Another stop on our tour of lights this past weekend was the Clayton Community Church that has a light show at 7 and 8 pm every evening at their downtown office. It was quite a show. It probably went on for about 20 minutes or more. Here's a short clip.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Mr. Christmas
We went to visit Mr. Christmas this past weekend. Mr. Mertz on Olive Drive in Concord, CA is celebrating 30 years of celebrating Christmas in a BIG way. The display includes 50,000 lights that takes 11 weeks to set up. The PG&E bill for the season is estimated to be about $700.
Friday, December 12, 2008
"Fish Out of Water" Move
I'm waiting to see the Cal student section try this at a Cal basketball game this year.
The author of this video clip is non-other than Rod Benson, former Cal Bear basketball player. I got this clip from his on-line column at Yahoo! Sports.
He's currently playing basketball over in Europe. The other person in the clip is a teammate on that French professional team.
The author of this video clip is non-other than Rod Benson, former Cal Bear basketball player. I got this clip from his on-line column at Yahoo! Sports.
He's currently playing basketball over in Europe. The other person in the clip is a teammate on that French professional team.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Plasma or LCD?
Not that we are in the market for a new set, but here's what is the current state of the "Should we buy an LCD or plasma high definition television?" question.
If having a truly cinema-like experience is important, then plasma displays are slightly better. The main issues with plasma sets seem to be image glare on untreated diplays especially in bright rooms. Also, although for most good plasma displays this is a non-issue today, there is a possibility of image retention for some displays.
LCDs on the other hand come in a wider variety of sizes (e.g., plasma displays less than 42 inches are not available) and images are quite comparable to that from a plasma display. The areas where LCDs do have possible weaknesses compared with plasmas are limitations with viewing angle, blacks not being as dark, and motion blur.
The top plasma display makers are Panasonic and Pioneer.
The top LCD display makers are Sony, Samsung and Sharp.
If having a truly cinema-like experience is important, then plasma displays are slightly better. The main issues with plasma sets seem to be image glare on untreated diplays especially in bright rooms. Also, although for most good plasma displays this is a non-issue today, there is a possibility of image retention for some displays.
LCDs on the other hand come in a wider variety of sizes (e.g., plasma displays less than 42 inches are not available) and images are quite comparable to that from a plasma display. The areas where LCDs do have possible weaknesses compared with plasmas are limitations with viewing angle, blacks not being as dark, and motion blur.
The top plasma display makers are Panasonic and Pioneer.
The top LCD display makers are Sony, Samsung and Sharp.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Why Not Bail Out California Too?
As the clamoring for a bailout of the Big Three U.S. automakers reaches a crescendo, it's still unclear if such a bailout is the right course of action. The total bailout could reach into the $30 plus billion range. That's a lot of zeros.
The main reason that seems to be out there for the bailout is an implosion of the Big Three would be bad for the economy, but where's the proof that this would be the case? It obvious that the Big Three are in need of a course correction. Aren't bankruptcies intended to allow companies to find a course correction?
So if we're talking about bailouts, why not a bailout of California? The current estimate of the state's budget deficit is at about $11 billion. Various proposals have contemplated closing this deficit through raising the state sales tax, raising the auto registration fee, imposing a new tax on any oil produced in California, raise the excise tax on alcohol sales, reducing K-12 education funding, reducing college education funding, reduce the amount available for the state's welfare-to-work program, require state employees to take a one-day a month unpaid furlough, reduce the number of paid state holidays by two days, and postponing some mandatory regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Quite sweeping.
If the auto industry is to be bailed out, the concessions by the auto industry must be at least the equivalent of these kinds of cut-backs being contemplated by states such as California.
After all, if California were a country it would have the 8th highest gross domestic product (GDP), about equivalent to that of France's GDP. So one could make an argument that a bailout of a state such as California might be more important to the national economy than the bailout of private companies that surely would be replaced by other private companies.
The main reason that seems to be out there for the bailout is an implosion of the Big Three would be bad for the economy, but where's the proof that this would be the case? It obvious that the Big Three are in need of a course correction. Aren't bankruptcies intended to allow companies to find a course correction?
So if we're talking about bailouts, why not a bailout of California? The current estimate of the state's budget deficit is at about $11 billion. Various proposals have contemplated closing this deficit through raising the state sales tax, raising the auto registration fee, imposing a new tax on any oil produced in California, raise the excise tax on alcohol sales, reducing K-12 education funding, reducing college education funding, reduce the amount available for the state's welfare-to-work program, require state employees to take a one-day a month unpaid furlough, reduce the number of paid state holidays by two days, and postponing some mandatory regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Quite sweeping.
If the auto industry is to be bailed out, the concessions by the auto industry must be at least the equivalent of these kinds of cut-backs being contemplated by states such as California.
After all, if California were a country it would have the 8th highest gross domestic product (GDP), about equivalent to that of France's GDP. So one could make an argument that a bailout of a state such as California might be more important to the national economy than the bailout of private companies that surely would be replaced by other private companies.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Basketball Dribbling Five Year Old
Here's a video of a 5-year old from San Leandro here in the Bay Area who has advanced basketball dribbling skills for her age. She attends something called the Triple Threat Academy. We first saw her as part of a halftime show at a recent Cal men's basketball game. Ryan has expressed an interest in wanting to learn how to dribble a basketball so we had actually inquired into their program. The rates were not too bad, but we haven't signed up.
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