A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law

My old religion professor from Temple U. on eradicating terrorism... (and I'm sorry, but he IS 83 years old!)

Leonard Swidler calls for the eradication of terrorism through education


Books by Leonard Swidler

Get this toy for your kid??? Uh, think about removing the batteries first - read the comments!
Amazon.com: buying info: Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 Broom

No "Bye Bye Bye?"

Ready, Aim . . .

At this university data center in the early 1970s, students facing deadlines would sometimes pound on the glass wall to prompt system operator pilot fish to run their decks of punched cards. "There was lots of spare time back then," says fish, "and one evening shift I was using that spare time to clean a rifle." So when one student in a hurry pounds on the glass, fish turns toward him - with rifle in hand. Says fish, "I didn't see him for the rest of the semester."

Shark Tank: Now What?

In refernece to the last post, take up smoking and go work out.

The CigarNexus National Cigar Museum

This was a buffet weekend. Went to a buffet restaurant last night, and wound up going to one tonight as well. We weren't as hungry yesterday, but today this turned out to be the first meal of the day for all of us.

Sunday night: L.A Buffet: (Norhoff across from Northridge Mall, next to Good Earth; I can't count the number of restaurants that have opened in this location and failed, from coffee shops to mini-brewery... But they might actually succeed with this concept.

("Labor Day special") $9.95 for adults, $5.69 for children. Drinks extra (forgot to check for wine/beer license). How about Sushi, Chinese, and Mongolian BBQ in one restaurant? And a regular salad/fruit/jello/pudding bar a la Sizzler.

Bear in mind, I don't expect gourmet food in these places, but after two different visits, I and the family think it's pretty good, and quite
a good value...

Of note: Crab Rangoon, salmon, lobster rolls, pot stickers, siew mai, won ton/hot&sour/egg flower soups, orange chicken, bbq chicken on a stick, Hong Kong Pork, squid, spare ribs, General Tzo's chicken, meatless (I think) lo mein which wasn't bad either - plus they have a minimized Mongolian BBQ (no do-it-yourself oils (I think they add a little) but they have you add "wine", no flatbreads (but I discovered puffy "rolls" that were similar), but tasty and cooked well - You basically have a choice between garlic, curry, or "Mild" - and I noted that the chef was making sure the griddle was very clean.

My wife says the salmon was very good. We don't eat sushi, so I can't vouch, but it looked okay - california roll, maguro, octopus, something else (maybe fatty tuna?). Not ultra desert oriented, they had pound cake with toasted coconut, almond cookies, another kind of light pretzel-shaped cookie, and a soft-serve chocolate/vanilla machine with various sprinkles (jimmie's if you're from Philly) - similar to Sizzler too. Oh, and the jello, puddings, and fruit of course. I was too full to try it, but it looked like they'd done an approximate "taffy banana" kind of thing in a bowl, with red candy-looking stuff on top of bananas.

Tonight's buffet: California City Buffet - $10.69/adults, $.80/year of age for children to age 11. Includes sodas, coffee/tea, milk, and even horchatas. (these are Dinner prices - Brunch and Lunch prices are cheaper).

This place, (NOT in California City, which would have been about 118 degrees today, maybe I should check) next to Chili's on Reseda north of Nordhoff, has been there for a while, and so we finally decided to check it out. A bit more "international" than the LA Buffet (though there was more chinese-style than I expected, otherwise I'm not sure we would have tried it right after the other place), but not quite as exotic either. Salads, jello, puddings, egg-flower and hot&sour soups, a decent orange chicken (sorry, the Panda Express chain seems to have the secret on keeping this stuff fresh-tasting) and a very tasty boneless BBQ chicken that was somewhat similar to the on-a-stick stuff at LA Buffet. Plus, a nice prime rib, pizza (okay - passed Tina's critical test) mashed and roasted potatoes, carrots, corn, rolls, beef ribs (the way Rina's Mom used to make it, marinated in vinegar - I'll try it next time), crab (I didn't taste it), fried rice and lo mein (fried rice was fine, wasn't in the mood for the lo mein after the night before).

This place was not bad, and the thing we really liked: lots of desserts, nice and small: cheesecake pie, pecan pie, pumpkin, carrot cake, chocolate cake, strudels, fruit tarts, cream puffs, cookies, and two machines serving choc/van soft-serve and vanilla and strawberry frozen yogurt (no jimmies, just choc. syrups).

I'm going to post these in chowhound.com and citysearch...

"Wait All Day" is an Interesting Web Site - WARNING, takes some time to load...

My guess: about two weeks...