I'm So Depressed...

The Filthy Filner saga is over.  No more reliable morning entertainment for me!

Filthy Filner: It Looks Like the End Is Near. Dang It!

The one-man entertainment bonanza known as Filthy Filner looks like he's winding down.  There are numerous reports that he is negotiating for a “graceful exit” from his job as Mayor of San Diego.  Thought in the context of Filthy, I'm not entirely sure what a graceful exit would look like...

If Filthy won't go on his own, the City Council and City Attorney are cooking up other ways to get rid of him, and (as I noted on Sunday) the recall effort is finally underway.  One way or t'other, it looks like my most reliable source of morning entertainment is coming to an end.  Dang.

I did spot one thing in the Filthy news that shocked me more than any other Filthy revelation to date: there was a demonstration yesterday by Filthy supporters.  Over at Hot Air, the blogger AllahPundit pretty much sums up my own reaction:

Still, I feel the only solution now is nuking the city from orbit. Just to be sure.

Yup.  Just get the power setting right, will you?  I live well outside the area enclosing any Filthy supporters...

Filthy Filner: Just About Out of Support...

Weeks after the public revelations started, the last Democrats willing to defend Filthy Filner are turning on him.  The last city council members have called for his resignation, as have California's two Democratic Senators and nearly all of his former Democratic colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Even the national lamestream media is starting to take notice, though (of course!) they rarely mention Filner's party association.

Michelle Malkin has a good piece on the Filthy Filner coverup at NRO, and San Diego's 10 News has a straight up piece on the latest twist in the Filthy Filner Saga: allegedly he started his intensive therapy a week early, and so finished a week early – yesterday.

Will Filthy resign?  Will he fight on?  For locals, it's an entertainment smorgasbord, with every choice quite tasty...

Filthy Filner: Number Eleven...

I cannot bear popcorn, but I wish I liked it – I like the mental image of having a nice, big tub of popcorn while we watch the Filner Follies...

Yesterday, the eleventh woman to publicly charge Filthy with sexual harassment came forth.  The story here sounds very Filneresque at this point: Filthy offered to help a Marine with PTSD – but only if the nurse asking for help agreed to go on a date with him.

What a schmuck!

But I don't like popcorn, so I'll just sip my tea and keep reading the Filthy Files, and Google News...

Filner's Sexual Harrassment Course...

Slate has obtained a copy of the online sexual harassment course Filthy Filner was required to take (hat tip to reader and friend Simon M.).  Here's a sample question

5. What might you suggest an employee do to improve the quality of her work?

   (a) Eat breakfast.
   (b) Get more sleep.
   (c) Take off her panties.
   (d) Spend more time in a headlock.

Read the whole thing – but put down your morning beverage first!

Winter in San Diego...

Just a random collection of photos from today's travels, mainly on the western face and North Peak of Cuyamaca Mountain.  I'll bet that these don't comport with most people's notion of winter in San Diego :)

Kids in San Diego Speak Out...

Via my lovely bride:

Just a Little Steep, Don't You Think?

Suppose you were badly in need of some money.  Let's say you needed $10,000 to buy something you desperately wanted.  You might be willing to pay a somewhat higher-than-usual interest rate to get a loan of that much money, and you'd realize that you'd be paying back more than you borrowed.  So, for example, if you borrowed that money for 10 years at 20% interest with a balloon payment, you'd be unsurprised that you'd end up paying back about $30,000.  That's a lot, but hey – that was something you really wanted.

But now suppose you were told you'd have to pay back $100,000?  Wouldn't that make you wonder whether it was worth it?  Well, apparently such considerations – especially since the taxpayers would be footing the bill – never even occurred to school district officials at Poway (in San Diego County).  And the Poway officials were not alone.

Rope.
Tree.
Rotten, corrupt, city officials (I know this is redundant).
Some assembly required...

Big Bay Boom...

The “Big Bay Boom”...

By now you've likely heard about the “Big Bay Boom” – the big malfunction at the July 4th fireworks display in San Diego.  I didn't personally witness this, though I sure wish I had – I think I would have greatly enjoyed it!  The gist of it is this: a malfunction of some kind (whether human or equipment is not yet certain) caused all the fireworks that were to be used in a 20 minute long show to be fired off all at the same time, roughly five minutes before the fireworks were scheduled to begin.  The entire show was over in something like 15 seconds.  The image at right is destined for glory, I think – one of the most awesome fireworks photos ever.

The backstory to this has a slight personal connection.  It turns out that the firm responsible for both the equipment and the operation of the fireworks show was Garden State Fireworks, of Millington, New Jersey.  I hail from the state of New Jersey, growing up on what was once a farm east of Trenton, but which now is the parking lot for a Walmart store.  I left (or fled) New Jersey in 1971, and after discovering that nearly everywhere in the world outside New Jersey was a better place to live, I never returned.  My wife and I settled in the mountains of San Diego County, California, where we've lived for almost 15 years.  Poking fun at my “homeland” of New Jersey has been a sort of hobby of mine for a long, long time.  This incident makes it almost too easy: the New Jersey firm wins the contract for the San Diego fireworks display, then screws it up in a spectacular and very public way – and because they won all the key aspects of the contract, there is utterly nobody else to blame.  Ah, yes...New Jersey has covered itself in glory this time  :-)

FLIP Ship Turns 50...

Way back in 1962, the FLIP ship first set sail.  I first learned about it from a science newsletter in my school's library in that same year, then later read about it in National Geographic magazine.  I've followed news about it with interest ever since.  This year marks its 50th year of operation.

In the early '70s, when I was in the U.S. Navy and stationed in Long Beach, California, I found out that the FLIP ship was based out of Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego – just a short drive down the coast.  I called and discovered that it was in port, and I was able to arrange a visit through a friendly research assistant (the fellow my call was routed to).  I spent an interesting afternoon going through the ship.  After being used to the USS Long Beach (the nuclear powered cruiser that I was stationed on), the FLIP ship looked positively tiny to my eyes!

These days, the FLIP ship has its own home page on the web.  I also found this short news story on it, with a video of the flipping action.

San Diego in the News...

On Tuesday, the voters in the city of San Diego overwhelmingly approved drastic reform for public sector workers' pension plans.  Liberals seem to find this absolutely shocking.  Conservatives are saying “Hallelujah!”  The Wall Street Journal took note in a piece today.

My little flame of hope is glowing brighter...