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Letters: How can Xcel, a public utility, justify such lavish digs in RiNo?

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

Lavish digs for public utilityRe: “Why Xcel’s new HQ stings so bad,” Dec. 17 editorialBravo to the editorial board for this piece. Wearing my RiNo landlord hat, this is great news for the neighborhood and will likely serve as a catalyst for continued momentum and growth. However, when switching to my Xcel ratepayer hat, one must question this decision. The T3 building may be the best-in-class building in RiNo and likely in the entire downtown sub-market. It is incomprehensible that a public utility can justify the need or expense for such a high-caliber building.Certainly their workforce should occupy a building with appropriate amenities and a work environment commensurate with similar types of entities, but it’s hard for me to imagine there is justification for best in class. Given the plethora of vacant and bargain office space currently on the market, one would think there are far more economical options.This decision on its own is bad enough, but in light of Xcel’s ...

Flooding prompts evacuation orders, warnings in Port Hueneme

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

Several inches of rain hit Ventura County overnight, causing flooding and evacuations for parts of Port Hueneme Thursday morning.The storm was so severe in Port Hueneme that the Ventura County Fire Department said crews responded to 12 swift water rescues. An evacuation order was issued shortly after 5 a.m. due to the flooding, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Emergency Services dashboard.An interactive map identified the area under an evacuation order as "Zone 1" in Hueneme Bay. An evacuation shelter was open at Oxnard College located at 4000 S. Rose Ave. Evacuation orders and warnings are seen on Dec. 21, 2023. (Ventura County Sheriff's Emergency Services - interactive map can be found here)Three evacuation warnings due to a continuing threat of flooding were issued for the areas of "Zone 2" in Hueneme Bay, Camp Chaffee/Casitas Springs and Grada/Trueno.No power outages had been reported for the areas. There was no word on when the evacuation orders would be lifted. Stor...

Let’s Binge It for the Boys: 7 New Docs Giving Creative Men Some Love

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

Artists and writers get the documentary film treatment all the time, and increasingly, that takes the form of unearthing hidden figures in the arts to correct the imbalances of history. But for some reason, in 2023, the spotlight has swung back to illuminate some influential, if enigmatic and mostly white, men who helped shape American and global culture at the turn of the century. New films on painters Anselm Kiefer and Roy Lichtenstein, Light and Space icon Robert Irwin, cultural impresario Michael Chow, and writers Tom Wolfe, Allen Ginsberg, and John Le Carré—all but two of whom are dead—are spicier than the usual hero-worship hagiographies (though with the exception of the Lichtenstein piece, they certainly are that). They each take stylistic liberties, intriguing cinematic risks and poetic turns, corralling A-list interviews, archive access, and in some cases years of vintage and brand new footage and spinning it all into the neatest of documentarian tricks—reviving an old tale...

The Kamayan Feast At Wattles Farm And A Krampus Funeral For 2023 – Here’s What’s Popping Up

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

Krampus’ Cove’s twisted holiday pop-up will close out the new year with A Funeral for 2023 at Lost Property Bar in Hollywood. Hosted by the fabulous and filthy queen Valora Von Tease, the night will be complete with specialty cocktails honoring the good, the bad and the ugly of 2023, along with special performances, tarot readings, games, prizes and music. Tickets are limited and available to purchase here with general admission at $50 and VIP at $75. General admission tickets include:9 p.m. EntryWelcome CocktailTarot ReadingsMidnight Champagne ToastGames & PrizesWhile VIP tickets include:All GA InclusionsExclusive 8 p.m. EntryHour of Hors D’oeuvresReserved VIP TableGift BagSurprises GaloreFuneral for 2023 (Courtesy Krampus Cove)Last minute gift idea: Chef Nico de Leon, owner of Lasita in Chinatown, is planning a Kamayan feast at Wattles Farm in Hollywood on Sunday, Feb. 18, as part of Outstanding in the Field. Translating to “by hand,” the traditional style of...

Larry Magid: Meta, Ray-Ban release second-generation smart glasses

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

I was riding my bicycle the other day taking pictures, talking on the phone and sending and receiving texts without ever taking my hands off the handle bars. All this is possible because I was wearing a pair of the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, which is the second generation of glasses from the partnership of the dominant players in both eye-wear and social media. Ray-Ban is owned by EssilorLuxottica, which is, by far, the world’s biggest eye-wear maker.Related ArticlesBusiness | Larry Magid: 2023 has been a tumultuous year for tech Business | Magid: Turning ordinary small appliances into smart ones Business | Magid: Using a personal computer to read and send texts Business | Larry Magid: Using ChatGPT for holiday gift ideas and cards My glasses were provided to me by Meta, which is a supporter of ConnectSafely, the nonprofit internet safety organization where I serve as CEO. I have a prescription pair, whose price depend...

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists successfully replicate historic nuclear fusion breakthrough three times

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

By Laura Paddison | CNNScientists in California shooting nearly 200 lasers at a cylinder holding a fuel capsule the size of a peppercorn have taken another step in the quest for fusion energy, which, if mastered, could provide the world with a near-limitless source of clean power.Last year on a December morning, scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California (LLNL) managed, in a world first, to produce a nuclear fusion reaction that released more energy than it used, in a process called “ignition.”Now they say they have successfully replicated ignition at least three times this year, according to a December report from the LLNL. This marks another significant step in what could one day be an important solution to the global climate crisis, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.RELATED: How Livermore scientists produced fusion breakthrough by recreating the power of the sunFor decades, scientists have attempted to ha...

California’s consumer savings cut in half during pandemic

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

Buzz: The typical Californian saved roughly half as much in 2022 than they did in pre-pandemic 2019.Source: My trusty spreadsheet created a measurement of savings by looking at 2022’s gap between per capita data on incomes (after taxes) and consumer spending in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The tally by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis is a broad tracking of consumer cash flows, including many sources of income (wages, investments and government benefits) and various expenses (from housing to groceries to services to big-ticket consumer goods).ToplineWhy do consumers seem grumpy? Look what’s left over after all the bills are paid.In California, per-capita incomes were $2,861 more than spending per person in 2022. That “savings” ranked No. 29 of the states and was 19% below the US rate.The biggest savings were found in South Dakota at $12,644, Wyoming at $10,925 and North Dakota at $10,708. California rival Texas was No. 10 at $6,652. A rebound in energy industries certai...

Winter solstice: The shortest day and longest night of the year

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

By Forrest Brown | CNNSince the summer solstice back in June, the days have grown shorter and the nights have grown longer in the Northern Hemisphere. But that’s about to reverse itself.Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the official first day of winter, is on Thursday, December 21, this year (well, for the vast bulk of the Americas anyway). How the solstices — along with the spring and fall equinoxes — work has fascinated people for thousands of years.It’s a day when science intermixes with ancient traditions around the world.Solstices and Earth’s hemispheresThe winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere, when the sun appears at its most southerly position, directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn.The situation is the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere, where only about 10% of the world’s population lives.There, the December solstice marks the longest day of the year – and the beginning of summer – in place...

Warriors’ trade of Jordan Poole ‘tore something out of his heart,’ former coach says

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

Jordan Poole has hardly spoken of The Punch, but someone who knows him well believes the former Warrior is still struggling with the fallout.Jim Gosz, who coached Poole in high school and remains in regular contact with him, also said being traded by the Warriors rocked the 24-year-old.“When Jordan left San Francisco, I think that really tore something out of his heart,” Gosz said by phone last week.As Poole prepares to lead the Washington Wizards (4-22) into Chase Center for a Friday night clash against his former team, much of the basketball world has wondered what has gone wrong for the youngster in the nation’s capital.Poole remains an enigma, someone the franchise wants to build around but someone who continues to find himself in the news for unflattering incidents. Among them: forgetting that the game clock starts on an inbounds pass; disengaging from a team huddle while Coach Wes Unseld Jr. drew up a play; showboating on a layup that then was blocked; or most recently, commit...

Bay Area restaurateur opens his latest Italian place, Locanda Capri, in Brentwood

Published Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:14:52 GMT

Enzo Rosano’s Italian restaurants with the picture-postcard names dot the Bay Area. There’s Locanda Positano in Lafayette, Locanda Ravello in Danville, Locanda Amalfi in Pleasanton and Locanda Sorrento in CampbellAnd now he pays tribute to the home of Grotta Azzurra, the Blue Grotto.His newest, Locanda Capri, opened Wednesday in Brentwood in a space remodeled to highlight the azure of that wondrous cave.Related ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | 7 incredible Bay Area things to do over Christmas weekend Restaurants, Food and Drink | Dungeness crab season for California’s far north counties will open Jan. 5 Restaurants, Food and Drink | In-N-Out adds lite lemonade and Cherry Coke to its menu Restaurants, Food and Drink | Hayward’s first Chipotle opens at new apartment village Restaurants, Food and Drink | South Bay restaurants ring in 2024 with a French twist One of nine siblings...