SONORA, Calif. — A 65-foot white fir tree selected as the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree was cut down and removed from a picturesque setting in the Sierra Nevada mountains on Saturday, then loaded on a truck for a 4,500-mile journey from Northern California to Washington, D.C. When crews arrived at the tree Saturday morning they found it covered in snow, said Jeff Crider, a spokesman for U.S Capitol Christmas Tree Tour, a nonprofit project overseen by the U.S. Forest Service. “It was 18 degrees, with four inches of snow,” Crider said. “It’s freezing up here and getting ready to snow again.” The Stanislaus National Forest tree was selected based on its shape and fullness and color, officials said. Work crews will box it up on Sunday, with a portion encased in Plexiglas so that people can view it during its upcoming nationwide tour. A bladder bag attached to its base will be filled with water on a daily basis to keep the tree fresh, Crider said. The tree is scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 28, with a lighting ceremony at the front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 6. It will be decorated by 5,000 ornaments handmade by California residents, and House Speaker John Boehner and a child from California will light it. Read the rest here: Christmas Tree For US Capitol On Way From California
Beverly Hills News
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Gardening: New Torrance nursery focuses on orchids and succulents
Trang Nguyen, owner of Exquisite Orchids and Succulents, with some of her designs in her display room at the nursery. More here: Gardening: New Torrance nursery focuses on orchids and succulents
Week in Review: Board of Ed Election, Subway Opposition and Hillside Views
School board candidates are preparing for the upcoming election and the City Council is still fighting the proposal to place a subway under Beverly Hills High School. Here are the top stories from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5. 1. Is there too much leftover Halloween candy hanging around at your home? Patch has some ideas for ways to get rid of it . 2. Beverly Hills police determined that an alleged sexual assault at the Montage Hotel was a “baseless” claim. 3. Nearly 1,500 residents have already voted by mail in the Nov. 8 election for three seats on the Board of Education. 4. The City Council has reiterated its pledge to keep up opposition against tunneling under BHHS. 5. In more council news, the panel has postponed its vote on a proposed ordinance that addresses the height of trees and foliage in the Trousdale Estates . Also, did you remember to set your clocks back one hour? Daylight saving time is over . Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . See more here: Week in Review: Board of Ed Election, Subway Opposition and Hillside Views
Weekend Nugget Number One: Johnny Depp
Did Johnny Depp slap down some dough for a getaway on the Isle of Wight? Could be. Real estate rumors have begun to circulate in the local press that the Oscar-nominated ex-pat American actor may have set his real estate sights on the historic and scenic Isle of Wight, located just off the southern coast of England. The wee island has been popular amongst literary types and royalty since at least the mid-1800s when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert acquired the vast Italian Renaissance-style pile known as Osborne House for uses as a summer retreat. Nowadays the island is best known among music-minded pop cultural types for hosting the annual Isle of Wight music festival . Over the summer there were local reports the insanely famous and famously reclusive actor was spotted roaming around the southern seaside town of Ryde and chowing down in local eateries such as the Ugly Mug Cafe in Shanklin where the home made cakes and sandwiches are wheat-, gluten- and dairy-free. Recent reports suggest the sightings (and photos) of Mister Depp over the summer may have been not of the actor himself but rather of someone who just happens to look a lot like the actor and doesn’t mind posing for photos as the actor. However, the latest report –sent our way via an acquaintance we’ll call Venetia Vaseseller–quotes Michelin-starred chef Robert Thompson who owns The Hambrough hotel in Ventor as saying, “People still think coming here is like stepping back in time. But it’s up-and-coming. Johnny Depp just bought a place in [the small village of] Bonchurch.” We have no inside intel on the matter. We’re just passing along a little celebrity real estate gossip and rumor. What we do know is that Mister Depp and his French actress-wife Vanessa Paradis maintain a number of swank residences around the world including a house in the affluent Paris suburb of Meudon, a remotely situated villa in Plan-de-la-Tour about 10 or 12 miles from St. Tropez in the South of France, a 45-acre private island in the Bahamas called Little Hall’s Pond Cay, and a gated, 2.54 acre estate in Los Angeles, CA with a hulking chateau-style mansion built in 1922 and perched on a hillside directly above the Sunset Strip. Property records we peeped indicate Mister Depp acquired his bamboo-ringed Tinseltown compound, former the home of from celebrity attorney Marvin Mitchelson , in October 1995 for $1,890,000. In typical celebrity real estate baller style property records also reveal a corporate entity connected to Mister Depp’s Sunset Strip estate also owns four smaller (but hardly insubstantial) residences on the same short, windy cul-de-sac purchased between September 2005 and October 2008. A quick consult with our bejeweled abacus shows Mister Depp shelled out a total of $10,070,000 for the four properties. Presumably Mister Depp uses the quartet of residences as office space and/or to house family, friends,
Trip tracker
Beverly Hills is literally a city within a city. Surrounded by Los Angeles like a rare solitaire diamond, it sparkles in the California sun, its many facets beckoning all to admire its lavish shops and restaurants that line Rodeo Drive . Continue reading here: Trip tracker
Daylight Saving Ends Sunday, Time to Fall Back
First thing’s first—it’s saving, not savings. Sunday morning marks the end of daylight saving time, when we set our clocks back one hour to revert to Pacific Standard Time. While the official time to fall back is 2 a.m., many people won’t have to do anything—their computers and cell phones will adjust automatically. Having to physically change clocks and watches may eventually become a thing of the past, like picking up the morning paper. Having an extra hour of evening sunlight in the summer seems to be a popular concept, except in Arizona and Hawaii, where daylight saving time is not observed. We keep tinkering with how we set our clocks. In 2007 the United States adopted the current schedule, with daylight saving time beginning the second Sunday in March and ending the first Sunday in November, lengthening it by four weeks. Saving energy during World War I was the goal when the United States first tried daylight saving time. It was repealed once the war was over, then brought back on an all-year basis during World War II only to be dropped again when peace broke out. Daylight saving time was finally standardized by Congress in 1966 and has changed several times since, with a winter version experimented with during the 1970s oil embargo. The rolling blackouts that hit California in 2001 brought up the idea of expanding daylight saving time, prompting the California Energy Commission to release a 37-page report. The proposal was to scrap standard time altogether, with the winter months observing daylight saving time and the summer months saddled with something called “double daylight saving time.” Thankfully, the commission concluded that the plan would only save marginal amounts of energy and it was never enacted. Turns out the blackouts had more to do with Enron than not enough electricity. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . Read more here: Daylight Saving Ends Sunday, Time to Fall Back
First look: Sony HMZ-T1, a 3D TV worn on your head
http://www.youtube.com/v/XsS6aRoR_18?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Sony has released its HMZ-T1 Personal 3D viewer — a headset with two built-in OLED screens for watching movies and playing videogames in 3D. Sony spokesman Aaron Levine stopped by the Los Angeles Times to let us go hands-on with the device. For impressions on the device from Technology reporter Nathan Olivarez-Giles, check out the LA Time Technology blog at… latimesblogs.latimes.com Video produced by Armand Emamdjomeh/Los Angeles Times Read more from the original source: First look: Sony HMZ-T1, a 3D TV worn on your head
S.B. COUNTY: Breads of the World exhibited
In a new exhibit titled ” The World of Breads ,” culinary school students at The Art Institute of California-Inland Empire have elevated loaves of bread to the status of art work in the school’s visual arts gallery. View original post here: S.B. COUNTY: Breads of the World exhibited
Martial Artists Stop L.A. Motel Robbery
Martial arts fighters stopped an armed robbery in progress at a Los Angeles motel, risking their lives to save the motel clerk and apprehend the robber. Brent Alvarez , 33, and Billy Denney , 28, had just arrived from Oregon for a martial arts tournament.
