In case you missed the March for Science, last month?  I have the report!  Not that I went, no. Science enthusiasts all, my household was planning on going—  But then my younger teen daughter got felled by "bacteria"—  Possibly brought on by a dubious "pizza day" at her science magnet.

So I spent that Saturday at home, taking care of her— But we streamed the Washington DC and other marches, live on CNN!  So here is my report!

Let's quickly review the main points.  Worldwide, there were 600-plus cities participating, with high levels of enthusiasm.  The March for Science's stated mission was to be a positive, non-partisan march for scientists and scientific principles.  That alone is such a wonderful, counterintuitive idea.  Much humor and wit was seen.

As I did not get to go, and make my own hilarious sign—?  To honor the spirit of the occasion I would like to share two favorite jokes.

First: How do you tell the difference between an introverted and an extroverted mathematician? 
For the whole time the introverted mathematician is talking to you, he looks down at his shoes.  When the extroverted mathematician talks to you, the whole time he looks down at your shoes.  Ba-dum-bum.

I know I used the pronoun "he" in that joke—  As if to imply all left-brained people are male.  But no!  So here's the saying from when I attended Caltech—  Way back in the '80s—  And the male to female ratio was 7 to 1.  "Caltech: where the odds are good, but the good are odd."

Now to some of the funny—and sometimes punny—March for Science signs:

"If you're not the solution, you're the precipitate!"

That was next to: "Protest Cosine, Protest Sine."  Get it?  Protest. . . Sine?  Puns are hard on the radio.  So let's finish with the more "meta": "What do we want?  Evidence based research!  When do we want it?  After peer review!"  

Of course, there were less than non-partisan messages, too.  Just reporting here?  There were signs with the phrases "Black Hole" and "Absolute Zero" ghosted over our president's recognizeable silhouette.  The live feed from San Francisco brought: "Trump believes there's no global warming, as nothing is hotter than Ivanka."

That one made me snort, but I had to quickly tell my daughter, "that is totally inappropriate."
We decided a good sign was: "Mitosis, Not Division."

And a cute one on a dog that everyone can agree on.  "Support Labs."  Labs. 

Next week: Science is Love!

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

 
So, my 15 year old science magnet daughter and I experienced last month's exciting March for Science—!  From home, as she was temporarily felled by some bacteria.  Consuming an unscientific "cure" of chocolate pudding—?  We watched the march on CNN.

Now, the news changes so quickly you may not remember that just one month ago—?  There were shock waves due to proposed massive federal budget cuts—  Not just to climate change research, but to—surely the more non-controversial —National Institutes of Health.  I mean, health?  Who's anti-health?  Even MacDonald's is serving apple slices now, and kale!

The march was a mix of passion and fun. There were lots of great signs, including one with the classic line: If you're not the solution, you're the precipitate! Marchers came dressed as Einstein, dinosaurs, polar bears.

Then again—  And admittedly, at home, we were wearing bathrobes rather than labcoats—? A couple of humble notes.

 Some of the speakers in DC were less scientists than YouTube science explainers.  And pure research scientists—not to mention philosophers—might question some of the applause lines.  And I quote: "Science is inherently political!"  "Science is objective, but it is not neutral!"  What?  Then some of the marchers chanted back, with a decided New Age lilt: "Science is hope!"  "Science is our planet!"  "Peace, love, science!"  

I heard myself grousing to my daughter: "Sure.  It's like 'Nature.'  To some, 'Nature' is a beautiful flower.  But 'Nature' is also Stage 5 hurricanes and poison frogs who eat their own offspring.  And—and pitcher plants!  Have you seen pitcher plants?" 

The chants continued:  "Health is science!  Safety is science!  Clean water is science!  I yell at the TV: "PS: Nuclear missiles from North Korea?  SCIENCE!"

There were also heartfelt pleas from the stage for more "K-12 hands-on STEM-based learning."  I sympathize. I marched for that when my daughters were in elementary school.  Of course we want our children to be turned on to science—  To the classroom volcanos comically exploding with baking soda. To the wonders of milk carton pea plants, sunny farms of ladybugs.

But eventually, inexorably, comes The Ugly.  The multiplication tables, long division, algebra, trig, then calculus, if a career in science is really being pursued.  I just heard about a senior I know, an exceptional—and well-rounded—student.  He has a 4.5 GPA and almost-perfect SAT's, nosebleed-high!  But he has been shut out by all the UC's he applied to, including his third choice, UC San Diego.  Mwah!  SCIENCE!

Still, quibbles aside, science is the future.  We applaud all, and must forge on. Chocolate pudding recommended.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

 I would like to apologize to our neighbors, block, zip code—  Really, to everyone, in Los Angeles?  For our front lawn.  True, the word "lawn" is stretching it.  It is more an ugly brown snarl.  I want to throw a sheet over it, like a corpse!  Or at least put up a sign that says, "We know, we know.  And we're sorry!"

When I bought the house many years ago, the grass was green.  Our gardener Vic was a genius at setting sprinkler timers—  I have a physics degree, and couldn't figure it out—  The lawns looked great and then we got our first—?  Well, it was less a water "bill" than a water citation.  A water tirade.  A water hazing.  Our utility company began mailing us hurtful bar graphs, showing what hogs we were compared to our water-conservant neighbors.

So in deference to Jerry Brown's drought emergency, we decided to let the lawn turn the color of the governor's name.  It was a badge of eco-honor.  But then, another problem. Every Saturday morning at 8 gardener Vic showed up with a high-pitched, shrieking machine that he would use to blow dead leaves around our dead yard for an hour.  The ear-splitting sound was no doubt meant to show us that he was busy quote unquote "gardening."

It took another two years for me to let him go—  The irony was that I would have kept paying him to stop leaf-blowing—  But he refused—  Then we go out of town for two months and it rains.  A lot.  We return to "grass" that is almost waist high.  I use the word "grass" but in fact this greenery looks sub-tropical.  There are giant tear-drop-shaped leaves and thick leathery stems and twisting vines.I struggle with the weed-whacker to take off the top foot of it— I'm startled by a swarm of exotic butterflies and insects. I hear a shuh-duh-duh-duh-duh.  I'm actually a little spooked.  What will I find in there next?  A pterodactyl?  A cow?  A baby?

The rains go away—  And the area turns Jerry Brown again—  But now, since I gave the jungle a very messy, tortured haircut, instead of just a sedate dead lawn it looks like crazy people live here.  We consider installing a drought resistant garden, but we get quotes of $10,000!  Maybe we should scatter dozens of pots of little cacti around the yard. Or maybe we should just park our cars there.  

Yes, that's the ticket.  My car is a Prius.  It's eco-fashionable.

Next week: The window treatments of your dreams.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

My 16 year old was complaining about too much light in her bedroom—   Her curtains are too gauzy—  It makes it hard for her to sleep in 'til noon, which she considers her right in summer— 

Because I know nothing, I foolishly said, "Let's get you some blinds!"

Swirling a fresh cup of coffee, a divorced mom taking care of business, I contact my virtual "husband"—  Angie—  Who has a list.

I type in "blinds"—  Do I mean "custom blinds"?  Sure!  Here's a 10% off coupon—  I'm printing money!  For a highly-rated custom blinds guy named Roger—  Within two hours he's at my house for a free estimate!  Hashtag Winning!

Roger is charming, friendly, conversational.  He oohs and aahs over our old Craftsman house, with its large, beautiful, slightly "unusually-sized" windows.  Thatshould have been the tipoff that another custom-zero was being custom-added to the price, but I thought nothing of it.  Oh no!  I offered Roger a cup of coffee—  He asked what I did for a living—I said I was a writer—  He asked what kind—

Now I know that this is called "bonding" and you should not do it when getting a quote unquote free estimate—  I realize I should have said, "I am unemployed," and burst into tears rather than trying to make my career sound so lucrative.  Roger then spends what seems like half an hour—he's thorough!—measuring two windows—  Then he goes to his truck and returns with a thick, beautifully bound binder.  Full of blinds.

Not just blinds.  And I quote: "Window treatments of your dreams"—  And I thought, "Who dreams of window treatments?"  Someone, because there were honeycomb ones, blackout ones, vertical ones—  With different kinds of pulleys, cords, and stylish valences—  In complicated colors like Banana Ice Milk and Taos Midnight Persimmon—  I start fearing that aromas will be next!
           

Bottom line?  For two bedroom windows, it will take three weeks for the custom shades to arrive.  Cost?  $1500.  "They will look amazing!" Roger enthuses.  Inwardly, I agree.  They will be the most amazing thing in my teen's messy bedroom piled with laundry, makeup, art supplies and crumpled tissues.  We just want something to block the light.  After Roger leaves—  And the air is thick with mutual disappointment—  I eye a poster board from my younger daughter's science fair project.  I contemplate simply nailing blankets over the windows.

In the end, I give my teen a nice new sleep mask.  Great solution!  Although that night I do indeed dream. . . of window treatments!

Next week: House Painting Hell!

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

 If only home reno was as simple as on "Fixer Upper"—  The popular TV show featuring Chip and Joanna Gaines.  These toothsome Texans show an anxious couple three falling down houses—

 The couple picks one—  Chip and Joanna sledgehammer it, tear off the "ship lap"— Repaint it cobalt, festoon it with design elements from Joanna's handy online store— Stainless steel fixtures, antique farm lamps, throw pillows thatsay "Gather"—  Two months later, the Gainses pull apart life-sized photo panels of the old house to reveal the new, and the couple weeps with joy!

"You have to live in Texas to be on the show," says my friend Jan. "If it were LA, you'd spend a year just waiting for permits."

"I like how easy they make it," I say.  "The couple just says what they're like—She says: 'I'm a homebody.  He's outdoorsy.'  They go away.  Two months later they magically return to a landscaped backyard terrace that 'brings the outdoors in'—"

"With a throw pillow that says 'Nature,'" adds friend Mary. 

"Exactly!" exclaims Jan.  "In Eagle Rock we just wanted a drought-resistant yard!  This master gardener—  That's right, master gardener—  Her estimate included 10 hours of design at $150 an hour and we had to participate!  There was a lengthy questionnaire about our 'aesthetic goals' and 'plant preferences'—  And I'm going, 'I already went to college!  Just plant something—'"

"With a throw pillow that says 'Water,''" says Mary.

"Contractors!" I say.  "I was trying to get just the outside of our house repainted.  The same color.

From Angie's List, I got three estimates.  The first—$20,000!  Done in two weeks.  Seemed like a lot.  Second—$11,000!  One guy.  An artisan.  He estimated it would take him two months."

"Until he falls off the ladder and breaks his hip—then years could go by," says Jan.

"Third estimate?  $3500.  Done in three days."

"How is that possible?" Mary asks.  "Is the paint radioactive?"

"Oh no," I say.  "The crew shows up on time, 9 a.m. on Tuesday, they're professional, they're neat, they're focused.  They measure, cover, tape—"

"And the second day they don't show up," says Jan.

"Oh no, the second day more painters show up.  There are 12 of them, working 10 hours a day.

And then, in slow motion horror, I'm taking out a calculator, trying to figure out how much they're getting paid.  The house looks great but I feel terrible. So I brought them cookies."

"Add a throw pillow from Joanna's store that says 'Guilt,'" says Mary.

"Oh no," I say. Too expensive."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

An apartment in Pomona that leases through the Housing for Health Program. (Matt Tinoco/LAist)

Our California Dream collaboration is looking for solutions to some of California's most pressing problems, in this case, homelessness. An initiative in Los Angeles seeks to save taxpayer money by housing some of the most vulnerable residents — those who cycle from the street to the emergency room and back again.

The California Dream series is a statewide media collaboration of CALmatters, KPBS, KPCC, KQED and Capital Public Radio with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the James Irvine Foundation.

READ THE STORY AT LAist.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Two tents in Hollywood erected beneath the 101 Freeway during a January rainstorm. (Matt Tinoco/KPCC)

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Homeless advocates erected a line of tents outside the Echo Park office of City Councilman Mitchell O'Farrell Feb. 12, 2020 to pressure him into meeting with them.; Credit: FILE PHOTO

Members of several groups of homeless advocates from across Los Angeles converged on a homeless encampment at the north end of   Echo Park Lake on Feb. 12 to protest the routine weekly litter collection.

A cleanup crew assisted by park rangers and city police officers did a once-through the campsite for miscellaneous trash, followed closely by a chanting and critical crowd of protesters.

The homeless advocates had erected extra tents that morning in protest of what they consider invasive cleanups. They also were trying to get City Councilman Mitchell O'Farrell to agree to meet with them as a group, same as he has met with other local organizations of homeowners and residents.

O'Farrell's spokesman Tony Aranga had insisted staffers were willing to meet with individuals to address their housing and other support needs.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Oscar the Grouch. (Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images); Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Read the full article at LAist

File photo: Customers enter a Home Depot store on May 21, 2013 in El Cerrito, Calif.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Home Depot says it has eliminated malware from its U.S. and Canadian networks that affected 56 million unique payment cards between April and September.

The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer said Thursday it has also completed a "major" payment security project that provides enhanced encryption of customers' payment data in the company's U.S. stores.

Home Depot also is confirming its sales-growth estimates for the fiscal year and expects to earn $4.54 per share in fiscal 2014, up 2 cents from its prior guidance.

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VIENNA, 22 July 2016 - Violence against women and girls is one of the most serious and pervasive human rights violations. More needs to be done to eliminate this problem so that women can participate without barriers in all spheres of life, said participants of a high-level OSCE conference today in Vienna.

The conference, organized by the OSCE Gender Section and Germany’s 2016 OSCE Chairmanship, brought together representatives of governments of OSCE participating States, international organizations and civil society to discuss the progress, and to exchange good practices and lessons learned in the efforts to end violence against women..

“One in three women worldwide has experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, perpetrated by intimate partners, family members, acquaintances and strangers,” said OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, opening the conference. “While we should take note of past and current achievements and activities, we need to now translate our commitments into concrete action”.

 Ambassador Zannier referred to the 2004 OSCE Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality and OSCE Ministerial Council Decisions of 2005 and 2014, which called on participating States to address gender-based violence through legislation, supporting victims’ access to justice, education of relevant institutions and ensuring that women and girls receive special consideration in terms of protection and assistance.

Baroness Joyce Anelay, the UK’s Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development was one of the prominent speakers of the event.

"The OSCE Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality is clear that this agenda is essential to achieving comprehensive security across the OSCE region. We all have a responsibility to promote women's empowerment and their full political, social and economic participation," she said.

Baroness Anelay is also UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. Earlier this week she addressed representatives of OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation at meetings of the Forum for Security Co-operation and the Permanent Council on the need to promote the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution.

Ambassador Eberhard Pohl, Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council and representing Germany’s OSCE Chairmanship, said: “The protection of women and girls needs our special attention. Violence against women is not only a traumatizing experience for individuals; it has an adverse impact on the stability of societies as a whole. As the OSCE Chairmanship we call for the joint political will in the OSCE to speed up combating violence against women. It is a violation of human rights and all OSCE participating States have committed to ensuring human rights for all its inhabitants equally.”

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FBI raids home and seizes phone of Polymarket founder  The Guardian

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Police are investigating burglaries that occurred at the homes of Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

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Administration initially said that negotiations had failed and the land would be expropriated within four to eight months.

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Written eviction notices handed out to residents of the encampment in Guelph's St. George Square in late October took effect on Wednesday. Unoccupied tents were removed and bylaw officers were waiting for the remaining few residents to leave voluntarily. Doug Godfrey, the general manager of Guelph's operations department, said in an emailed statement that bylaw officers may issue trespass notices to those who choose not to comply with the eviction order. Reporting by Cameron Mahler/CBC.

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Apple is said to be developing a new product that could function as a wall-mounted display, according to Bloomberg News. This display is expected to provide controls for smart home devices, as well as support for voice commands through Siri and will reportedly offer Apple Intelligence features. Here's everything you need to know about Apple's upcoming device.

NEW YORK — Federal law enforcement agents raided the downtown New York home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan on Wednesday, seizing his phone and electronics, the company confirmed. The early morning raid of Coplan's SoHo apartment followed last week's presidential election, in which bettors on Polymarket, an offshore, crypto-fueled election gambling website, had for weeks put Donald Trump's odds drastically higher than those of Vice President Kamala Harris, in sharp divergence from opinion polls. Coplan, Polymarket's 26-year-old founder, was roused from his bed at 6 a.m. by FBI agents demanding he give them his electronic devices. The DOJ is investigating Polymarket for allegedly allowing U.S.-based users to bet on the site, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday evening. Polymarket declined to comment on those allegations, but a spokesperson said the FBI raid was "obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election." The company told Reuters that Coplan had not been arrested or taken into custody. The FBI declined to comment. The Department of Justice and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on the raid. In the run-up to the presidential election, the site gained widespread attention for the way it placed Trump's odds high above those of Harris, when opinion polls had for months shown the race in a dead heat. Polymarket, which does not allow trading in the U.S., also gained scrutiny after a mystery French trader, known as the Polymarket whale, made large bets on Trump winning the election. The trader's huge wagers came in tandem with a dramatic rise in Trump's chances on the exchanges. He walked away with more than $46 million in profit. Last week, France's gambling regulator said it was examining whether Polymarket complies with French laws.

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