strings on every guitar, and Californians have grown tired of hearing the same single monotonous string plucked over and over and over again.  Gag.

California politics must be open, real and accessible to all.

Shadowy groups, clandestine assemblies, backroom deals, payoffs, hooker brigades and lobbying sleaze-fests are so passe'.  None of it is really secretive anymore.  Even the 'Illuminati', the 'New World Order' and 'Bohemian Grove' are common buzz topics at any California Taco Bell.  Please.  Spare us the shady antics this time around.  We want workable solutions.

Californians are still optimistic but sick of manipulative games.

Big business barons, boozy billionaires and bailout bankers are like Satan to workaday Californians now.  The big-bucks crowd might have "made-off" with all the money, but average California voters got all the education.  Millions of eyes and ears have been opened --- all the way. 

'Politics As Usual'?  Not now.  Not on your life.  No way, babe.

Californians have no time for another smooth-talking cookie-cutter candidate.  Gimme a candidate who has worked some crappy jobs, overcome personal failures, taken the hard knocks, examined their soul, pulled their life up by the bootstraps, fought back, created something constructive, and given back.

That is the right candidate for California in 2010.

California voters want a real fighter with guts as the next governor.

Alien, robotic, mantra-spewing 'governoids' are boring.  Thinking Californians no longer believe in plastic doll-headed candidates who repeat teleprompter scripts like zombies.  There are, actually, some gubernatorial candidates who have some spark of life in their eyes and some NEW IDEAS!

Californians are dying to get behind a fearless individual.

When voters recognize the right candidate, they'll know it.  I've heard countless folks say that California needs another Ronald Reagan.  No.  Reagan was fantastic for his time, but we need somebody who is right for THIS time.  Someone totally NEW.

After thoroughly examining all of the California candidates for governor, California voters will make an intelligent choice on November 2nd.  I'm positively confident in my fellow Californians.

We may all be surprised on Election Night.

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Famous San Francisco Quotations

Here are some famous quotes about San Francisco, the City by the Bay.  Love it or hate it, 'Frisco' has made an indelible impression on everyone, but especially those who live in the San Francisco Bay Area and the tremendous numbers of tourists who vacation in California's Golden Gate metropolis.

Enjoy these San Francisco quotations, but please don't 'leave your heart' --- it will get buried in the blog archive!

"San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality." - Paul Kantner

"San Francisco itself is art, above all literary art.  Every block is a short story, every hill a novel.  Every home a poem, every dweller within immortal.  That is the whole truth." - William Saroyan 

"I was married once --- in San Francisco.  I haven't seen her for many years.  The great earthquake and fire in 1906 destroyed the marriage certificate.  There's no legal proof.  Which proves that earthquakes aren't all bad." - W. C. Fields 

"San Francisco is perhaps the most European of all American cities." - Cecil Beaton 

"I will sing in San Francisco if I have to sing in the streets, for I know that the streets of San Francisco are free." - Diva Luisa Tetrazzini 

"You can go one block to the next in San Francisco and get a completely different opinion of what the issue is." - Don Johnson 

"But oh, San Francisco!  It is and has everything --- you wouldn't think that such a place as San Francisco could exist.  The lobsters, clams, crabs.  Oh, Cat, what food for you.  And all the people are open and friendly." - Dylan Thomas

"I'm proud to have been a Yankee.  But I have found more happiness and contentment since I came back home to San Francisco than any man has a right to deserve.  This is the friendliest city in the world." - Joe DiMaggio

"San Francisco is one of the great cultural plateaus of the world --- one of the really urbane communities in the United States --- one of the truly cosmopolitan places and for many, many years, it always has had a warm welcome for human beings from all over the world." - Duke Ellington

"I always see about six scuffles a night when I come to San Francisco.  That's one of the town's charms." - Errol Flynn

"You are fortunate to live here.  If I were your president, I would levy a tax on you for living in San Francisco." - Mikhail Gorbachev

"The ultimate for me would be one perfect day in San Francisco.  There's no city like it anywhere.  And, if I could be there with the girl of my dreams, that would be the ultimate!" - Larry King

"The Bay Area is so beautiful, I hesitate to preach about Heaven while I'm here." - Billy Graham

"We're crazy about this city.  First time we came here, we walked the streets all day, all over town and nobody hassled us... Los Angeles?  That's just a big parking lot where you buy a hamburger for the trip to San Francisco." - John Lennon

"The extreme geniality of San Francisco's economic, intellectual and political climate makes it the most varied and challenging city in the United States." - James Michener

"San Francisco is a golden handcuff with the key thrown away." - John Steinbeck

"The San Francisco Bay Area, the playpen of countercultures." - R. Z. Sheppard

"In San Francisco, vulgarity, bad taste, ostentation are regarded as a kind of alien blight, an invasion or encroachment from outside." - Pauline Kael

"I used to travel in tennis shoes; I am just not allowed to anymore.  I'm an old hippie from San Francisco." - Amy Irving

"There is always inequality in life.  Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco... Life is unfair." - John F. Kennedy

"Leaving San Francisco is like saying goodbye to an old sweetheart.  You want to linger as long as possible." - Walter Cronkite

"I came out to California from Texas, to the Haight, and the Fillmore and all that stuff, and totally got the bug." - Christopher Cross


"San Francisco has only one drawback.  'Tis hard to leave." - Rudyard Kipling

"As many of you know, I came from San Francisco.  We don't have a lot of farms there.  Well, we do have one --- it's a mushroom farm, so you know what that means." - Speaker Nancy Pelosi

"The Golden Gate Bridge's daily strip tease from enveloping stoles of mist to full frontal glory is still the most provocative show in town." - Mary Moore Mason

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Ex- Californian Hell

Are you an ex-Californian? 

Why did you decide to leave California?  Was it an economy-based decision?  Did you move out of the Golden State because you found another place with a slower pace and a lower cost of living?

How's it all working for you?  Are you happier now - really?

I've been there myself - more than once. 

Years ago, I took a look around and felt that old discontentment.  Bored with living in a picture postcard paradise, I started obsessing on California's economic downturn and my own roles as breadwinner, commuter, taxpayer and frustrated voter.

I needed a break from California.

I did massive amounts of research on many other states and cities.  I visited.  I took pictures.  I got excited.  I planned.  I saved.  I moved.  I did it!  Yay!  California was in my rear-view mirror.  I was 'free at last'.  Bye, suckers!

Yeah, there's a little more to the story.

At first, things were fun, fresh and exciting in my new state.  When I looked at my new driver's license, I felt liberated.  I met lots of new folks who were friendly and helpful in my new community.  The honeymoon period was fantastic, but honeymoons fade.

Work, bills and routine take over.  You get a little tired of your new friends saying, "You ought to be happy you got out of the hell-hole of California.  I don't know why you put up with that place as long as you did.  It's all queers and steers I tell ya.  Folks just aren't normal out there in California!"

Where's the Ralph's and Von's?  What?  There's no Tommy's or In' N' Out Burger?  Oh.  That's right.  I left.  Lower cost of living.  That's right.  But, no bike lanes here?  No curbs or sidewalks here, just weeds and dirt? 

Is there anything to do - or talk about - other than WalMart?

The thinking isn't quite as free where you're at now, is it?  The scenery isn't quite as varied as it was in California.  Oh, sure, the living is cheaper, but so is your new lifestyle.  Less amenities.  Less quality.  Less excitement.  Less, less, less. 

Cheesy local TV becomes your ritual.  Your eyes glaze over.

Then it happens.

Images scream from your TV.  A fire, an earthquake, the Oscars, the Grammys, the Rose Parade, celebrities, the O.C., Laguna Beach, 90210, Melrose Place, bikinis, Baywatch reruns, the Golden Gate, palm trees and protests.  All in Technicolor, drenched in adrenalin. 

Something snaps.

Sweating to death or being knee-deep in snow totally sucks.  All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray!  Doubts and questions.  Why exactly am I here?  Was it really that bad in California?  Was it?  I miss my wind-chimes and Trader Joe's!

Your tan has faded and your entire life is on dial-up.

Yes, I've been where you are.  I was so happy when I saw that sign that welcomed me back to my California.  I've been back for years and still love my Golden State.  I'm not leaving.  I totally love it here.

I'm paying through the nose every month for this fabulous weather, but it's worth every dollar.  California rocks, so come back home!

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Central Valley: California's Gold Mine

California is famous for its many valleys, but none is bigger, more famous nor more important than the Great Central Valley.  While the Golden State has every example of nature's bounty, the Central Valley is where God and Man work together through nature.

Agriculture is the world's most productive profession, and nobody does it better than California's Central Valley.  Through their hard work and expertise, these Californians are nourishing humanity.  This Great Valley is California's biggest gold mine for the future.

So why do so many call it the "armpit of California"?

I have friends and family up and down the Central Valley.  I've been through the region countless times over decades.  Some sections remind me of Oklahoma, Texas or the Midwest.  Yeah, it's flat, humid, super foggy at times, and many parts stink like fertilizer.  So does most of America.  It's called 'real life'.

When you're smack-dab in the middle of the biggest farm on the continent, you just might smell some animal poo-poo from time to time.  It's not Santa Barbara for Pete's sake.  It's the HEARTLAND!  Happy cows do not come from Hollywood, and milk is not born in plastic refrigerated containers either.  The Central Valley makes it happen --- 24/7 and 365.

While agriculture is king, this Valley has great cities like Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto, Stockton, Redding, Visalia and a hundred great towns.  Highrise buildings, wealth, luxurious shopping, museums, art galleries, wineries, live theaters, concerts, professional sports, world-class dining and refined culture are all here.  It's a gigantic society with all of the amenities.

I hear older residents lamenting about how young people leave the Central Valley after receiving degrees from local universities.  Many of these young folks are lured away by great offers elsewhere, and why not?  They're smart, ambitious, talented young Californians with a high-quality California college education.  Anyone would want them!

What these young folks may not know is that, with the way things are headed in this era, California's Central Valley will grow in importance and stature as humanity moves into a tumultuous future.

Global food shortages, the proliferation of genetically-modified 'frankenfoods', and an increasing demand for vitamin-rich produce in an age of pandemics will drive attention, money and population into this supposed 'armpit' of California.  Stick around and help count the money.

There is no better place for developing innovations and new technologies than California.  There is no better place for combining technology and innovation with agriculture than the Central Valley.  If the water gets too scarce, then harvest the Tule Fog!  Find new methods.  This is where it will happen!

May local entrepreneurs stay local and optimize the Central Valley to its ultimate capacity --- and reap trillions of dollars for their dedication. Central California will, no doubt, emerge as the largest supplier of fresh, natural health the world has ever known.  Future growth potential is absolutely beyond imagination.

Be true to your roots, Central Valley, and bloom where you were planted!

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California's Hottest License Plate

Wayne Thiebaud, famed California painter since the 1960s, is the creator of a piece of art for the common Californian:  

Coastline, more commonly known as the California Arts License Plate.

The license plate design - featuring the palm trees and sunset motif - has become an icon of California.

Coastline is more than a pretty picture for an automobile. The Arts License Plate directly supports arts organizations and artists providing local arts programming and working with school-age children to make theater, dance, music and the visual arts part of their lives.

Anyone who owns a car can get the Arts License Plate by ordering online from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

If you love the iconic image of Thiebaud's Coastline for your car, also know that your purchase goes towards advancing the arts and creativity for our own California kids.  Approximately 60 percent of the California Arts Council budget comes from sales and renewals of the Arts License Plate.

California has always been about unlimited creativity.  Our Golden State is the creative epicenter of the planet, so let's flaunt our fabulous reputation for all to see.

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California Fan Palm Exposed!

The shocking truth about the California fan palm must be told, and I'm willing to blow the whistle on the conspiracy and cover-up involving this world-famous palm tree --- and all California palm trees for that matter. 

There's more to the Washingtonia filifera story than what Californians have been told, and the facts may shock the millions whose lives have been affected.

The California fan palm is the only native palm tree in the Golden State.  All of the other varieties of palms came to California from foreign countries.  These alien palm trees are impostors! 

While these undocumented frond-fakes are posing for photos --- hanging over bikini blondes, sports cars and California mansions --- the real native palms are being denied their rightful place as California's original palm trees.

What is the Washingtonia filifera? 

It's the Southern California desert oasis native palm tree that can live more than 250 years surviving droughts, heat and cold.  The first half of its botanical name honors the first U.S. president, while filifera is Latin for 'thread-bearing'.

Long before the Americans, the Mexicans, the Spaniards and the California native tribes invaded, there was the fan palm.  It reigned over a pre-historic California kingdom, worshiped by coyotes, bats and beetles. 

Today, the once-regal fan palm is reduced to being a backdrop for cleavage, fast food drive-thrus and cheesy Hollywood cliches.

Some would say that the Santa Ana Winds (or Devil Winds), that blow their firey destruction from the desert, are the revenge of the desert fan palm.  Hell hath no fury like a fan palm scorned and the lives of 40-million Californians could be at stake!

Where are the screaming environmentalists?  Where are the sue-happy lawyers?  Will no one stand up for the California fan palms? 

Am I the only voice crying out in a wilderness of exploited and abused palm trees?  *crickets*

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