Boat. Ha Long trip report 2009

From the waiting area there is a shuttle boat to take passengers to the ship. We departed just before 12:30. After boarding the ship, orientation and check-in were relatively quick and painless. While the ship was bigger than we would have liked, our a/c suite was very nice – king size bed, rain forest shower, plus a jacuzzi bath and a small private deck.

There was also a safe and a minibar in the room. Lunch was the first activity of the cruise and it was an international/Vietnamese set menu, not a buffet. Very nice. The price of the cruise was all inclusive, except for drinks and kayaking.

Oakland Housing Authority. Contra Costa County beefs up North Richmond patrol

Collaboration and creative budgeting make for more police in North Richmond this summer, Contra Costa County leaders said Monday, announcing a development that also benefits neighbors of the crime-fraught enclave. County Supervisor John Gioia and Sheriff Warren Rupf redirected funding and changed the purpose of some public safety dollars to create a contingent of patrol deputies assigned specifically to the neighborhood of 3,500, an amenity found in no other unincorporated community. “The good people of North Richmond are 90 percent more likely to fall victim to violent crime than the residents of any other unincorporated area in Contra Costa County,” Rupf explained.

The community generated more than 3,600 emergency calls during the first six months of 2009, better than one call per resident, records show. The sheriff’s office documented more than 1,300 crimes there last year, including five killings. The changes add three two-deputy patrol cars to North Richmond’s usual mix, including at night when sheriff’s staffing is thinnest.

Half. Recipe: Squash baked with sage and chile butter

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the squash in half and remove seeds. Cut into one-half-inch thick slices.

It is not necessary to peel the squash. Toss the squash with olive oil, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. 2. Arrange the squash in a single layer on two large baking pans with sides.

Newly acquired Matt Holliday shines in Cardinals debut : Baseball : Memphis Commercial Appeal

Holliday had two soft hits and a stolen base to help the Cardinals build a 5-0 lead. He ripped a double in the seventh and got his second infield single in the ninth. “I was lucky, but I’ll take them,” Holliday said after tying a career high with his 15th four-hit performance. “How many times do you hit the ball hard and make outs?” In his biggest deadline deal as Cardinals general manager, John Mozeliak sent a jolt through the St. Louis clubhouse by completing a win-now July deal first considered in November.

Mozeliak sent the team’s top prospect, Redbirds third baseman Brett Wallace, Redbirds pitcher Clayton Mortensen, and another minor-leaguer to the A’s for Holliday and cash. Holliday, with his career .315 average, immediately became the Cardinals’ everyday left fielder and cleanup hitter, the big-name hitter La Russa has long desired to protect reigning National League Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols.

Espn Peephole Scandal. Commentary: To catch an Andrews predator

Most of them try to nip that kind of treatment in the bud when they realize their career arc hardly will go far if that’s how they’re generally perceived. We’re in full agreement with the immediate response to this by USA Today’s Christine Brennan, who launched a Tweet the other day that, of course, was immediately misconstrued: “Women sports journalists need to be smart and not play the frat house. There are tons of nuts out there. Erin Andrews incident is bad, but to add perspective: there are 100s of women sports journalists who have never had this happen to them.

” That’s something every female sports person has to be thinking about as they decide if they’re more in tune with creating an image of media maven or a credible news gatherer. You can try to have it both ways. But … Good luck with that. Only a very few can pull it off and are very cautious about how male viewers try to invade their space.

Post. Gadjah Mada University alumni hold national meeting

Gadjah Mada University’s alumni association (Kagama) on Thursday began its two-day national meeting and dialogue to discuss Indonesia’s latest developments. The meeting will be attended by noted university alumni including leading vice presidential candidate Boediono, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Sapari, State Minister for Administrative Reforms Taufiq Effendi, and National Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo. The meeting will elect the new chairman of Kagama and hear the 2004-2009 report. A national dialogue would also be held in conjunction with the meeting. “The ministers, who are also UGM alumni, will address the dialogue,” said minister Djoko, who is also the current Kagama chairman.

Djoko said Kagama was established in 1956 and now has more than 200,000 members.

Hell Kitchen Fight. Immigration Now, Immigration Tomorrow, Immigration Forever: Reason’s guide to reality

To be fair, the president’s confusion is ours as a country: This nation of immigrants has never been particularly comfortable with new arrivals. How will immigration play out politically over the next few months, especially since the dead heat that American politics has become is more dead than ever? The vast majority of the American people is staunchly in favor of militarizing the Southern border or doing whatever it may take to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from that part of the world. In fact, a plurality of the American people is in favor of reducing the flow of legal immigrants, too. At least for a while.

So are the House Republicans, who passed legislation that is long on enforcement and “cutting off the flow” stuff and extremely short on amnesty, guest workers, and the like. A good chunk of Senate Republicans-along with a handful of Democrats-is in favor of less-draconian legislation than House Republicans, including a guest-worker program and, in theory at least, some way of legalizing many, if not most, current illegals. At press time, the Senate had signed on to building some sort of wall. Where any of this might end up is anybody’s guess.

Orange County Movie. Fans go wild over Demi Lovato and David Archuleta

About halfway into Demi Lovato’s concert at Nokia Theatre on Friday the teen pop star paused to introduce her next song with the truest words she’d speak all night. “You know, last year I shot a movie that changed my life forever,” she pointed out before instant cheers of fans cut her off, making it clear that she really didn’t need to fill in the rest of that sentence. “Camp Rock,” the 2008 Disney Channel hit, plucked Lovato from relative obscurity and placed her alongside the Jonas Brothers, the hottest teen act of the moment. Within months, Lovato, still just 16 years old, was a very big thing.

Her first album, “Don’t Forget,” debuted at No. 2 in September. By February of this year she was starring in her own Disney Channel show, “Sonny with a Chance.” And when her sophomore effort, “Here We Go Again,” arrives on Tuesday, it almost certainly will make a huge splash on the charts.

Spongebob Spongebash. NorthJersey.com: ‘SpongeBob’ soaks up 10 years

“SpongeBob” has been wearing the pants for 10 years when it comes to animation domination. Now Bikini Bottom’s master fry cook is about to get super-sized. Tonight Nickelodeon is airing its 50-hour “Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash Weekend,” which begins with a brand-new episode, “To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants.” To paraphrase Squidward, “SpongeBob” has arrived.

Not that the show hadn’t made a few ripples before this. It’s been the No. 1 show with kids ages 2 to 11 for seven consecutive years and typically draws an average of 70 million viewers each month.

Bill Burr. Slate examines the GOP amendments to a Senate health care bill.

Who’s right? There’s no real way to resolve this debate without examining the content of these amendments, and the committee has yet to officially release them. But a Senate Republican source sent Slate a summary of many of the amendments, with a short description of each. (Download the Excel file.) Disclaimer: This is an incomplete list.

Of the 788 amendments filed, only 437 appear here. And of the 161 GOP amendments passed or accepted, we have confirmed only 80 as such. We hope to update the document as more information becomes available.