Faithful readers will already know that I’m a liberal. But just to make it clear, I am a liberal with a neon pink capital “L” that you can see from space. I am a civil-libertarian, an authority-suspecting, e-waste recycling, workers-rights-supporting, gun-controlling, universal healthnik, who thinks it’s the government’s job to regulate corporate polluters and hedge […]

A day at the air show can leave you breathless, but too sun-drenched to blog — so we’ll have to let the picture do its thousand words. More on the March AFB Airfest 2008 to come — once we catch our breath.

M&M have arrived, providing us with a reason to celebrate and the main ingredient for the feast: grass-fed beef from the Hearst Ranch in central California. Laurie Sue will join us, so we’re preparing a leisurely dinner for five, with lots of delicious food and lots of time for meandering conversation. Last night, Val and […]

Nightnote Kentucky correspondent and friend Janice felt it! The big midwest shaker shook her area and she sends us this report:
You Californians might think this is normal but I was awoken at 5:30 this morning with my house shaking and a making all sorts of noise! We had a 5.2 quake and an aftershock of […]

I’ve seen lots of paintings in the last few weeks: three juried group shows and an exhibition at the Long Beach Museum of Art. It’s been good; it sent me off on my current realist exercise and it’s been sort of encouraging. I feel a happy understanding of the language of paint. It is good […]

Winter Solstice officially arrives at 0:22 UT, December 22 or 4:22 p.m. December 21 PST. Our Solstice celebrations have begun and I am sipping champagne as I invite you to join me in my annual Solstice-eve walk to watch the sunset at the beach. So begins the year’s longest night in Belmont Shore … Merry […]

Friend and californiaauthors.com co-publisher, Donna Wares has a new book coming out in May: Great Escapes: Southern California. The book also features images by Night Note friend and renowned photographer Rick Rickman and a first person story on fighter-pilot fun by Val Cohen!
Today, the book’s cover went up at Amazon. Wee! Let the pre-orders […]

Okay, if you’re squeamish about lady things, just skip this post.
When Laurie hurt her back and had to cancel her New York trip last month, one of the many things she lamented missing was a visit to the famous Bra Man of New York. The Bra Man can just look at you and select […]

In local news, Reporters Without Borders unveiled their Rose Parade billboard yesterday in Pasadena. The board, bearing the message shown here, is on a street near the route of the famous pageant.
This is the first year China has participated in The Tournament of Roses parade and its entry is designed to hype the 2008 […]

After this segment earlier today, the news anchor Marc Brown said “That was comforting. To see Lambchop.” In a way perhaps it was — for some of us, and you know who you are.

California wildfire smoke as viewed from NASA satellites. Read more about this image at nasa.gov. Image credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response

The Night Note has been getting a lot of searches for a current map of the Southern California Fires, so just to help get people where they want to go, I am recommending two often updated maps:
1) The Los Angeles Times: authoritative coverage, updated often. Click here.
2) ABC7.com: TV station’s map with pictures and links […]

… I’m just reporting: It is actually hard to breathe in my house right now. Nose, throat and eyes are burning. Ajax just had a snorting fit. The Cohens are going to dinner at Laurie’s — she’s got AC. The photo below is a grab from the ABC weather cam in Long Beach. Click […]

And the Los Angeles Times gets a double plus good for their great use of often updated Google Maps to give us an answer to the crucial question of the moment: am I surrounded in a burning ring of fire? They are actually delivering updates via the map — click one of the fire markers […]

A-1 on today’s Press-Telegram: Val’s buds at Air Combat USA made a little unscheduled stop on the sand at Seal Beach yesterday. The 1996 Extra 300L (yup Val has flown in this very aircraft) lost power 3 or 4 miles out over the Pacific. KABC-TV news said the Air Combat Pilot Michael “Baron” Veitinghoff […]

1) I did not win a date with Bill Clinton. Boo. But Hillary’s Campaign Manager, Patti Solis Doyle writes to say she’ll send me an e-mail reminder of the debate and that I can console myself with a live blog from the debate watching party. Sigh. [original post]
2) I am getting less junk mail. It […]

OK, I finally edited the video from my recent flight at Air Combat.
Here are some lag rolls from the practice runs before the fights. They’re a lot of fun!

And here’s fight #3 of 6. At the very end you can hear my opponent say “He got me again!”

[…]

A phone pix: Sand, seagull, surfers, ships

Kevin Roderick has a nice excerpt from his new book on Wilshire Boulevard at CaliforniaAuthors.com