Tim McG

Jack Nicklaus Arnold Palmer Tiger Woods

Just reading all this in puzzlement ... Can somebody fill me in on the actual and unavoidable link between watering PRODUCE grown by farmers for general food consumption and watering LAWNS as a personal luxury? If you are short on water, limit it to the essentials. I daresay watered lawns aren't essential (at least not compared to water used for agricultural purposes). And that just MIGHT ease the situation ... You are not understanding. There is no connection between watering a lawn and growing produce for an entire Nation or the World. The levels of watering aren't even close to being compareable. In short, with all due respect, you simply do not know what you are talking about.

Just reading all this in puzzlement ... Can somebody fill me in on the actual and unavoidable link between watering PRODUCE grown by farmers for general food consumption and watering LAWNS as a personal luxury? If you are short on water, limit it to the essentials. I daresay watered lawns aren't essential (at least not compared to water used for agricultural purposes). And that just MIGHT ease the situation ... I'm not seeing the connection either, BB Steve. I sincerely fail to see the connection between water for working farms [in the millions of gallons] which provide produce for this Nation/World and the insignificant amount of water it takes to green a lawn. Perhaps someone with a better understanding of how farming works in California can explain it better.

OK. But your rainy season is yet to come, Aggie. Bad comparison. Texas' worst drought in 100 years doesn't compare? Compare to what? I'm not trying to compete with you. I was just mentioning that it's bone dry here, and bad. Apparently you didn't catch my edit. Sorry...I can't type fer shit. My apologies.

Are you saying farmers shouldn't pay a pittance??? My Uncle, like many in and around the L.A. area, pay hundreds of dollars a month for water. Still doesn't seem to slow folks down much. But, just saying no outdoor watering(unless it is something like a garden) would probably make a huge difference. Yes. Farmers should pay what everyone else pays. I bet they would use water much more efficiently than they do now if they weren't freeloading off society. Guy Just an assumption on my part....but you aren't a farmer are you. Farming in NC is based upon the rainy season each year. In other words, the rain from the sky waters your crops. A fairly guaranteed occurrence, with rare exception. We don't have that luxury in California. The rain falls during the Winter or dormant season for our crops. Nothing grows then. As I said before, we rely solely on irrigation to water the crops during the growing season. That would be when the rain doesn't fall at all. It is bone dry during that time. Dams and water tranfer via canals allow California farmers to grow their crops. Not rain. Good thing, too. California is the #1 grower of produce in this Nation. It also keeps your costs down at the store when buying produce. The easy answer is to make jokes about Californians watering their lawns. The REAL answer is to understand how farming works in this state. That will take a change in attitude toward California.

OK. But your rainy season is yet to come, Aggie. Monsoon season and hurricane season are coming. To be fair, a drought is still a drought and you guys have been affected by it, too.

Evidently, you live in a desert. Quite trying to grow grass. That's SoCal. The Central California area is more of a tundra. If we didn't have to send so much water to SoCal, this place would be green, greener, greenest.

Florida has a dry season that basically runs from late fall until about May. Average rainfall from October through May is less than 3 inches/month (except for March, when it's just under 3.5). Nov. = 2.35; Feb. = 2.66; April = 1.83, etc. So it gets dry here, then very wet in the summer. But during the dry season, my grass goes brown. No biggie. When the rain starts again, it greens right up (and, unfortunately, I have to cut it once a week again). Evidently, we two have different definitions of what dry means. Our rainy season runs from November to March. In Central California, where I reside, the average rainfall is around 12"-14" inches...in a good year. This year we've had just under 7" and this would be the last wet month of the season. The rest of the year May-October [it will rain in April on rare occasion so I'm not counting it either way] is bone dry: No precipitation whatsoever. None. What you describe in Floridais a drier season, not one without any precipitation. Big difference, I'm afraid. Irrigation is this state's only source of water for lawns as well as crops.

Depends on what your pain threshold is for higher produce prices. Besides, the entire Westside Framing district farm lands are going fallow this growing season due to a lack of water deliveries. That's going to impact jobs and higer prices in the grocery stores. Food grows where water goes.

You are absolutely right about that. Watering lawns more than once a week (if you must) is just not necessary and should always be done at night. In fact, it's counterproductive for the grass to over-water. The roots won't grow as deeply as they should and you'll have to continue to water more than you should just to keep the grass alive. Not necessary...? Maybe in humid rains-all-the-time Florida, but SoCal is basically a desert. The problem in La La Land is not watering the greenery, it's in watering the streets and sidewalks. They waste so much water down there it is just staggering.

I love how the Dodgers are doing their best to hold firm. No other team can afford him here or in Japan. The remarks by the owner about how they won't bid against themselves are hilarious. I think this a battle of chicken they can win. One potential problem is if they do indeed sign him that he'll then not try hard because he's "only" getting $25 a year with whatever else he gets. True, all the Giants are doing is making sure the Dodgers are bidding against themselves. The Giants have no intention of getting Manny and Manny won't come to SF. Now how cool is that? Make the [hated] dodgers spin their wheels over that prima dona Manny, the attitude boy. Manny won't be coming to SF [or anywhere else for that matter] with Scott Boras as his greedy agent. Barry Zito's contract made certain of that one.

Fair enough. At the very same time, I think the Tour needs to give more lattitude to legitimate medical issues relative to banned substances.

I hope Yurpeans realize attitudes like that one are NOT shared by most Amerkins. Maybe the ones in Texas...but there again, they are responsible for that moron who just left the presidency, too. And we all know how well loved he is by the European countries, huh. And on behalf of us real Americans, I sincerely apologize to the World for the past 8 years of the Bush/Cheney Reich.

If using testosterone in an effort to combat testicular cancer is "doping" then we two have glaringly different definitions for the term. Uh, where did I say "doping"? I was in fact quoting Armstrong, who has said many times when interviewed by cycling journalists, "I have never used banned substances." Plonk. Oh, c'mon. Be serious once. You said "doping/dope" twice in your opening remarks and in direct connection to the term "banned substances". To wit: Gimme a break. You know exactly why you were capitalizing Lance Armstrong's name and on the heals of the "doping" comment. And if by "banned substances" you mean a medicinal aid to cancer remittance, you are just plain off your crock by a mile and a half. Don't waste my time. Blam.

If using testosterone in an effort to combat testicular cancer is "doping" then we two have glaringly different definitions for the term.

It really scares me that you're a school teacher. It already scares me that you are actually a human being....and that you post here.

That could become true, as the pro cycling business must become more selective when choosing where to hold their competitions, because of the tightening anti-doping laws in many european countries. Maybe in a few years all that's left is the Tour of Antigua. About Lance: your are right, in the beginning it was mainly the French being jealous about his successes in "their" Tour. But now it's different. Many former riders from his generation (and his team) have admitted that their were doped, but Lance still maintains that every accusation against him is all just a conspiracy based on jealousy. I disagree. Pro Cycling needs to go where it is respected not vilified. The French started this mess by hating on Americans and their incessant jealous vendetta against them. Now, I sincerely hope it costs them their precious Tour de Farce. The bastard sons-of-bitches. Fuck the French.

Not even close. The media in France doesn't hate American riders. In fact nobody had a problem with Lance until the drug issue came out. I witnessed Armstrong in person riding in Karlsruhe, Germany (which is on the French border, if you don't know that) 7 years ago, and he was cheered on LOUDLY by both the Germans and French in the crowds, and the few Americans there like myself. People like their heroes to have earned their accolades honestly. Armstrong as it turned out didn't. He's tainted just like Rodriguez, Bonds, Clemens..... and so are his records. Please. Such bullshit. The French media and Le Tour de Farce have tried incessantly to discredit every American winner/rider of Le Farce since the start. They either spread ironclad innuendo or pretend drug testing [which has been proved to be a joke] or smear American riders in the press. I sincerely hope the Tour of California becomes a huge event which eventually and completely over shadows and buries Le Tour de Farce. I further hope Le Tour de Farce is reduced to a pretend event only for the French cycling bigots that nobody gives a tinker's damn about. The French are a bunch of American haters. I say: Fuck 'em.

Why did Lance come back? The media doesn't hate American riders in California.

As luck would have it, I found out today that the tour rides past my HS Thursday morning. My students should get a charge out of that!

For only the 5th time in California history the Golden Gate Bridge was closed...to host Stage 2 of the Tour of California. Thursday, they start Stage 5 in my town. Now how cool is that?

What a tabloid piece of yellow journalistic bullshit. Wasn't this the first newspaper to carry the Clinton/Gennifer Flowers pretend news story? Then the ensuing Lewinsky/Clinton has low morals news story? Hypocrisy does sell, eh? Wow.

Only if Barry Bonds can.....same time frame.

I agree. But I also think that this lust for Bonds' head on a platter is the sole reason why....brought on far more than any of the Bonds haters expected. I said as much, too.

Well....so much for the theory Bonds was the only one, eh? Given this little tid-bit of news, I would hazard to guess hundreds of other baseball players juiced up. So, now what....ban all of them? Expunge the MLB record of all their accomplishments? Asterisk every record? This is getting ridiculous. I said this Bonds witch hunt would come to no good and I was right.