An Internet Globetrotter

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

Garamendi said that he needs to help the CSUs get the funding/investment they need to produce technical students in California alluding to a conversation he had with an official from Seagate Technologies.

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

While avoiding afternoon traffic, this was shot from one of the venerable B-Line buses that ply the Ridge every day, with gasoline approaching $4 a gallon, next week will be good for free rides. It is Spare The Air week, and everyone who rides B-Line buses will ride without having to pay

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008
presentation by Soundslides
theme "Supercar" (1961) by Barry Gray

In light of the most recent rising gas prices in Chico and on the Ridge and our fascination with the automobile, this theme song seemed most ironic

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008
presentation by Soundslides

Earlier in this weblog, I promised more photgraphs from my coverage of Lobsang Samtem's sand sculpture he did in February at the Bell Memorial Union of the California State University, Chico. Samtem considers himself an artist, and the final day of his mandala drew one of the largest crowds seen at the BMU

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008
presentation by Soundslides
theme Falcon Crest by Bill Conti

This is one of four Soundslides presentations on my new website. That url is complicated; http://myweb.csuchico.edu/~gbrune/gdb/sonofabuilder.html

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

Is this an unmet transit need? With the annual Clean Air celebration for the B-Line coming up April 28 to May 2 where all bus rides will be free, this might indeed be a more common problem

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photos by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008

These are the latest gasoline and diesel fuel prices on Fair Street in Chico as of 11 am today.

This is one of a few Smart Cars running in Butte County. Starting at about $12,000 this European sub-compact gets an estimated 47 miles per gallon. The driver of this car said it takes $20 to fill the gas tank.

Is this where we have to go to cope with escalating prices?

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is a pleasure to get responses from readers out of this area. From New York I got an email written by CMSgt (Ret) John Stenstrom. a musician who joined the only musicians Post for the American Legion in New York.

" I hate to admit it, but I do not know our Commander," Stenstrom said " have never been to the post. I joined because I wanted to belong to a post and, when a friend from New York invited me, I accepted. I'd even have to look at my dues card (not on me) to know the post number.

I realize I'm not the kind of member any group wants, but I do hope my dues are welcome."

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008

The other side of that coin came in my e-mail when the commander of my post said there is the possibility that he may have to close our post, not because of the number of members we have, but that there is only a handful of men and women who can be officers on the post. From that handful, a small percentage are willing to be officers.

This possible action scares the living frijoles out of me. Unlike the members I've pictured above, the new members we need to keep fresh blood going in the Post seem to have the same attitude reflected by Stenstrom. An organization needs more than just the dues from its member.

It needs the passion that drove these people to fill out the membership forms in the first place, the feeling that brought them to this society of veterans. Their is a responsibility to membership that dollars alone cannot alleviate. To be a comrade, one needs to roll up the sleeves and work aside people who start out as strangers but end up as family.

The American Legion is a family of veterans which needs its dues paying members to join the family We honor those comrades when they die, but prefer to honor them while they are alive and able to help the Post.

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There is a problem pointed out by City Editor Steve Schoonover's article in last Friday's Enterprise Record. Since I addressed the unmet needs hearings in Paradise and Chico, I've run into a number of problems that Butte County Association of Governments have failed to address ...

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008

..now, or in the last five years and it is time for me to get to work on this. BCAG brought us “transit centers” in Chico and Paradise (I will address that further in this essay), consolidation, as a means I submit to save money for the bus system rather than improve service for the riders, and adjustments in existing schedules.

As a bus rider in Butte County for over five years, the effective improvement of service for the riders is – nothing. We who ride the buses face digital exactitude at the fare box, over-stressed drivers, and service that is no better today than it was five years ago.

When BCAG tells me there are "no unmet needs that are reasonable to meet." that means the whole series of unmet transit hearings are nothing more than a dog and pony show, and that they intend to do nothing to help us, but spend plenty of money to string costume jewelry around their necks.

The idea of a Paradise transit center came about right after consolidation. It was moved twice before being set up on government land. When it was on private land, the owners became nervous because poor people were using the buses, and those with money in Paradise didn't like to see that. It is now an unnamed shed, about as fancy as a swift kick in the six

As a re-entry student going to Chico State, I would like buses that go to the Ridge later than 6:20 pm on weeknights. That desire however is not important to BCAG, much as me living my life here in Butte County is irrelevant if it doesn't conform to the standards of the day. My needs are unreasonable, so I do without, or make do with an unwieldy transit system. I have to fit my life into their schedule rather than have them serve me.

So why am I writing this? BCAG won't listen anyway. I'm nothing to them, and that ain't right.

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright 2008

In light of yesterday's work action by independent truck drivers over the high cost of diesel fuel, I shot these rates at the Money Saver on Fair Street in Chico. These rates save nobody money, especially the truck drivers that haul what we need to live.

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)