Queasy Eats
We examined more than 700 restaurant inspection reports. What we found may gross you out.
Cover Story
Queasy Eats
The following report is the result of a months-long investigation by Humboldt State University students enrolled in an advanced reporting class taught by Asst. Professor Marcy Burstiner. Humboldt County loves to eat out. With more than 750 restaurants, food trucks, deli counters and cafeterias, we have almost as many places to get cooked meals per…
Huh.
Guess what, kids? Bonus vague Seven-O-Heaven!!! Yay!!! Note: This is, in no way shape or form, journalism. UPDATE: Countdown: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2… Hugs!
Mid-week Roundup
All variety of newsy bits in the past 24 hours, ranging from tragic to peevish to frivolous. First, the tragic. SoHum blogger Kym Kemp reports that 20-year-old Amanda Sue Klemm of McKinleyville died last night after the truck she was in — driven by Noah Joseph Carter, 19, of Eureka — plunged off the wet road north…
Low Was the Tide
Barry Evans, the Journal’s eloquent “Field Notes” scribe, sent in these pictures of the Eureka waterfront. It was substantially lower this morning; at minus 2, the tide was at one of its lowest levels of the year. (Open each image in a new tab to view at full resolution.)
Citizen Egger
Tonight at 6 p.m. Fortuna resident Janelle Egger will once again go before the Fortuna City Council to ask them, once again, what the heck they’re doing spending money on a new water reservoir at Stewart Street when they’ve got a perfectly good, underused one on Vancil. She says. She’s gently, forcefully, legally and otherwise…
From the Gov: State Budget Magic
Just in from the Governor’s office, long awaited details on how the state will move toward a balanced budget — in bullet points. Among the highlights: less taxes and more spending (on education anyway). Hmm, sounds like some kind of voodoo. SACRAMENTO — Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. today unveiled a revised state budget that reduces…
A Hupa Renaissance
A story in today’s Sacramento Bee (originally published in the Contra-Costa Times) profiles the efforts to rescue the Hupa language from extinction. Native Hoopa resident Kayla Carpenter, 22, is a doctoral student studying linguistics at UC Berkeley. She tells reporter Matt Krupnick that she and her colleagues are “using education as a tool, rather than having…
California to Close 70 State Parks (Updated)
The Sacramento Bee reported earlier today that 70 state parks will be closed due to the state budget deficit, under plans announced by Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration. Governor Jerry Brown’s budget calls for $22 million in cuts to state park funding. The criteria for choosing which parks would be shuttered were based on attendance rates and…
Interactive Census Data
Here’s a fun new playground for data hounds: The U.S. Census Bureau has created an interactive map that allows you to compare demographic data by state, county or city. So, for example, you can look at Humboldt County’s race statistics and see that 81.7 percent of us are white (109,920 of 134,623). The next-largest group, American…
E-Book. Pfft.
Editor: Ooooh, I can’t wait to start my collection of rare, first-edition, out-of-print, signed e-books! (“Does a Kindle have soul?” May 5) Truth be told, just as the creators and promoters of mp3s are NOT audiophiles, the creators and promoters of e-books are NOT bibliophiles. It is amusing to imagine a group of right-wing religionists…
Hammer Time
Reviews THOR. The conventional wisdom in Hollywood these days would seem to signal the impending doom of the screenwriter. More and more, big studio movies scrape together stories from old material. Remakes abound, as do usually pallid resurrections of old comic book characters. Maybe it speeds up the development process, or maybe good scripts are…
Sweet Release
The proverbial CD release party serves more than one purpose. Musicians release their baby into the world, roll out a new product, and with luck sell a few to start making back the money they’ve invested. They’re also released from the pressure that comes with working on a big project. Iota, the new disc from…
Mold Grievance
The California Nurses Association filed a grievance last week with St. Joseph Health System-Humboldt County on behalf of several registered nurses at its Eureka hospital whom the CNA claims have been affected by mold found growing in the new tower, still under construction, as well as in the Progressive Care Unit in an existing building…
Scowly Fortuna
Editor: What could have possibly been the intent of Joel Mielke’s “cartoon” in your May 5 issue? Humor? I’ve seen legal notices with more humor. Biting social or political commentary? An obvious lack of talent rules that out. Then what was the Journal‘s motivation for slamming the good citizens of Fortuna by printing the “cartoon”?…
White Material
French filmmaker Claire Denis often structures her films like a good fiction writer; her films are character-driven, dropping the viewer in the middle of an ongoing narrative while leaving out a few details and never resorting to any tidy endings. White Material, Denis’ 10th feature film, returns to Western Africa for the third time, joining…
Zing!
Editor: Marcy Burstiner, in her commendable article about freedom of expression (and penile image suppression), says that Michelangelo’s statue of David “displays the biblical king in all his biblical splendor” (Media Maven, “Expression is Freedom,” May 5). However splendiferous it may be, I think that for the artist to portray a Jewish youth about to…
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
Nearly 30 years after his death, pianist Glenn Gould remains an icon. He’s one of the few classical musicians revered by peers who also has awestruck fans without expertise in that area of music. I’m one of those. I’ve collected his recordings, read two biographies, and have listened to few pieces of music — and…
More On Lyme
Editor: I applaud Carol Ann Moorhead’s article “Repellant” (April 28) examining Lyme disease. However, it overlooks several important debates in Lyme research. 1) Many studies show that Lyme bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb)) can be transmitted congenitally. 2) Bb also survives blood processing; thus, most blood centers refuse Lyme donors or those having related treatment within…
May 12-18
May 12. A serif is a typographical term for the little ledge at the end of a letter’s stroke. A typeface is classified as either serif or sans serif, depending on whether these small structures are included in the construction of the letter. Times is a serif font; Arial is not. May 13. Looter, retool.…
Dune Logic
Editor: The purchase of dunes in the 1990s obligates Manila to safeguard its coastal wetlands (“Bad Weed,” April 21). Funny nobody talks about wetlands, even though Manila received $250,000 of state Wetland Habitat funds just to pull grass in recent years. The net effect on Manila’s wetlands was detrimental, not enhancing. As Fish and Wildlife…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call 822-4500. 1. AMPT 1040 H St. TBA. 2. Arcata Artisans Cooperative 883 H St. Holly Garbutt, fabrics; Betsy Roberts, metals. 3. Arcata Main Street 791…
Three Score Years and 18 — Give or Take
How old will you be when you die? You may not worry too much about this (I hope you don’t), but life insurance companies sure do. They stay in business by figuring out the survival chances of their policyholders beyond a certain age. They’re experts at this because they have to be. If their insured…
The Journey of Chocolate
The dark brown, pleasantly bitter, chemically complex substance we know of as chocolate bears little resemblance to the pulp-surrounded seeds of the cocoa plant from which it is produced. One would never suspect that one could be derived from the other. — Sophie and Michael Coe, The True History of Chocolate In a space inside…
Madagascar
(for a fellow traveler) Because You are my…
Arts Etc.
It’s back. The Second Annual Humboldt Arts Festival takes over a portion of Arcata Saturday and Sunday, starting at noon. The festival is a “showcase for the arts” — the organizers use that term broadly, as the festival incorporates visual art galleries, painting, photography and sculpture, as well as performances in music (many genres), dance,…
Flippant Flippers
I don’t care how extraordinary you think your troupe’s moves are. Claiming in your press material that your act is the equivalent of a “rock and roll-circus-ninja-dance-comedy-action-movie,” as the braggadocious boys in Nanda do, is just begging to be called out. But check out an easily YouTube-able Nanda clip online and you’ll see that that…
Praise Be To Bicycles
There are bike people and there are car people. This being America, there are far more of the latter, which is sorta pathetic given the meager requirements for bike personhood. It’s generally a matter of self-identification, not unlike religious affiliation: Daily, weekly, even monthly observance of the rituals aren’t required so long as you believe…
