Category Archives: Off Topic

Raise A Glass To Slow News Week

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Here’s a couple of off topic beverage stories.

Over in France they can refill wine jugs just at the grocery from 1,000 liter wine tanks.
Wine Refill Tank

Keg wine and wine vending machines just got supersized: 500 and one-thousand liter tanks have landed in French supermarkets.

Bring your own resealable bottles, Poland Spring containers, jerrycans, whatever. Or you can get one at the store. Select your grade (red, white, or rosé). Pump. Print receipt.

Other side of the planet, Woody Smith of Kentucky claims caffeine defense in murder trial

In the weeks preceding May 4, 2009, Woody Smith told Noelker, he hadn’t been sleeping, in part out of fear his wife would take their two children and leave him.

Fleckinger said Smith found out his wife was having an affair with a co-worker. Sexton said knowledge of the affair led Smith to rely on caffeine and not sleep out of fear his wife would take the children and leave.

“The next several hours of Mr. Smith’s life, were described to me as if he were in a daze,” Noelker wrote in his report.

It’s Not Global Warming, Climate Change, Pollution, Fishermen or G.W. Bush Killing Otters

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Hungry Alien Sharks

Nature did.

The shark-bite attacks on otters are essentially “taste tests” made while hunting, Harris said.

“This would explain why the majority of the otters collected have a single bite mark,” he said. “These bites are more investigative.”

After a shark realizes an otter won’t make a good meal, they let go and move on, Harris said.

Shark attacks on otters are part of nature, Harris said, but they concern researchers who want to preserve healthy populations.

“It becomes complicated,” he said. “They are both protected species.”

It’s Not Global Warming, Climate Change, Pollution, Fishermen or G.W. Bush Killing Otters

Algae Is Killing The Sea Otters

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Suprised Sea Otter

Maybe is was better when Round Up was used near the shore.

Microcystin, which is commonly referred to as blue-green algae, can cause liver damage when ingested. All 21 sea otters that tested positive for the bacteria died from liver failure, according to the study, which was completed with the help of experts from UC Santa Cruz and a variety of state and federal agencies.

It is believed the toxins flowed to the ocean off the coast of Monterey in rivers and creeks. Sea urchins and shellfish near the outflow filtered the water and the poison accumulated in their bodies, which were, in turn, eaten by otters.

Algae Is Killing The Sea Otters

Appalled Parents Call Cops On Skinny Dippers

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At 9 pm on Carmel Beach. Well, it was a full moon in more ways than one.Moons

Carmel Police Sgt. Mel Mukai said a 29-year-old Carmel man and two 32-year-olds from Pacific Grove shucked their clothes and entered the water near Scenic and 10th. The men were naked, and the woman was topless.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Aug. 24, “as they were leaving the water, there was a large family gathering, and one of the parents was obviously appalled and decided to call us,” Mukai said.

Appalled Parents Call Cops On Skinny Dippers

Winemaker Jail Birdies

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Assault with a golf marker. Whew.
Stephan Kidder

Deputies said Stephan Kidder, 36, of Chateau Sinnet Winery, was found trespassing and interfering with a business about 5:30 p.m. on the 100 block of East Carmel Valley Road. When asked to leave, deputies said, Kidder threatened employees with the marker.

Deputies said that when they arrived, he ran into the Carmel River. Deputies were able to talk Kidder out of the river, and he was booked into the Monterey County Jail on suspicion of exhibiting a deadly weapon, public intoxication and trespassing. Jail officials said Kidder also had a warrant for driving with a suspended license, without vehicle insurance and registration.

Winemaker Jail Birdies

Score Is Jellyfish 2, Humans 1 In Bay Swimming Attempts

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Wanted to raise $$ for a school in Afghanistan. What that has to do with swimming I don’t know. Next up is Bruckner Chase making a second try after also failing last year.

Marathon swimmer Patti Bauernfeind, stung by hundreds of jellyfish, gave up her quest to complete a 23-mile swim of Monterey Bay after about 4½ hours Saturday, just short of the midway point of the quest.

Bauernfeind, 43, left Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz at midnight, hoping to conquer the currents, the cold water and the jellyfish to become the second swimmer ever to swim the bay. Cindy Cleveland did it in 1983, and five other swimmers have failed to equal the feat since then.

Bauernfeind, a Pleasanton resident, swam without a wet suit in accordance with English Channel open-water swimming rules.

Score Is Jellyfish 2, Humans 1 In Bay Swimming Attempts

Sea Otter Population Shrinks While Shark Population Grows

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Hmmm, them scientists might be on to something.

The most recent sea otter census, released by the organization earlier this month, showed a continued downward trend in the number of both adults and pups in California.

August encounters with adult great whites are consistent with findings from a research team led by biologists from Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station. By placing electronic tracking tags on 179 sharks since 2000, they’ve documented that adult great whites congregate near sea lion and elephant seal breeding colonies in Central and Northern California between August and February.

Sea Otter Population Shrinks While Shark Population Grows

Has Recycling Come To This?

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Garbage gestapo. Recycle or face charges.

From cleveland.com

It would be a stretch to say that Big Brother will hang out in Clevelanders’ trash cans, but the city plans to sort through curbside trash to make sure residents are recycling — and fine them $100 if they don’t.

The move is part of a high-tech collection system the city will roll out next year with new trash and recycling carts embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes.

The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip show a recyclable cart hasn’t been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables.

Has Recycling Come To This?

Sheriff: “Jails Are A Dangerous Place To Be”

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So do your best to stay out of them.

“Jails and prisons by their very nature are violent institutions and I’ve always said we need a new jail and more deputies,” the sheriff said. “We’re no different than any jail around the state. We all share the problem of overcrowding.”

However, he said, “Nothing could have stopped what Jesse Crow did. He was very determined and it was very well thought out.”

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Mike Richards confirmed Monday that Crow used parts of his bed sheet to hang himself. He used the same sheets to tie his cell door closed to delay deputies who found him hanging. He waited until the early morning hours, when other inmates were sleeping, and hanged himself after a bed check.

Sheriff: “Jails Are A Dangerous Place To Be”