The Friday Musical Interlude: Modern Talking's Thomas Andres & Omid Perform "We Are One"

It is time for the Friday Musical Interlude here in #Outsiders and we hope all enjoy this Beautiful rendition as we wish all a Fabulous Friday and for all in the United States and our Home in Orange County, a safe and Happy Halloween:

An #Outsider Newsflash: On the Eve of Daylight Savings Time......

Around Town in South County: On the "Prowl" in Laguna Niguel

As South County bids farewel to October, there are a number of things coming up in November which our team wanted to report on:

• Coffee with a Cop @ the Corner Baker on La Paz
• Composte Giveaway on November 14 at City Hall

We will also be witness to the generosity of spirit by the Community as Faith Communities will come together to support the less fortunate among us.   

Onward as we continue reflecting upon our wonderful community we are proud to call home......

Notations For the W-End: An #Outsider newsflash On A Brief Visit to Second Harvest Food Bank

One of the preeminent institutions in Orange County is the Second Harvest Food Bank located at the Former Marine Corp Air Base.    Our team had a chance to visit Second Harvest Food Bank over the weekend to observe the operations in action.     They support insuring that some 200,000 people are fed daily as they support over 340 non profits.  

There is so much to discuss which we look forward to reporting on it over the ensuing days and weeks.

The Friday Musical Interlude: Michael Jackson's "Liberian Girl"....

It is time for the Friday Musical Interlude in #Outsiders.   This is one classic ones that features Quincy Jones, Danny Glover,  the late Jackie Collins, Richard Dryfuss, Steven Spielberg, The modeal Iman  & John Travolta among many others.    As we enjoyed this "oldie" but "Goodie", lost count--We hope all enjoy!!!

Around Town in South County : Fresh & Easy is Closing....

Fresh & Easy is closing its' doors.     Our team had a chance to stop by the Laguna Niguel Store to talk with the Store Staff.   They will beginning a "fire sale" starting tomorrow as they work to shut all 97 Stores and lay off the 3,000 staffers.   This came out to all customers--This is the second store in as many weeks that has branches in South County closing its' doors.....

Mike, Over the last two years, we have been working hard to build a new Fresh & Easy. We thank you for shopping with us and bringing our products into your home. As you may have heard, all our stores will be closing over the coming weeks. You may still convert any points you have over 500 and redeem your rewards. However, we will no longer be awarding Friends points on purchases made after 12:00:00am Pacific time on Friday October 23, 2015. Please see our updated Terms and Conditions. We encourage you to come in and get some of your fresh&easy favorites for the last time. Thank you for being a loyal friend. The fresh&easy Team

© 2015 Fresh & Easy, LLC. Prices exclude any applicable sales tax. We regret not all products are available in all stores or online. You have not selected a store. Click here to select a store. Update Profile | Unsubscribe Fresh & Easy values its customers and respects their privacy. For more information, please view our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions. Fresh & Easy 20101 Hamilton Ave #350 Torrance, CA 90502

Around Town in South County: An #Earthquake?

Seismic Activity in Southern California (Source: http://www.scpr.org)

As we went to press this morning with our review, we were in the midst of a review of a new NASA-led study that provides guidance of an earthquake occurring in Orange County that may be in the range of 6.1-6.3.     All of us that have the privilege to call Southern California home accept this--the need to be prepared is ever so crucial at all levels.   Some have "disputed" the findings.     Our team views it as a wake-up call for all in Southern California especially as all participated in the Great Shakeout that we reported on it earlier.
   

The report is available by clicking on it here: http://geodesy.unr.edu/publications/DonnellanEtAl2015.pdf

Around Town In South County: On the "Prowl"....

The civic pride in South County continues to be ever so evident.    St. Timothy's Food Pantry served over 30 families today simply due to the generosity of the over 2000 families who are members of the Parish.    It was also ever so evident as parents joined an afternoon of service supporting the Aliso Niguel High School Orchestra Program as they took the annual pictures.    It was also ever so evident as the Community turned out in full force at Aliso Viejo City Hall to oppose the proposed ordinance For Regal Cinemas to sell alcohol.

Never a dull moment as out team settled on this "thought 4 the week":  

The power of imagination makes us infinite. - John Muir https://t.co/WdLkjPbOyF #inspirational #QOTD pic.twitter.com/t6XFHFrSSZ

— BrainyQuote (@BrainyQuote) October 3, 2015

Around Town In South County: @ College Fair 2015 @ Aliso Niguel High School

Aliso Niguel High School Was the scene of a College Fair sponsored by the Capistrano Unified School District and the School PTSA. This College Fair  featured some of the leading Universities in the United States including the UC System, Harvard, Cornell and many others.   

The support of the Community was in evidence as the Parents of Aliso Niguel High School joined in directing traffic, greeting attendees, preparing packages and facilitating other matters as required.   It was quite gratifying as Jimboys' Tacos, Trader Joe's Aliso Viejo, Vons Laguna Niguel and Ralph's Foothhill Ranch supported this effort.   The Aliso Niguel High School Culinary Program provided the catering as the ASB student leaders were also in evidence throughout the night.

It was quite a scene as the Community responded in a major way to this.   All Schools were invited to this.  The first hour was reserved for Capistrano Unified School District Students.   To provide some indication of the level of attendees expected, an initial run rate of 4,000 copies of the schedule and the list were printed--and it featured over 100 Unversities, colleges and trade schools.      This fair  also featured a number of workshops on building up the High School Resume, the Community College Transfer Process and College Funding. 

Around Town in South County (W-End Edition): The Great Shakeout 2015

On October 15, the Great Shakeout occured.  It is an annual exercise that is undertaken to test if ever the "big one occurs" .  California has been at the forefront of this and all schools undertook it.  This was from Aliso Niguel High School as the Staff went through the process to escort, take roll of the Students and release students to distraught parents.   

What must be remembered is that California is Earthquake Country.    As our team was witness to this fabulous effort by the Aliso Niguel Faculty and Adminstration, we could only hope that the reality in fact will not happen.     

The Friday Musical Interlude: Oscar Peterson Plays Caravan....

Welcome to Friday here in #Outsiders.    Our team settled on Oscar Peterson as Artist for the Week and we hope all enjoy this selection as we wish all a fabulous Weekend:

Around Town in South County: #WolvurinePride @ Aliso Niguel High School

It was a great day yesterday at Aliso Niguel High School yesterday: 

Rapper #macklemore4music will visit Aliso Niguel HS as planned after student protest. http://t.co/euosooCIv2 pic.twitter.com/cgrUY3veEJ

— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) October 14, 2015

After students found out they had won the "chegg-Macklemore & Ryan Lewis" 10,000 grant, there were opposition on it which led the Principal to refuse the grant.  The ASB Student body leadership mobilized the entire School Community and over 8,000 people signed a petition on Change.org by the following Tuesday Afternoon. that in turn prompted the Principal, Deni Christensen to change her mind and for the grant to be reinstated.   The student leaders agreed that all who attend the Concert would need to get Parental Permission.

It was the power of Social Media at work--and how people can indeed make such a profound difference.

An #Outsider Newsflash: An Update On Plans for #Outsiders 2.x

Our team has been working on "Daily Outsider 2.x" for a number of weeks now as the Daily curation and development has continued.   Over the next two weeks, we would be "scaling back" our Daily Columns/Updates to focus on assessing the current state and gearing up for Daily Outsider 2.0 during the First Week in November.   Our team will continue on-going development of the following:

• The Daily "Twitter" Curation at @DailyOutsider
• The Friday Muscial Interlude
• The Daily Update (From our Founder)

We are grateful for all the support and very excited about the opportunity to serve as we look to a future that is ever so bright:

Around Town in South County (weekend edition): On #SanOnofre

One of the profound developments of the past few years has been the decommisoining of  San Onofre .   This was received in our "Virtual Studios" as the deliberations over the future of the Nuclear plant continues--we will continue to monitor this over the course of the ensuing weeks as a Virtual Community  has also been set up by Southern California Edison at http://www.songscommunity.com/ on this for the Community to visit:

It was a great feeling of support when Joe Street, a staff member of the California Coastal Commission (CCC), began his presentation with a statement that more than one hundred letters to deny the plan had just arrived in his email, and they were still coming in. Way to go team, especially on such short notice! He went on to explain that the CCC does not have jurisdiction over matters of nuclear safety but could rule on how that might impact access to our coastal resources. After an impressive, well informed public comments session took place, some commissioners freely expressed their concerns about the types of casks selected and more.  Here is the bottom line before having to read on on much further. The CCC felt (incorrectly) that they had to approve a plan that relied on dry casks that are prone to cracking, can't be inspected, have no early detection monitoring, not repairable, and not transportable without special improvements to bridges and railways. If cracks were detected, they would not be allowed to be transported at all. Given all those factors, the end result will likely be a permanent nuclear waste site at San Onofre, intentionally or not. Such a shame, when other proven cask designs that meet those reasonable expectations have been determined by Edison to be infeasible or too expensive, (let me remind you that this is the same company that proposed to restart a defective nuclear reactor without fixing it first, and run it at a lower rate for five months just to see what happened). If we want a better outcome, it will take a surge of people power to reach the higher ups, perhaps even Governor Brown. I hope you will continue to support such an effort. Please read on for more details... Perhaps the most disturbing fact lay just beneath the surface and never really came to light. That is because once "the people" have spoken, there is no opportunity to rebut what is said by Edison and the NRC. All of their reassurances about safety and reliability were based on the claim that they had never detected any problems with any of the of the dry cask storage sites around the country. That was later contradicted by probing questions which confirmed that there was no technology available yet that can tell if those canisters have developed any cracks. Unfortunately, the dots were never connected, which might have shown that all of their false claims of a perfect safety record were unsubstantiated and without basis. As things stand now, the Coastal Commission has attached a few conditions to the permit pertaining to future review of safety and reliability, even when it was not exactly within their jurisdiction. Commissioner Mary Shallenberger made the perceptive point that if we are to require Edison to demonstrate cask integrity and stability of bluffs in twenty years, why would we not establish that from the beginning? Unfortunately, that observation got very little traction and they all ended up voting for the plan to go forward anyway, almost as if it were a foregone conclusion, (see reporter's comment at very bottom of page). They feared that a negative decision would make them responsible for a catastrophe due to the risks associated with keeping the waste in spent fuel pools. That was a false choice, because Edison could continue to use the dry cask storage containers they have already been approved to use. They have the same issues, but at least the casks would not be buried in sandstone bluffs just inches above the waterline. The choice to deny Edison's request could still have allowed overcrowded pools to continue to be emptied while allowing time for better options to be considered.  It wasn't until after the meeting that the whole crux of the matter became vividly apparent. Mark Lombard, who is the top NRC person in charge of spent fuel storage and transportation was having an informal discussion with a few of us. He gave a simple answer to the question, "Why would the NRC allow Edison to select a type of storage system that is inferior to better choices that are available today"? Mark said, "It is up to the utility company to determine the system they prefer to use, as long as it meets NRC standards". So the next obvious question was asked, "Why doesn't the NRC raise their standards?" After some nervous laughter and awkwardness, Mark decided to leave rather abruptly. That really is where the answer lies. They should simply require that any dry cask system should be capable of inspection for early warning monitoring, be repairable and transportable without any special improvements to roads, bridges and railways, and not prone to CRACKING! Such a cask does exist but NRC standards have eroded over time, due to constant heavy pressure from the industry.  It is time for them to get a backbone or be overruled. Too much is at stake to leave things where they stand. Just behind this wall, only 14 feet above high tide and 100 feet from the ocean is where highly radioactive nuclear waste will be buried for decades if not centuries, (check out that deteriorated steel and concrete wall too).  Here are some links to related news coverage... CBS, NBC, 10News, KUSI, OC Register, Union Tribune* * The reporter on the UT story observed that, "A spokeswoman for Edison mistakenly announced the approval of the Coastal Commission permit more than an hour before the final vote, then retracted the email and said deliberations were still underway."

The Friday Musical Interlude: Earth, Wind & Fire Perform "Fantasy".....

It is a very hot Friday here in South Orange County.    It is also time again for the Friday Musical Interlude.    Our team chose Earth, Wind & Fire as the Artist of the Week as we hope all enjoy this selection: Fantasy as we wish all in South Orange County a reasonably cool weekend:

Around Town in South County: On the "Virtual Road" @ Solar Decathlon 2015

One of the most interesting events in Orange County has begun.  The Solar Decatholon has begun.   Our founder will be joining the fun on October 16--This update from the team at OC Renewables was received at our Virtual Studios earlier tonight: 

More information: Solar Decathlon Website Casa Del Sol Website Latest OCR Blog Post

Solar Decathlon OPENS:   DAY 1 Had good fun today as a tour guide for the first day of the Solar Decathlon at the Great Park, which opened today and will be open to the public Thurs - Sun the next two weeks. A surprise visit from US Secretary of Energy Ernest Monitz who cut the ribbon opening the competition (picture!) Also in attendance this week will beASES Executive Director Carly Rixham and Development Intern Simo Yexrour.  Rumor has it they will be at the Decathlon tomorrow (Friday) and may even be volunteering! A lot of great houses here (14x in all), so please make plans to come down and see or be a volunteer! ~ Adam Plesniak, Managing DirectorOCrenewables.org

On the "Prowl" in South County: On Oktoberfest & "CHEC"Family Resource Center

"CHEC" Family Resource Center is having an open house.    On November 17 from 4-6 PM, they will be celebrating their extended service hours by enjoying free pizza, giveways and also information available for all families in the greater South County Area.    Their address is 24712 Calle Arroyo In San Juan Capistrano:



There is also Oktoberfest in Dana Point that is slated to be held on October 10 starting at 12 PM at Sea Terrace Park.  Check it out by visiting http://www.DanaPointOktoberfest.com

Never a dull moment around South County.....

Around Town in South County: On #SONGS & #LNJRCIVICS

Our Communities are, once again, trailblazers as epitomized by this recent decision in the City of Laguna Niguel.    An opportunity for the young to get involved at an early age has been launched by the City.   It is an opportunity for Middle Schoolers to join "Jr Civic Workshops" to make their voice heard and to see what truly makes our Government what it is.    Meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 PM starting this month.   Further information is available by visiting http://www.LNTEENS.Org.

We also were made aware of a Decommisioning Education Fair coming up on Thursday October 8 starting at 4:30 PM for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.    It will be an opportunity to Ask and learn questions which will be held at the Laguna Beach Community Center at 380 Third Street in Laguna Beach.     Further information is available by visiting http://www.SONGScommunity.com 

On the Eve of the New Week: Thought(s) For the Week On Love....

On the eve of a new week, our team choose these compliation of thoughts from one of our must-reads, +Jonathan Huie , which we embrace in a major way.   Our team was witness to such love during the Aliso Niguel Homecoming  Game on how the Parents made such a difference as they did--enough said:

 

It is not the magnitude of our actions

but the amount of love

that is put into them that matters.

- Mother Teresa 

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news.

The good news is that you don't know how great you can be!

How much you can love!

What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!

- Anne Frank

True love doesn't come to you it has to be inside you.

- Julia Roberts

Around Town in South County (weekend edition): Another "wow" :-)

The community we have the privilege to call home never ceases to amaze us.     Friday October 2 was no exception as the day began in the City of Laguna Niguel with the 5th Annual Senior Expo at the Sea Country Community Center:

Leading health providers were on hand to provide advise and guidance, check blood pressure, scan body and check for stroke--while also providing some crucial community resources from the City and other community organizations including the Fair Housing of Orange County and Mission Lutheran Church.

Later on that evening, Aliso Niguel High School had its' annual Homecoming Game as Aliso Niguel played Sonora High School in a nonleague game and as the Homecoming King and Queen were crowned.   At the half time, the audience was entertained by the Freshman, Sophomre, Junior and Senior Classes with some wonderful entertainment:

Aliso Niguel lost the game by one point.   But the celebrations will continue later on tonight as The Annual Homecoming Dance will be held as over 1000 students are expected to attend.  This is also a weekend that an Orange County Institution, UC Irvine, has a birthday celebration.   UC Irvine is 50 Years tomorrow and a weekend of celeberations is at hand that is noted here for reference

We here at #Outsiders join all of Orange County is saying, Happy Birthday!!!  You've made a difference for this community--here is to the next Fifty Years:  

The Friday Musical Interlude: Herb Alpert Plays "South of The Border"

It is time yet again for the Friday Musical Interlude here in #Outsiders.    We hope all enjoy this selection from our artist of the week, Herb Alpert as we wish all a fab weekend: