Newport Beach California Lifestyle Blog

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Monday, October 4, 2010

Second Lawsuit Filed to Safeguard California Old-Growth Redwoods

In this lawsuit filed in federal court, the plaintiffs claim Caltrans failed to conduct a thorough environmental review of the project, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

"We can see no other option than to seek help from the courts to protect this threatened grove," said Kerul Dyer, Richardson Grove Campaign coordinator for the Environmental Protection Information Center, a grassroots group in Redway, California.

"Caltrans not only failed to evaluate the harm this complex project would cause to these ancient trees, they railroaded this multi-million-dollar project through, disregarding the public's concerns and grossly understating the impacts the project would have," Dyer said.

A lawsuit was filed under state law in June accusing Caltrans of violations of the California Environmental Quality Act. A "finding of no significant impact" that Caltrans published in May contradicts the agency's own conclusions that the project is likely to harm or destroy ancient redwoods in the grove, the plaintiffs argue.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2010/2010-10-01-094.html

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Plastic Ono Band and friends at the Orpheum

The voices that never fail to deliever....Etta James, Celine Dion, Barbra Striesand.....Yoko Ono's “yeow”s and “ai-yi-yi”s , priceless

Near the end of two nights of tributes to herself, Yoko Ono lay on top of a grand piano, Lady Gaga by her side. The 77-year-old legendary widow uttered her signature ululations, while the 24-year-old pop star wailed in that big voice of hers.

For the first time in an evening of poignant, strange and thrilling star turns, Ono seemed slightly disarmed and tickled -- like at last she’d again found a collaborator equally capable of making mischief and merry. At the end, they lay in each other’s arms, two notorious provocateurs in a surprisingly tender embrace -- a pose not unlike that snapped by Annie Leibovitz 30 years ago, when a naked John Lennon cuddled his wife, Ono.

The two songs by “Yoko Gaga” -- as one fan shouted, to Ono’s amusement -- capped an almost three-hour (including intermission) Orpheum Theatre show Saturday that ranged from sublime to self-indulgent. The evening was billed as a performance by the Plastic Ono Band, the amorphous supergroup Lennon founded in 1969. Sean Lennon has taken over his dad’s role as musical director; looking increasingly like his father, he led a gifted psychedelic funk band — including the musicians Yuka Honda and Cornelius — and supported a diverse array of talents, such as introspective actor Vincent Gallo and New York noisemongers Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. The stage abounded with women and Asians, evidence of the integration Ono pioneered.

Coming on the eve of celebrations of what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday, the unstated but obvious goal was to give the woman whom John loved but so many Beatles fans hated her artistic due. The Gaga moment may have been Ono’s ultimate triumph: The Lady who emphatically pushes many of the same buttons Yoko does saluted the woman whose pioneering feminism helped make her mega-success possible: “Thanks for being so brilliant and such an inspiration to so many women.”

But the show also provided ammo for Yoko haters. Gaga’s avant stunts succeed because she possesses enormous musical talent, particularly with her powerful voice. Ono, not so much.

The evening launched with a 15-minute film bio of Ono. (Somewhat creepily, Paul McCartney, with whom Yoko has often had her disagreements, has also been opening his shows with a film bio.) Then the woman of the hour came out, looking fit in a black pantsuit with an angular top hat astride her short hair. She, er, sang songs old and new, including her post-Lennon disco hit “Walking on Thin Ice.”

When Ono did her vocal improvisations with Ornette Coleman’s band in ’68, or with Sean in the ’90s noise group IMA, they made sense as experimental music. But those “yeow”s and “ai-yi-yi”s can be a strained fit for pop styles, even psychedelic funk jams. The first hour was unconvincing.

It’s too bad Ono doesn’t have conventional vocal chops, because the show’s second half proved she can write some pretty great conventional songs, along with the unconventional. A smorgasbord of artists captured her range: Actress-author Carrie Fisher found the show-tune melody in the feminist parable “What a Bastard the World Is.” Experimental duo Tune-Yards de- and re-constructed the hippie anthem “We’re All Water.” Ono demonstrated her ageless ability to adapt to new forms, as she provided the sounds of a woman giving birth while RZA rapped a chilling version of his song “See the Joy.”

Lennon and Harper Simon played a sweet, lovely acoustic duet of John’s 1971 tribute to his wife, “Oh Yoko!” As Simon said, “There’s not a lot of sing-along moments in this show, but this is one.”

The concert ended with another one, an all-aboard rendition of “Give Peace a Chance.” Guests contributed their own versions of the protest song’s verses. Gaga repeated a chant of “gays in the military.” By this point, the baton had been passed to the Lady, in her silver wig and bejeweled catsuit with its see-through behind. “No bottom, Lady Gaga, that’s bottom for me,” the suddenly prudish RZA critiqued in his “Peace” verse, to Gaga’s evident annoyance.

No worries, Lady Gaga: As Ono could tell you, change breeds haters. And at least today’s pop Jezebel doesn’t have to wait 40 years for the world to kiss that bottom.

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Biggest sealife survey: Most ocean life is unknown

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Ten-year census of marine life is the biggest ever survey ocean species
Census: One million marine species exist but only approximately 250,000 have been formally described
Database includes 28 million observations of more than 120,000 species
Scientist: All surface life depends on life inside and beneath the oceans

London, England (CNN) -- The planet's seas and oceans are richer and more diverse than scientists suspected, the biggest survey of marine life has revealed -- but many mysteries remain.

The Census of Marine Life, which announced its full findings Monday, has taken 10 years to complete, employing 2,700 scientists from 80 nations. The $650 million study surveyed from the coldest waters to the warmest lagoons, from the smallest microbes to the largest cetaceans.

It even looked at life 10,000 meters (6.2 miles) down in the Marianas Trench southeast of Japan.

Scientists tagged and tracked marine creatures in order to gain insight into their migratory habits and populations as well as how they breed and what they eat.

The census also explored some unusual sights during its 10 years, including what scientists labelled a "White Shark Cafe" and a "sturgeon playground" in the Pacific as well as giant bacteria and mollusks.

In August scientists working on the census revealed that the richest waters for marine life are around Australia and Japan; and that crustaceans are the biggest group populating the seas, making up around one-fifth of sea life.

Scientists estimate that there are more than 1 million marine species but only about 250,000 have been formally described in scientific literature over the centuries. Those figures exclude microbes -- of which the census estimate there are up to 1 billion kinds.

Myriam Sibuet, vice-chair of the Scientific Steering Committee on the mammoth study, said: "The census enlarged the known world. Life astonished us everywhere we looked. In the deep sea we found luxuriant communities despite extreme conditions."

The census also collated information on the 16,764 species of fish that have ever been described -- but estimates that a further 5,000 have yet to be discovered.

Central to the census is its database called the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (or OBIS), which includes 28 million observations of more than 120,000 species, going back centuries. OBIS is growing at the rate of about five million observations each year.

Before the census, we lacked even a simple list of known marine species. Information was scattered all over the world with limited access.
--Patricia Miloslavich, co-senior scientist

Video: 2009: New marine life discovered

RELATED TOPICS

The amount of marine life yet to be detailed varies wildly by region. The census estimates only 10 percent is yet to be described in European waters -- but that figure rises to 75 percent for the deeper waters of the Mediterranean and 80 percent for the seas around Australia.

The census is inviting other organizations, projects and individuals to help monitor life in the world's waters by contributing to OBIS.

Ian Poiner, chair of the Census Steering Committee, said: "This cooperative international 21st century voyage has systematically defined for the first time both the known and the vast unknown, unexplored ocean.

"All surface life depends on life inside and beneath the oceans. Sea life provides half of our oxygen and a lot of our food and regulates climate. We are all citizens of the sea."

The census also used DNA barcoding -- for example, ensuring a specimen can be identified by something as small as a fish scale -- for 35,000 species, as well as establishing baseline measures so that future damage from climate change or pollution can be accurately assessed.

Patricia Miloslavich, co-senior scientist on the census, said in a statement: "Before the census, we lacked even a simple list of known marine species. Information was scattered all over the world with limited access. If we liken Earth to a firm with humankind as CEO, we must surely know the key employees and their functions."

More than 300 key scientists who worked on the census meet from Monday in London to discuss their findings and plan further work.

The survey was began 10 years ago by Fred Grassle at Rutgers University, New Jersey, and Jesse Ausubel of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York.

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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Legendary surf shop might close because of Newport Beach zoning laws

The Frog House surf shop, the second-oldest surf shop in Orange County, might have to close its doors because of residential zoning laws.

The shop has been at its Newport Shores location since 1962. A few years later, in the 1970s, the land was zoned for residential-use only.

Because the business was already on the land, it was deemed a legal non-conforming use, City Atty. David Hunt said, meaning that they were openly using residential land for commercial use but the city did not pursue removal.

In 2006, Newport Beach was updating its general plan, which included taking action on zoning restrictions. Two years later, an ordinance passed that required the city to take action on Frog House and three other nonconforming properties in residential areas.

"[In 2008] the choice was that the commercial uses in residential uses have a year to abate or apply for appropriate modifications or permits, or they would have to leave their location," Hunt said.

Although the public has had access to the ordinance since 2008, Hunt said that the city did not contact Frog House directly when the change happened.

But, Hunt said, there are options for Frog House that wouldn't result in closing.

"They can seek an extension of the abatement period, which is a temporary extension determined by a hearing officer, or they can ask the City Council to amend the zoning," he said.

Read the full Daily Pilot story here.

-- Joanne Clay

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