SOURCE: Associated Press

Sony says “so long” to the Walkman.Another iconic technological device has been banished to the dustbin of history: Sony will no longer produce its Walkman cassette player due to dismal sales. The final batch of the portable tape players was shipped from Japan in April, according to PC Magazine.

A Chinese company will continue to produce a few models for the Walkman faithful, according to the New York Post. Sony has sold about 220 million Walkman devices since the gadget’s explosive 1979 debut, but the portable cassette player has steadily yielded market share to portable CD players and then eventually MP3 players, symbolized by Apple’s no-less-iconic iPod. (Sony will continue to make portable CD players.)

Apple founder Steve Jobs, who helped introduce the iPod, was evidently very impressed with the Walkman when he first saw one 25 years ago.

“I remember Akio Morita gave Steve and me each one of the first Sony Walkmans,” former Apple CEO John Sculley told Businessweek. “None of us had ever seen anything like that before because there had never been a product like that. This is 25 years ago and Steve was fascinated by it. The first thing he did with his was take it apart and he looked at every single part. How the fit and finish was done, how it was built.”

Amazingly high tech for its time as it was, the Walkman has given way to movie sites and iPads, and not really in demand anymore than aquarium lighting for water beds is.

The iPod has already outsold the Walkman since its debut in 2001, according to the International Business Times.

Sony uses the Walkman name for its new MP3 players. Meanwhile, in another blow to connoisseurs of outmoded technologies,  the company also announced in April that it would no longer make floppy disks.

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MY TAKE: It’s download movies online and digitized music files via the MP3 players that have pushed the tapes to the dust bin of cultural history. Yes, those water bed light bulbs were a trip and very fun to have…in the 1970s. Today, it’s all about energy efficient lighitng, right? And, in today’s world, where not only can we listen to music on our cell phones, and access movie download channels, we can also move things from one format to another so we have choices. Tapes were great. But lets face it: they got bent; they warped; and they got eaten.

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OTHER RESOURCES

Energy-Saving Fluorescent Lights

The most common type of fluorescent light that consumers use today are CFL.  These lamps are a smaller fluorescent bulb that was created to offer the same uses as an incandescent bulb using lighting ballast, but at a fraction of the energy used. They people money on electricity every single year. Traditional fluorescent fixtures, which are what most people think of when it comes to fluorescent bulbs, are not the only product available. If you are looking for a new, fashionable design, you will have a larger selection of fixtures from which to choose.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

Major Airlines are reproting that their profits are soaring again — thanks to baggage fees, planes packed to near-capacity and other measures that are beefing up the bottom line but also triggering more complaints from passengers.

Three of the nation’s largest airlines — Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and U.S. Airways — reported unexpectedly strong earnings Wednesday, and the rest are expected to post profitable results this week. That would mark the first time since 2007 that all the major U.S. carriers have been in the black.

“It has been the perfect storm of demand increasing while capacity has remained pretty low,” said Matthew Jacob, a senior analyst at New York-based Majestic Research.

The airlines pulled off the rebound by collecting millions of dollars in new fees for luggage, blankets, reservation changes and other services, industry analysts say.

And despite rising passenger demand, the carriers are generally not bringing back the jets they took out of service during the recession, instead packing more people onto each flight.

Passengers appear to have noticed.

Complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation have been increasing for months, and were up 35% in August compared with the same month last year.

“Airline executives have been, and will continue to be, tone deaf to the increasing customer dissatisfaction with the airline industry,” said Brandon Macsata, executive director of the Assn. of Airline Passenger Rights, a Washington-based nonprofit group.

For Mary Cardas, a business consultant from Newport Beach, the hassles of flying are beginning to outweigh the benefits.

“Waiting areas are loud and overcrowded and security is unpleasant. Add to that the natural weather delays that are inevitable between here and where my family lives,” she said, referring to her parents in Oregon. “Quite frankly, I’d rather stay home.”

Cardas, however, would probably be in the minority, according to Robert Herbst, an independent airline analyst and former airline pilot. Herbst points out that airline fares are so low that most people are still willing to put up with the added fees and crowded planes.

Airline representatives, meanwhile, play down the increased number of complaints, saying they represent feedback from a fraction of the overall flying public. They also attribute the increase to a new website and electronic complaint forms introduced in the last year by the Department of Transportation, which make it easier for travelers to grouse.

“I don’t think we should draw a conclusion from a bunch of numbers in a very small sample,” said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines.

Other statistics show some improvement in airline services.

The rate of passengers involuntarily bumped from flights dropped by about 25% in the April-through-June quarter, compared with the same period last year, and the rate of lost or delayed luggage dropped by 15% in August, according to the Transportation Department.

The three airlines that issued quarterly earnings data Wednesday reported combined profits of $746 million and double-digit revenue gains for the three months that ended Sept. 30 compared with the same period last year.

Delta Air Lines Inc. said it earned $363 million in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $161 million in the same quarter last year.

AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, reported third-quarter income of $143 million, its first profit in three years. That compared with a loss of $359 million for the year-earlier period. It also announced plans to add 33 new flights from Los Angeles International Airport, including new service to Shanghai and nine domestic airports, starting April 5.

U.S. Airways Group reported $240 million in earnings, marking the most profitable third quarter in the company’s history. It swung from a loss of $80 million.

Airline analysts expect the nation’s other major airlines — Southwest, JetBlue, United, Continental and Alaska — to report similarly rosy results.

Investors have been bidding up the price of most big airline stocks; shares of U.S. Airways have gained 127% since Jan. 1.

Herbst said the single biggest factor in the industry’s improved financial picture is that demand for airline seats has increased but capacity has remained flat.

“They are basically selling every seat,” he said.

The nation’s airplanes flew on average 87% full in July, the highest level in a decade, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The airlines’ profit margin also was bolstered by fees charged to passengers for extra services at the airport and in flight.

From April through June, the nation’s largest airlines collected $893 million in baggage fees, $594 million in reservation change fees and $618 million in other charges, such as for transporting unaccompanied minors and shipping pets, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The latest profit reports are the strongest sign that the industry is pulling out of a tail spin that began after the 2001 terrorist attacks and worsened with the global recession and a jump in jet fuel prices in 2008. From 2001 to 2009, the U.S. airline industry lost about $58 billion, according to the Air Transport Assn., the airline’s trade group.

In the midst of the downturn, the industry cut many of its least profitable routes and parked unused planes.

But demand for air travel — both business and leisure — began to bounce back in the last few months and airlines have remained disciplined by limiting the number of new routes and planes they’ve added to the mix.

In September, the total miles flown by passengers on U.S. carriers was up 7% and passenger revenue up 19% compared with the same period last year. But the industry as a whole has increased capacity by less than 1% over the last year, Herbst said.

To cut costs, the airlines have been shedding workers. In August, the airline industry employed 6,469 fewer full-time employees than it did in August 2009, a 1.7% decrease, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, a Napa-based nonprofit group that advocates for airline passengers, said travelers were increasingly frustrated about flying in more crowded planes and paying a menu of new fees. She said complaints filed at her website have jumped 35% over last year.

“The bottom line is that passenger frustration is at an all-time high,” she said.

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MY TAKE: The airports may have gotten a lot more friendly in this economic downturn, but they sure haven’t made it any easier. Betwween the cargo screening at airports and the hour long walk through metal detector time you have to plan for, flying just isn’t that much fun any more. I can understand the fact that cargo handling has to be managed carefully and we have to have airline metal detector equipment installed. This is the sign of the times and that’s not ever going to change. But do they have to take away our pillows, squeeze us into tiny seats and charge us for the kid-sized cardboard meals we get on transatlantic flights?

The only comfort I get at he airport now is the fact that I can walk around with my smokeless cigarette and nohthing is said. Did you know that the electronic cigarette is designed to be enjoyed anywhere smoking is banned? It is. Airports included.

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Cut Costs and Boost Your Bottom Line

In today’s economy there are several things you can do to ratchet up your business staying power. Outsourcing does not automatically mean higher operating expenses. You can hire New Jersey EMR and payroll services consultants to evaluate your current costs for these aspects of your business and determine ways to duplicate or even enhance them off site. A Los Angeles CA IT consulting company would and should handle all of your communications issues, including your Web site and data storage management. Payroll services companies mang time and attendance and payroll processing for your employees so you are freed up to run your company, not spend time signing pay checks and tracking sick days.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

The 1968 Playboy playmate was recenlty charged with attempted murder after Los Angeles police said she shot her husband of 20 years this weekend during a dispute, authorities said Wednesday.

Victoria Rathgeb, 66, is due in court Nov. 1 to answer to the charge that she intentionally shot her husband with a semiautomatic handgun.

Rathgeb, being held in lieu of $1.5-million bail, was arrested Saturday after police said they responded to a reported shooting at an apartment in the 7000 block of Hawthorn Avenue in Hollywood.

Her husband, identified as Bruce Rathgeb, is in grave condition at a local hospital, according to LAPD Lt. Bob Binder.

“Her husband is in extremely critical condition with significant injuries,” Binder said.

Binder said the shooting evolved from “a longstanding dispute between the two parties,” although he noted that there had been no previous law enforcement contacts with either member of the couple.

Binder would not comment on news reports that Victoria Rathgeb originally told police that a drug dealer had shot her husband.

“We investigated all possible angles to the story and came to the conclusion that she most certainly did shoot her husband,” Binder said.

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MY TAKE: You hear a lot of crazy stories about former Miss Americas: their Mobile Alabama cosmetic surgeon experiences gone wrong are splattered all over the pages of the tabloids as they age, and we get a sad glimpse of beauty fading. Not to mention the Mobile Alabama breast implants. They don’t, contrary to popular berlief, all go off to save the world and live in Grand views real estate mansions. In fact, Palisades real estate and happy ending marriage announcements are not statistically part of the path of many Miss America winners. Many of them go on to get MAs and PHDs, or start companies. Sad to see one get so low that she is now facing possible prison time.

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OTHER RESOURCES

Alternative Giving

This year a lot of holiday exchanges will focus on gift giving with a purpose. One of the best ways to give back as you give out is to donate your wrecked cars. By donating damaged cars to a charity you not only get a tax write off, but many are able to transform the cars into cash for causes, like feeding hungry families, building homeless shelters and taking care of abused kids.

SOURCE: Associated Press

There’s a new cat in town.

The world’s longest cat measures more than 4 feet, stealing the record from another Maine Coon. The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that 5-year-old Stewie was certified as the new Guinness World Record holder after measuring 48 1/2 inches from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail bone. That’s a little more than 4 feet long.

The previous record holder was another Maine Coon that measured 48 inches. It was owned by Frieda Ireland of Chicago.

Hendrickson said Maine Coons are one of the oldest natural breeds of cats and are known for their mellow, relaxed temperaments. She says they’re known as “the gentle giants” of the cat world.

Hendrickson said she and Brandsness decided to try for the record after hearing countless people say they were amazed by Stewie’s length.

“The wows and the comments really led us to take a look at this,” said Hendrickson, who described Stewie as a “very laid back kinda guy.” She added, “I couldn’t tell you how many times I have heard that he is the longest cat that person has ever seen.”

His owners hope that Stewie will use his newfound fame to visit classrooms and bring awareness to animal welfare.

“But it wouldn’t hurt to see his picture on a bag of cat food,” Hendrickson said.  “The gentle giants” are the nickname of Maine Coons in the world of cats, according to Hendrickson.

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MY TAKE: I absolutely love these main coon cats. I have post cards of them dressed in baby headbands and little dresses, which I know is cheesy, but they are quite cute. I tried putting a hair bow on my lab, he wouldn’t have it. He’d rather me toss a a ball. But these guys they make great wall graphics for a kids room or you class room. They are absolutely the coolest cats. Now if I could only get my Fairfax apartment cleaning service to agree. The last maid cleaning service company I used said they charged extra for long haired cats.

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Maid Service Network

Arlington maid service networks are a great way to locate good, solid and reputable housekeepers. If you need a reliable Rockville MD home cleaning service the best place to search if the Internet.

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An inexpensive way to decorate your kids room or your classroom if you are a teach is to use vinyl words. You can put up quotes and funny sayings that go with paintings or trophies. You can also slap on wall decals that are removable and non toxic.

SOURCE: Reuters

Astronomers believe a galaxy far, far away from a time long, long ago, possibly the oldest thing in the universe.

Hidden in a Hubble Space Telescope photo released earlier this year is a small smudge of light that European astronomers now calculate is a galaxy from 13.1 billion years ago. That’s a time when the universe was very young, just shy of 600 million years old. That would make it the earliest and most distant galaxy seen so far.

By now the galaxy is so ancient it probably doesn’t exist in its earlier form and has already merged into bigger neighbors, said Matthew Lehnert of the Paris Observatory, lead author of the study published online Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“We’re looking at the universe when it was a 20th of its current age,” said California Institute of Technology astronomy professor Richard Ellis, who wasn’t part of the discovery team. “In human terms, we’re looking at a 4-year-old boy in the life span of an adult.”

While Ellis finds the basis for the study “pretty good,” there have been other claims about the age of distant space objects that have not held up to scrutiny. And some experts have questions about this one. But even the skeptics praised the study as important and interesting.

The European astronomers calculated the age after 16 hours of observations from a telescope in Chile that looked at light signatures of cooling hydrogen gas.

Earlier this year, astronomers had made a general estimate of 600 to 800 million years after the Big Bang for the most distant fuzzy points of light in the Hubble photograph, which was presented at an astronomy meeting back in January.

In the new study, researchers focused on a single galaxy in their analysis of hydrogen’s light signature, further pinpointing the age. Garth Illingworth of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was the scientist behind the Hubble image, said it provides confirmation for the age using a different method, something he called amazing “for such faint objects.”

The new galaxy doesn’t have a name — just a series of letters and numbers. So Lehnert said he and colleagues have called it “the high red-shift blob. “Because it takes so long for the light to travel such a vast time and distance, astronomers are seeing what the galaxy looked like 13.1 billion years ago at a time when it was quite young — maybe even as young as 100 million years old — Lehnert said. It has very little of the carbon or metal that we see in more mature stars and is full of young, blue massive stars, he said.

What’s most interesting to astronomers is that this finding fits with theories about when the first stars and galaxies were born. This galaxy would have formed not too soon after them.

“We’re looking almost to the edge, almost within 100 million years of seeing the very first objects,” Ellis said. “One hundred million years to a human seems an awful long time, but in astronomical time periods, that’s nothing compared to the life of the stars.”

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MY TAKE: Well, now we have a real galaxy far, far away to go with all those costumes and what is likely to be the most common costume of all. In case you don’t know: that would be Avatar costumes. You’d have to be living in a vaccume not to know about Avatar and what these characters look like. The movie itself is absolutely outrageous and frankly I’m not sure I buy the story line any more than I am likely to trust the Lemon Law help California has to offer. I know California lemon laws promise you one thing, but do you get another? But back to Avatar: I would say that the story was about as weak as could get, but when it came to the equipment in the onboard data center colocation and the design and graphics, nothing can top it.

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OTHER RESOURCES

Source: Assocatied Press

Zurich archiologists say they have unearthed a 5,000-year-old door that may be one of the oldest ever found in Europe.  The ancient poplar wood door is “solid and elegant” with well-preserved hinges and a “remarkable” design for holding the boards together, chief archaeologist Niels Bleicher said Wednesday.

Using tree rings to determine its age, Bleicher believes the door could have been made in the year 3,063 B.C. — around the time that construction on Britain’s world famous Stonehenge monument began.

“The door is very remarkable because of the way the planks were held together,” Bleicher told The Associated Press.

Harsh climatic conditions at the time meant people had to build solid wood houses that would keep out much of the cold wind blowing across Lake Zurich, and the door would have helped, he said. “It’s a clever design that even looks good.”

The door was part of a settlement of so-called “stilt houses” frequently found near lakes about a thousand years after agriculture and animal husbandry were first introduced to the pre-Alpine region.

It is similar to another door found in nearby Pfaeffikon, while a third — found in the 19th century and made from one solid piece of wood — is believed to be even older, possibly dating back to 3,700 B.C., said Bleicher.

The latest find was discovered at the dig for a new underground car park for Zurich’s opera house.

Providing the doors for a neolithic village was one task faced by earlier Britons. What about the grounds? Northern New Jersey landscaping experts thrilled at the find are also interested in the landscaping history around ancient sites and burial grounds, like Stonehedge. This door may not have had a fancy brass compass or handle, but it showed craftmanship.

Archaeologists have found traces of at least five Neolithic villages believed to have existed at the site between 3,700 and 2,500 years B.C., including objects such as a flint dagger from what is now Italy and an elaborate hunting bow.

Helmut Schlichtherle, an archaeologist for the conservation department in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, said finding an intact door was very rare, as usually only the foundations of stilt houses are preserved because they are submerged in water for millennia. Without air, the bacteria and fungi that usually destroy wood in a matter of years can’t grow, meaning many lakes and moorlands in Europe are considered archaeological treasure troves.

“Some might say it’s only a door, but this is really a great find because it helps us better understand how people built their houses, and what technology they had,” he said.

Schlichtherle, who wasn’t part of the Zurich dig, said over 200 stilt houses have been discovered in southern Germany alone, but to date no doors.

The Zurich scientists plan to exhibit their door once it has been carefully removed from the ground and soaked in a special chemical solution to prevent it from rotting.

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MY TAKE: I have been to some amazing early settlements in Britain, including Stonehege and they are amazing. It’s hard to fathom how such intricate architectural forms, like interlocking tile and stone work were incorporated without the availability of heavy equipment. Try putting in simple garage flooring without a proper cutting tool and a ruler and you wind up with a mess on your hands and your floor.

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OTHER RESOURCES

Denver Criminal Law Network

Denver criminal attorneys are ready to help represent you in court if you have been accused of serious criminal charges. If you need a criminal lawyer Park Medows CO, especially if there were drugs and alcohol involved in your accident as you will be facing serious charges, all the more serious if there was a death involving another driver or passenger. Don’t hesitate to call a lawyer. You need someone working on your case immediately.

Employee Protections

If you have been victimized by an employer via sexual harassment or some form of discrimination, you can get help from Manhattan civil rights attorney. Harassment and discrimination cases involving workers are common, but you are not alone. Contact a Suffolk County harassment lawyer if you have been treated unfairly because of your race, gender, sexual preferences or your religious beliefs. You do not have to tolerate intolerance.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

A new study suggests that Neanderthals were not as smart as Scientists have argued because tools believed to have been used by them date back only about 23,000 years, about two thousand years after the decline of the cave dwellers.

European researchers used a sophisticated carbon-dating technique to test a hyena-tooth pendant, a reindeer-bone awl and other artifacts found in a French cave alongside Neanderthal remains. They discovered that some of the items were as young as 21,000 to 23,000 years old — too young to have belonged to Neanderthals, who died out about 25,000 years ago.

The provenance of these artifacts has been “bitterly debated over more than 20 years,” said Oxford University radiocarbon specialist Thomas Higham, who led the study published online Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “It’s quite important because this is at the heart of the cognitive ability of modern Neanderthals and whether they were on par with humans.”

The debate centers on Grotte du Renne, a site in central France where tools and ornaments were discovered in the same layers of dirt as Neanderthal remains.

It is rare to find the two together. The artifacts, which are more commonly associated with modern humans, have been found side by side at only one other location, a French cave called Quincay, Higham said. Their appearance in the same layer of earth suggests to archaeologists that they were buried — and thus existed — during the same time period.

But Higham’s team argues that layers of soil closer to the surface — younger layers containing human remains and artifacts — could have been mixed with deeper layers that held Neanderthal remnants.

Other researchers had proposed that Neanderthal bones and human artifacts were mixed together at Grotte du Renne, and Higham wanted to test that theory by using a more refined carbon-dating technique to ascertain the age of the items. Among other improvements, the team employed a process called ultrafiltration to separate small amounts of bone collagen from material that would pollute the samples.

Higham’s team found that for many samples, the age of the items didn’t correspond with the depth at which they were discovered. For example, in the eighth level down, specimens were dated between 35,000 and 40,000 years old. But two layers below, where all samples should have been older, they found a horse-bone awl that was only 21,150 years old.

“We suggest it might be a good idea to set this site to one side for a bit,” Higham said, “because for the moment, to us, it looks like the site is mixed.”

But Jean-Jacques Hublin, a paleoanthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said the site could not be dismissed so easily.

“I agree that we should be cautious, but caution does not mean we should reject all the evidence,” said Hublin, who was not involved with the study.

He said the topic was sensitive because many people had a natural tendency to see Neanderthals as completely different from later humans — even though much evidence shows they were actually quite similar, able to adapt and innovate much as humans do. For example, a study in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory last month argued that Neanderthals developed new weapons to hunt smaller game as the climate grew arid and larger prey became scarce.

Hublin also pointed out that Higham’s team wasn’t able to calculate ages for the Neanderthal bodies found at Grotte du Renne, because the tooth and bone samples required for the analysis would be destroyed during the carbon-dating process. Perhaps the Neanderthal remains would have registered as the same age as the disputed artifacts, he said.

“The only way to address these questions is to directly date the [Neanderthal] remains,” Hublin said.

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MY TAKE: It’s always amazing to me that these scientists can learn so much about our ancestral line by digging into the bones and burrows of where these people lived. They can tell us a great deal about their lifestyles, such as whether or not they new about exercises, how to do Pilates with rudimentary equipment, or even the Alexander technique, which is really just breath and posture control. Although, most of the pictures I’ve seen of Neanderthals they look like they could use a good class in the Alexander Technique NYC, or perhaps could benefit from modern day Pilates exercise, as well as a good South Ridding DDS.

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iFixes

iPod repair services are in high demand. If you are searching for a qualified iPhone repair service provider be sure that they are Apple certified before you agree to paying. Many so-called iPhone fixers out there will say they are certified but are not, and you can have difficulty getting reimbursed if anything goes wrong.

Need More Than Just a Cleaning?

When was the last time you visited your Chantilly VA cosmetic dentist? Perhaps you’ve put off seeing a cosmetic dentist because you are afraid of the costs. Surprisingly many cosmetic surgeries are now covered by major dental insurance providers making it possible to replace crowns and fillings, repair broken teeth and even replace veneer. Check with your provider to see what kinds of services and treatments are covered under your plan.

SOURCE: PC Magazine

Walmart has announced that it has joined the ranks of Target and will begin offering customers the Apple iPad.

The popular tablet will be available in hundreds of Walmart stores starting Oct. 15 and expand to more than 2,300 locations by mid-November. The company did not provide details about which stores would initially carry the device. The iPad will also be available via Walmart.com, where users can order the tablet and have it delivered to a nearby store for pickup.

Walmart will sell all six versions of the iPad, starting at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version and going all the way up to the $829 64GB Wi-Fi plus 3G iPad.

Last month, Target announced that it would start selling the iPad in all its stores on Oct. 3. It’s also available in Apple retail stores and on Apple’s Web site.

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My Take: Walmart needs to do something and fast. This store has not managed to hold it’s grip on customers’ when it comes to big-ticket itmes. The store sells AT&T smartphones, natural beauty products and even the popular disposable electronic cigarette. But it’s recent rollbacks on prices for certain items, not the no contract cell phones or Hollybeth skin care, but food items and bath and beauty products failed to get customers to spend their money on other things and now the giant retailer is reported to be nixing that program in hopes of boosting revenues up.

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Other Resources

Network Protection

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Criminal Lawyers Know The Laws

Philadelphia lawyers understand the nature of the state’s drug possession laws better than anyone. Do not try to represent yourself in court. This is a dangerous route to take. If you’re looking for a Bucks County criminal lawyer to help represent you, click here for more information.

As Seen on TV and Cooking

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SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved a new ordinance requiring food trucks in the city to be required to post letter grades from public health officials evaluating their food-handling practices, just like restaurants do now.

All five county supervisors voted for the new ordinance, which received preliminary approval Tuesday but must be ratified in another vote next week. The ordinance would go into effect 30 days after the final vote in unincorporated areas of the county; local city councils must ratify the new grading plan for it to be effective within city limits.

The plan will expand the popular program that gives brick-and-mortar restaurants an A, B or C grade on food-handling practices to rolling food establishments. In recent years, some entrepreneurs have turned the once-derided “roach coaches” into upscale, gourmet kitchens on wheels, offering international foods and exotic fused concoctions of kimchi tacos or fancy cupcakes.

The first phase of the plan will expand the grading program to about 3,200 full-service catering trucks, and a second phase to begin next July will expand them to about 2,800 more limited food facilities, such as hot dog and churro carts.

The board also approved an amendment by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas asking the county Department of Public Health to brief the supervisors on how officials plan to educate the public and food truck owners about the new ordinance, how they plan to evaluate its effectiveness, and any options to reward vendors who sell healthier foods in low-income communities with limited access to nutritious foods.

The ordinance would require twice-a-year inspections for mobile food facilities, up from the current requirement of a single annual inspection. A separate certification inspection would still be required. The ordinance would also require them to report their routes to the county, so that officials could perform surprise inspections.

Those that aren’t complying with county health rules could be shut down.

The proposed ordinance covers almost any truck selling any type of food, including motorized and nonmotorized vehicles, food carts and “any vehicle from which animal food, bakery products, fish, shellfish, fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, preserves, jelly, relish, milk or other dairy products, food or food products, ice or beverages, whether in bulk, canned, wrapped, bottled, packaged, or any other form, are sold.”

One main question is how much the expanded inspection program will cost. Public health officials don’t have an answer, but say they will monitor the cost of the expanded program and report to the board next April on whether inspection fees should be raised.

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MY TAKE: I’m happy to hear the letter grades will now have to apply for the food trucks. These things are getting so popular and prevalent in Los Angeles and they are not serving up “roach coach” food anymore, that’s true. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these gourmet kitchens on wheels started setting up folding tables on the sidewalk with linen napkins and decorative country plates. It’s already happening at some L.A. farmer’s markets where vendors have table linens for the customers and flowers in vases for sitting down to eat. It’s a lot like an open feast and the only thing missing are the waiters, tips and chandelier lighting.

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Other Resources

December is Tax Doc Gathering Time

It’s about time to start getting all your New York tax prep services documents in order. Your New York tax planning accountants can help you get your taxes in order much more quickly if you have year-end receipts and other documents to them before Dec. 31, 2010 because they will not be cramming in your returns during crunch time. Now is the time to start gathering and delivering.

Greasing the Wheels of Progress

If your goals increasing your equipment reliability, extending your machine life and reducing your operating costs than you need to contact this Iowa commercial lubricants company. They are dedicated to providing quality lubrication solutions designed to fit your needs. You can rest assured there lubricant consultants are experts. After all, they have been in the oil game since 1958. Whether you are a commercial, industrial, construction, automotive or agricultural business, there knowledgeable, experienced lubricant consultants will work with you to help save you money and run your equipment as efficiently as possible with Iowa oil filtration.

Clean-N-Simple

This company was begun as a small, one-man operation based out of a garage in Port St. Lucie, Florida. It was started on July 1, 1973 by William E. Peach, who self-admittedly had no knowledge about the design or manufacturing of boat or car polisher. The company moved to a 1,000-square-foot space in the B & A Industrial Park in Stuart, Florida in August 1974 and moved twice more until the current 10,000-square-foot facility became the factory’s permanent base in 1994. It was bought by Barry Berhoff in 1993 and has since transformed into the international company it is today for the dual action polisher.

SOURCE: Associated Press

Virgin Galactic’s space tourism rocket SpaceShipTwo completed its first solo glide flight in October, moving plans to fly paying passengers closer to reality.

SpaceShipTwo was carried aloft by its mothership to an altitude of 45,000 feet and released over the Mojave Desert. After the separation, SpaceShipTwo, manned by two pilots, flew freely for 11 minutes before landing at an airport runway followed by the mothership.

The entire test flight lasted about 25 minutes.

“It flew beautifully,” said Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides.

The six-passenger SpaceShipTwo is undergoing rigorous testing before it can carry tourists to space. In the latest test, SpaceShipTwo did not fire its rocket engine to climb to space.

Until now, SpaceShipTwo has flown attached to the wing of its special jet-powered mothership dubbed WhiteKnightTwo. Sunday was the first time the spaceship flew on its own.

The news was hailed by space tourism advocates.

The “flight marks another key milestone towards opening the space frontier for private individuals, researchers, and explorers,” John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said in a statement.

Whitesides said SpaceShipTwo will make a series of additional glide flights before rocketing to space.

SpaceShipTwo, built by famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan, is based on a prototype that won a $10 million prize in 2004 for being the first manned private rocket to reach space.

The news was hailed by space tourism advocates.

The “flight marks another key milestone towards opening the space frontier for private individuals, researchers, and explorers,” John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said in a statement.

Whitesides said SpaceShipTwo will make a series of additional glide flights before rocketing to space.

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MY TAKE: I have to wonder: once folks to start paying to go up in space on this aircraft, what will they have to wear? I’m sure sorority apparel is out of the question, but are paying customers going to be able to go up into space wearing special space suits? If so, what will these look like and who how much will they cost? Greek clothes are not going to work, I’m aware. Carhartt clothing is an ideal company to select for making the suits. They already make flame resistant clothing for most of the service industry and police and fire units, why not space suits?

What will paying passengers be allowed to take with them? Free PS3 download games likely won’t be provided. But that sparks an idea for a new PS3 download: why not create a game for kids that simulates the first trip out to space?

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