Everybody loves ramen
surfputah.blogspot.com
Momofuku Ando, the Taiwan-born inventor of instant ramen, has passed away. The Peking Duck has the details:
"Born in Taiwan with the name ... Wu Baifu, Momofuku went to Japan when he was orphaned as a small child. His dream of creating an instant meal in a disposable cup has often been credited to his life growing up in wartime, but it might just as equally have been driven by a hatred of Japanese prison food when he served two years for tax evasion. Momofuku's product was laughed at by a food industry full of snobby, cigar-chomping, poisonous-blowfish-sushi-eating elites who called it a novelty. But as his company, Nissin Foods, so rightly points out on his bio page: "They had never been so wrong." ...
Generations of college students all over the world are in your debt, Mr. Momofuku. Rest in Peace. A world without instant ramen would be a very sad place indeed.
Goodbye to a Munster
www.digitalheath.com
"LOS ANGELES -- Yvonne De Carlo, the beautiful star who played Moses' wife in "The Ten Commandments" but achieved her greatest popularity on TV's "The Munsters," has died. She was 84."
Yvonne De Carlo. Now THIS is the type of Hollywood celebrity death to be upset about. Not only did she have a luxurious, classy and old-worlde name (just trying saying Yvonne De Carlo, without feeling just a wee bit classy-er than you really are), but she was quite beautiful and quite wonderful as our dear momma Munster.
There will be many of you who are perturbed that the Munsters were a spin off / copy of The Addams Family, but I think they were exceptional in their own right. How many times have you seen a little boy with dark hair and a widow's peak and said "You look just like Eddie Munster!"? You know you have at least 4 times. Don't deny it.
Some of you may also recall that Grandpa Munster died last year, and Herman Munster died back in 1993. ...
Anyway, just wanted to say a little goodbye to a Munster today. There aren't many of them left, but I'll always remember her wonderfully chastising voice yelling out HERMAN! Rest in peace!
Darts
marcvaldez.blogspot.com
As part of their unmanned space exploration policy, the Brits are considering firing darts at the moon. Darts without ale seems pointless, somehow:
"The first (foray), named 'Moonlight,' would fire four darts the size of suitcases onto the moon's surface from orbit to test for quakes, tremors and other data, the BBC said. If the mission was successful, a second probe, 'Moonraker' would be launched with the aim of landing on the moon."
Pay raise for Yolo supervisors
davisvanguard.blogspot.com
It is unfortunate that the Yolo County Board of Supervisors last month decided to table their proposed pay raise. While Dudley Hollman (former Mayor of Woodland) threatened to put a referendum on the ballot, we do not believe he would prevail in Yolo County. Moreover, the Yolo County Taxpayers Association would absurdly end up spending more taxpayers money to put on an election fighting this modest pay increase than would actually be spent on the pay increase.
There is a time for principle and fighting government waste (which a modest pay increase is not), but then there is a time for pragmatism. The Yolo County Taxpayers need to weigh those two values.
In the meantime, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors would win this fight if they fight on the principles of the matter.
Helen Thomson ... gave a brilliant speech on why a pay raise was needed. She spoke of the need for people who were not independently wealthy to be able to afford to be county supervisors.
"It is unseemly to be sitting here to talk about whether we deserve a pay raise. Unless you're independently wealthy or you are someone with a spouse with a very good salary, you can kiss off public life."
Supervisor Thomson was absolutely correct in the speech that she gave. It was a brilliant moment of public discourse. Unfortunately, in the end she was unsure about pushing for the immediate pay increase. Both she and Supervisor Mike McGowan need to join Supervisor Mariko Yamada in supporting an immediate pay increase. ...
The public is very generous when their public officials are open and up front about the reasons for them seeking a pay increase. We again urge Supervisor Thomson to bring this vote back for reconsideration.
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