Mike Kimel's Occasional but Hopefully Useful Tidbits of Information

I voted the other day (by mail).   The options were for candidates for mayor, for the city council, and for a position on the Long Beach Community College Board.  I did some reading up, and figured out which candidates made the most sense for me in the first two races.  The third race is a bit more difficult.  First, I don't think its an understatement to say I don't pay much attention to the workings of the Long Beach Community College Board.  I'm not sure I ever thought about it before, in fact. The candidates are an incumbent and a challenger who seems to be racking up a fair number of high profile endorsements.  I read through their official campaign information and it isn't sufficient for me to make a decision.  So I did some more digging.  It is actually easier to find information on the challenger.  He has a high profile background, and an unusual name.  One of the things I found is that he has a twitter account, and he ma...

The man was only in our backyard for a few seconds.  Our property backs onto an alley, and he came in through the alley.  He walked straight for the aluminum ladder belonging to our handyman, grabbed it, and left.  We have it on video. My wife posted pictures on NextDoor.com.  Not long after, my wife's post had a response.  Someone else had checked his security video.  He had film of the gentleman from our back yard folding up the ladder and putting it in his van.  There was also video of the gentleman obtaining another package and placing and placing it in the vehicle.  The moment he obtained the package is just out of view of the camera, but it seems obvious from which back yard it originated.  What is in the package, and its value, I do not know.  Finally, the video we were sent also includes the license plate of the gentleman's vehicle.  Unless the gentleman also stole the vehicle, that should be enough information for the pol...

I n recent months (years?), there have been calls in some quarters for the use of models whose body shape is r elatively "normal" or even plus-sized. My wife, apparently, disagrees. I learned of this the other day when she called me to complain that her favorite Athletic wear catalog had apparently begun begun using larger sized models. “If I buy an outfit to workout,” she said, “I want to be inspired. I want to feel like ‘that could be me if I worked out enough.’ Seeing the outfit on someone who is in worse shape than me isn’t inspirational.  It doesn't make me want to work out, and it doesn't make me want to buy the outfit.” I think there may be something to what she said. People aspire to be better than they are. When it comes to exercise, that means being more fit. People want to run faster, to develop more stamina, to have an effective backhand or a longer drive on the golf course. They aspire to be like Ussein Bolt or Simone Biles, even if they are middle ag...