Life Style & Travel

OAKLAND—The 2015 National Poetry Slam (NPS) is currently being held in various venues throughout Oakland from August 12 to August 15. Although the registration period for teams to compete is over, tickets to the multiple slam competitions and finals that will be held Thursday, August 13 through Saturday, August 15 are still available for purchase online at www.NPSOak.com.  Prices range from...

OAKLAND—The Los Angeles-based ASL Cabaret will be coming to Oakland today for a free matinee show at 3:15 p.m. at the Shadow Ultra Lounge in Chinatown.  The group normally hosts an American Sign Language (ASL) show every third Sunday at Cafe NELO in downtown Los Angeles. This year, they are in town after being invited by organizers of the 2015...

UNITED STATES—Which exotic super car did you post proudly on your bedroom wall during your adolescence? Was it some Italian masterpiece capable of draining a gas tank almost as fast it drained the average flash-in-the-pan celebrity’s wallet? Was it a quirky German engineering marvel designed to showcase why the Autobahn is where it is? Maybe it wasn’t a car at...

SAN FRANCISCO—The American Beverage Association (ABA) sued the city of San Francisco in federal court on Friday, July 24, in an effort to stop the implementation of the city's new ordinances that will require health risk warnings to be labeled on sugary beverage advertisements, including sodas, energy drinks, and sports drinks ads. According to San Francisco officials, on June 9 lawmakers unanimously...

CALIFORNIA—The recent avian influenza epidemic has caused a price increase in eggs across the nation. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are two types of avian influenza classified as H5N1; one strain is highly pathogenic and capable of producing rapid widespread disease, and the other is a lower risk. The influenza virus is highly susceptible to mutation,...

UNITED STATES—Affixing a name that has long stood for rugged go-anywhere capability onto a vehicle that has crossed over to the car side of the forced air induction vehicle offerings from Land Rover can be a risky move. The folks over at Jeep are receiving a bit of backlash from Cherokee fanatics for building the new Cherokee upon a car-based...

UNITED STATES—Competing in a high-volume, budget conscious segment has never been an easy proposition for a premium brand. Let’s face it, when you are used to building the finest vehicles money can buy, trivial things like “profit margins” seem to take care of themselves. All you have to do is build the best car, pass the cost on to...

UNITED STATES—As a landscape feature, lawn and turf are in a distinct category. Just as arborists specialize in arboriculture (horticulture of trees), there used to be horticulturists who specialized in turf. Even though it is just as interesting, and in most regards, much more demanding than other plant material, many horticulturists who are not specialists with turf do not...

PALM SPRINGS—Celebrating its fourteenth season, Native FilmFest will be presented March 3-8, 2015 by Agua Caliente Cultural Museum at Camelot Theatres located at 2300 East Baristo Road in Palm Springs. One of the most highly regarded events of its kind, the festival features the best in films by, about, and starring Native Americans and other Indigenous peoples from around the...

UNITED STATES—Without color or fragrance of flowers, ferns provide some of the most distinctive foliage in the garden. They do not turn color in autumn. Only a few tree ferns develop sculptural branch structure. Yet, they do their job well, and many are happy to do so in spots that are a bit too shady for other plants. Almost all...