Good morning and greetings, Perry Mason fans. About a month ago, I received the following notice in the mail: SUMMONS FOR JURY SERVICE. Now, I was hoping for CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE WON A MILLION DOLLARS or YOU’VE BEEN CHOSEN AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL, but in retrospect, the notice for jury duty ranked a close second or at least took home the bronze.

Now, as we all know, the right of a trial by jury is a privilege afforded to every citizen in the U.S not currently residing at Guantanamo Bay. Personally, when I’m thinking privilege, it’s more along the lines of meeting a President Obama or bringing joy to a sick child, not being judged in a courtroom by a group of my peers, most of whom wish they were elsewhere. This right to a trial by jury is guaranteed by the Constitution and the NBA, where caring happens.

Nevertheless, I was prepared to perform my civic duty, so I picked out something from my Clarence Thomas fall collection and headed down to the court house. We were first directed into the jury assembly room, where prospective jurors were greeted with a luxurious spread of hot hors d’oeuvres, my favorite being the little quiches in the shape of gavels. It was a nice way to say hello although the stuffed mushrooms were a little overdone and the bailiffs ate most of the shrimp.

We were then called out by name and directed to head over to Department 7. I was thrilled that the woman who did the name calling pronounced mine correctly. It’s the same feeling I get when I go to a doctor’s office for the first time and when asked on the questionaire, “what do you like to be called?”, I always answer “Brad Pitt, or sometimes “George Clooney.” It’s my way of giving back.

We were then warned by a Sheriff’s deputy that the following items would not be allowed in the court building. Knives of any size, pocket tools, screwdrivers, whiskey sours, scissors, knitting needles, pine needles, mace, pepper spray, pepper steak, handcuff keys, nail files, wallet chains, fast food chains, forks, glass bottles and inflatable life rafts.

Then it was on to the courthouse, where we then sat outside the courtroom before being given the magic words to enter. As I strolled through the courtroom doors, I immediately spotted the long-haired defendant, looking very dapper in his jailhouse khakis. He was looking around and smiling like a jaybird, or maybe that’s jailbird. He was seemingly thrilled that all these people had come to pass judgement on him. Either that, or he was just a lunatic. I then wondered, what crime was this gleeful soul accused of and did I remember to put the parking pass on the windshield of my car.

A distinguished-looking, white-haired judge then welcomed us and starting off by thanking us for appearing to fulfill our civic duty. And then before you could say “Judge Judy, “jurisprudence” or “Dear Prudence,” his honor declared that “the parties had agreed that they no longer required the services of a jury so we’ll see you in two years.”

Well, the joy in the room was overwhelming. I hadn’t seen that many happy people gathered together since McDonalds introduced the McRib sandwich. I was back in my car and headed home before you could say “will the defendant please rise.” They say justice is blind. I say, every once in a while, the blind squirrel finds an acorn.

So now that the verdict is in, let’s move on to this week’s photo funhouse. I was going to feature a sunset that I shot back in October that had greatness written all over it. But then on Wednesday morning, this sunrise came along and moved to the front of the pack. Unlike in poker, a full house sunrise beats a royal flush sunset.

I had been up since 3:15 am that morning, working on my doctorate on the causes and effects of enormous tv viewing by middle-aged men. When I looked outside at 5:50 am the sky showed great potential, much like I exhibited back in my junior high basketball days. So I headed down to West Cliff and when I arrived at the coast, I was greeted by a beautiful orange and gray canvas of November clouds. As the creator and co-star of Sunrise Santa Cruz, these are the kinds of mornings that make me it all worthwhile. Well, that and being able to find my car keys.

Along with my trusty golden retriever, we proceeded to Its Beach. It felt good to be in the sand shooting away, as this was the first classic sunrise of the fall season. By 7 am, the sky was a whitish gray and you would never have known that there had been morning majesty in the air. And that is what Sunrise Santa Cruz is all about, capturing those moments and bringing them to this blog. Well, that and being a comedic forum for anything that flows through my stream of conciousness.

So let’s bring on the late night humor. “It’s interesting what former presidents do when they leave office. Bush is now working as a motivational speaker. And if you want to be motivated, who better to turn to than the guy who invaded the wrong country and started a depression.” -David Letterman “President Obama planted a tree on the north lawn of the White House this week, in a spot where Bush planted one that did not take. Apparently, nobody had the heart to tell Bush that his tree was actually a coat rack. ‘I’m going to go water my tree!’ ‘Whatever you say, Mr. President.'” –Jimmy Fallon “Some bad news for Sarah Palin. I don’t know if you heard this, according to a recent survey when asked, 7 out of 10 people said Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president. 7 out of 10. Yeah. Even worse, the question was, ‘Are you happy with your long-distance service?'” –Conan O’Brien

“Abdullah Abdullah just quit next week’s runoff election against Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzi. Abdullah Abdullah said, he was just following in the footsteps of his role model, Palin Palin.” –Jimmy Fallon “Yeah, no runoff election in Afghanistan. Apparently a second election would be way too expensive to rig. So Abdullah Abdullah says he is pulling out because he wants to spend more time with his wife, Paula Abdullah. Abdullah Abdullah may be out of the race, but they say in four years his idiot son will be on the ballot. That would be Abdullah W. Abdullah.” –David Letterman

“Do you believe it’s been a year since Barack Obama was elected president? Amazing, huh? Well, actually, there’s been some changes. His new slogan is now, ‘Yes, we can, but don’t hold your breath. The White House has approved a new plan to pay — they’re going to pay members of the Taliban to change sides and support the U.S. And if it works there, they’re going to try it with Fox News.” –Jay Leno “President Obama has made a stunning announcement. President Obama has approved a new plan to pay members of the Taliban to switch sides and support the United States. Yeah, apparently he’s promised them 72 virgins and full dental coverage.” –Conan O’Brien

So that’s our pre-Veterans day report. Shot another gorgeous sunrise yesterday morning on the final day of the Coldwater Classic down at Steamer Lane. It was epic conditions as the swell was up and waves were pumping. And congratulations to go out to Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees for winning their 27th World Championship. It just goes to show that, in the words of the Beatles, “I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love,” but it can sure can help purchase starting pitching and hitting. We’ll catch you in the end zone. Aloha, mahalo and later, Bronx Bomber fans.

Good morning and greetings, Grand Funk Railroad fans. That’s right, folks, “I’m your captain” and thanks to my paint-by-the-numbers GPS system, “I’m getting closer to my home.” And dammit, “We’re an American Band. I saw Grand Funk guitarist Mark Farner play last summer at the Friday night concerts down at the Beach Boardwalk and he rocked Santa Cruz. I also saw Mr. Eddie Money, “Back in the 70’s when I was here, I was snorting South American countries” and the Gin Blossoms. We are talking tremendous rock and roll shows for the price of free.

For many years I passed on these mini-Woodstocks down at the beach and then one evening checked out Peter Noone and Herman Hermits and I was hooked just like Mrs. Brown and her lovely daughter. The sand, waves, barking sea lions, annoying tourists, alcohol, litter and cigarette smoke-it doesn’t get much better than that with rock and roll music blasting out over Monterey Bay. To quote the great Duke Ellington, (not to be confused with North Carolina Ellington,) “Music is my mistress.” And as Pablo Cruise once told me, “Love will find a way.”

For today’s photo fare we are going back, as the Chambers Brothers would say, in “Time.” As I’ve mentioned before, I joined the digital revolution in 2005, and much like when I broke down and ate Chinese food for the first time, a new sweet and sour world opened up for me. I had been shooting with a Canon AE1 for many years and was happy as a clam with the format. Focus, shoot a roll of 24, develop and see what I’ve got. A surprise in every envelope. Sometimes joy, sometimes disappointment, like seeing my SAT scores. But today we are going with some jump shots that worked for me, like an open 18-footer from the left side of the key.

For our first image, I went with one of my many cypress sunrise shots, this one entitled “Sky on Fire.” For years I shot the sunrise in front of the cypress tree along West Cliff before one day I finally dawned on me (no pun intended,) that this damn tree was blocking too much of the sky. I then joined moveon.org and started shooting down at Lighthouse Point.

Which leads me to photo #2, which in honor of Tommy Gavin and the “Rescue Me” boys, I call “Fire Engine Sky.” For a month in my late youth I shot with the slide format, and this red alert is a result of my slide period, which I also refer to as my first year of Algebra 1. I was using some film called Kodak Extra Color and as you can see from the rouge and the purple haze in the sky, they definitely didn’t cheat me on the color front. Not to toot my own Lena horn, but the Communist Party named this shot their 2004 photo of the year.

For our next two vertical entrees we move north (although some might say west) along West Cliff Drive. For some reason this morning I mistimed the sunrise. I woke and saw a beautiful red cumulus ribbon covering the sky. I then scooted down to the cliff and caught the aftermath (or was it afterscience) of the sun rising over the fog bank which I call “Glory Clouds.” Karma, clouds, parsley, sage, rosemary and time were on my side that morning.

We then move up to Swift Street to see a double rainbow doing stand-up in the Pacific. This was the beach that I lived across from during my West Cliff wonder years from 1975-1989. Living on the edge of the continent and photographing rainbows was not easy, with the daily distractions of migrating whales, countless chains of sea birds and endless droves of roller skaters. And definitely not in that order.

For our last two shots we are moving out of town but staying in state. The fifth shot is from New Year’s Day, 2004, back in Palm Desert, when the sky lit up with brilliantly colored, cotton-puffed clouds that just blew my mind. As I’m writing this I’m reminded of another fantastic, blood-red sunset from Palm Desert that I will feature later this summer. Due to technical difficulties, I did not make it out to the desert this year but from what I hear Sherman’s Deli (with two convenient locations in Palm Springs and Palm Desert) is still doing major rye bread, corn beef and chocolate rugala business without me.

The final shot was taken in lovely Hermosa Beach sometime in the 1990’s. There weren’t a lot of memorable moments of color in the sky during my decade in the southland but this was one of the nights of photo greatness. Living in the most densely populated city in the U.S., I found myself engulfed in the warm Pacific while the sun was setting from April thru October. Throw in third row season tickets to the Lakers at the Fabulous Forum during the Magic Johnson years, which was a magical and James Worthy experience in itself and sunsets took a back seat to the Laker Girls. Hermosa Beach was like living in a giant outdoor health club, but that’s a sideout story for another blog.

On to the late night news. “Well, the big story is the Supreme Court. President Obama has found his nominee. She is a Federal appeals judge. Sonia Sotomayor, a Latino woman, how about that? So, you know what that means. Ruth Bader Ginsburg no longer the hot chick on the court. If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the country’s first Hispanic judge. In fact, her first order of business, deporting Lou Dobbs.” –Jay Leno “History was made today when President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first female Hispanic justice to serve in the U.S. Supreme court. Obama said this should help keep the court from leaning too far to the white.” –Jimmy Fallon

“North Korea tested another nuclear bomb. The fear is that North Korea will sell this nuclear weapon to some unstable, volatile world leader, you know, like Dick Cheney.” –Jay Leno “There are some people who are saying that maybe Dick Cheney is setting himself up to actually run for president. You know, it makes sense. Republicans are looking for fresh blood, and Cheney just had some yesterday.” –Bill Maher

“Barack Obama and Dick Cheney have been going at each other all week. This is like big-time wrestling, isn’t it? Man, it’s like charisma versus arrhythmia. I can’t believe Dick Cheney keeps giving speeches. He’s appearing on TV news shows. It’s like he thinks he is still president. A new pentagon report says that 1 in 7 inmates released from Guantanamo Bay has gone back to terrorism. Surprisingly, the other 6 are working in customer service.” –Jay Leno

So I hope you enjoyed today’s blast of colors from the past. And congratulations to the Lakers and the Magic, who will meet in the NBA Finals that begin on Thursday. What this means is no LeBron James, who put on an INCREDIBLE show during the playoffs but who failed to show up for the Game 6 postgame press conference. It guess it all comes down to the words of Mahatma Gandhi who once said, “Defeat is worse than death, you have to live with defeat.”

As you can imagine, there are few more Fuji like images in the archives that we will later revisit. On Friday morning, I took a few shots of a coyote in the misting rain which we’ll see coming down the pike. So enjoy the Kodak colors and we’ll catch at the Staples Center. And welcome to June. Aloha, mahalo and later, George McGinnis fans.

Good morning and greetings, Michelle Obama fans. I don’t want to say that I’m excited about our First Lady, but I have been going sleeveless for weeks. And the fact that her husband is the smartest guy around and is in charge of restoring this nation’s sanity thrills me on a daily basis. His presence provides real hope for our country’s future as we can show the world our strength and compassion. Throw in the fact that hosted a seder at the White House, is having a basketball court installed at Camp David and genuinely cares about helping the less fortunate almost makes me forget he’s a lefty. But then again, so was Jimi Hendrix. And the wind cries Obama.

Now you’ve heard me comment over the last few months that this has not been the year for color in the sky. Which is not to be confused with Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Except for a few moments back in early February, I haven’t shot a single sunrise in 2009. Well, that hitless streak came to an end this past Tuesday when I woke up, checked the horizon and saw clouds that could actually showed more promise than most of the new shows I watched this season. All I can say is, thank FX that Tommy Gavin and the firehouse boys are back on “Rescue Me.” And this follows of tremendous FX season of evilness on “Damages.” To quote the Backstreet Boys, “I just want to be Glen Close to you.”

So I was electrified as a Joe Biden hair plug as I put my kosher eggs benedict on hold and headed for Steamers Lane. The sky was just starting to light up and reflecting on the bay (photo #1) as I hit the cliff. It was a spectacular sunrise that, much like our new Commander-in-Chief, seemingly came out of nowhere. Something similar happened last March when there was a sunset that was just off the charts with nothing before or after. It’s as if the weather has a mind of its own. Or could it be the words of the group Spirit, “It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong?” Or was that Al Gore?

At the exact moment the sun disappeared up into the clouds (shortly after photo #6) the bells chimed (or did they toll?) from the church along West Cliff. What was even more amazing about this magnificent morning was that it was the 15th birthday of my son, Jason and the 50th of my brother, Brad. It was a wonderfully, energizing way to start the day, for soon after the skies clouded up and only early risers knew the beauty that began this April day. Or in the words of the Young Rascals, “It’s a beautiful morning. I think I’ll just go outside for a while.. and smile.”

You can also see from photo #5 that the swell was up and that the waves were pumping like questions being thrown at Timmy Geithner at a Republican Finance Subcomittee hearing. All in all, a special morning for spring break 2009. But now it is history, or as Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd would say, “Tuesday’s gone with the wind.”

On to some good humor. “This week, President Obama attended what was either the G-20 summit or his high school reunion. I haven’t seen old white dudes this excited about meeting a black guy since Michael Jordan’s fantasy camp.” –Seth Meyers ” He was the 11th U.S. President Queen Elizabeth has met with, and the first one where she spent the entire meeting clutching her purse.” –Bill Maher “A lot of Americans don’t understand the role of the queen. The queen is merely a figurehead. She wields no real political power. Or, as we call it in this country, the vice president.” –Jay Leno

“At the G-20 summit, the White House accidentally listed a phone sex line for journalists seeking an on-record briefing call for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. To which Bill said, ‘Boy, did they get the wrong number.'” –Jay Leno “The Taliban has decided to modernize a little bit. They’re going to stop measuring the lengths of mens’ beards. I’m proud of those guys. I couldn’t be happier. Oh wait, I know how I could be happier: if they stopped trying to murder us.” And the Taliban will no longer require women to wear those burkas while in public. Spring Break! Let’s see those ankles!” –Jimmy Fallon

So that’s the Sunrise Santa Cruz report. To paraphrase the words of the great Terence Aloysius ‘Slip’ Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) from the Bowery Boys, “Sometimes matzo cast upon the waters comes back as burnt toast.” So enjoy the April skies, the last waning, breadless days of Passover and most importantly, the final week of the pro hoops regular season. We’ll catch you at midcourt. Oh, and here’s a shout out to the writers of “Friday Night Lights.” That show runs straight to my heart. Bring on the NBA playoffs. Aloha, mahalo and later, Jerry West fans.

Good morning, rock and roll fans. Today we are going to take a fast break from the Doobies, the Steely Dans and you Led Zepplin fans and instead focus on March Madness. No, I’m not talking about trying to get your tax information in order, or figuring out how you’re going to pay all your bills and still afford a summer vacation or wondering how Alan Greenspan is sleeping these days. I’m talking college hoops, and for the easy lovers of this sport, the next three weeks are SuperBowl Sundays. We are heading to the collegiate mountaintop. Simply put, we are climbing the NCAA Stairway to Heaven.

Now yesterday was Selection Sunday as 64 teams were chosen (while a few deserving teams got screwed) for the honor of playing for the national championship on April 6. What lies ahead are fantastic finishes, the joy of victory, the agony of defeat and most importantly, for basketball purists like myself, enough cheerleaders to drive off a battalion of Taliban.

So as a prelim to the Big Dance, Syracuse and the University of Connecticut went at it Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. Having attended Syracuse for two years (before I was pardoned so I could live in a place were it didn’t go directly from winter to summer,) I still have a fondness for the Orangemen. Well, this was a game for the ages and the ageless, as this epic contest went SIX overtime sessions before Syracuse prevailed. I don’t want to say this game ran long but I’ve seen “Law & Order” marathons that took less time.

Now I realize that many of you don’t give a rat’s behind about sports so let’s move on to the photo highlights. For today’s photo synthesis we journey back to the morning of March 5. Coming off my typical night’s sleep which included dreams of not being able to find my car, not having studied for a test and in the words of Blind Faith, not being able to find my way home, I woke up to the sound of rain. I took a quick look out the window, saw the gray skies and went back to finishing my Jackson Five crossword puzzle.

Minutes later, I glanced outside and saw orange light painting the windows across the street. I quickly threw off my Jonas Brothers pajamas and headed down to West Cliff. On my ride down, the sky was turning a beautiful color, or in the words of George Costanza, “a pinkish hue.” By the time I got to the edge the color was in fade mode and the sun was rising, so I snapped the first two shots in today’s series. Despite missing the predawn pagentry, the morning was, in the words of Kool and the Gang, “Fresh, exciting. She’s so inviting to me.”

I then spent the rest of the day as I normally would, trying to solve the country’s economic problems, working out a mideast peace proposal and wondering what pasta goes best with eggplant parmigiana. And then around sunset time, I headed back down to the cliff to check out the western conference sky. There wasn’t the abundance of clouds I was looking for but what was there looked semi-inviting, so I put on my zoom lens and went to work. The results are photos 4 thru 6. This pick six combination is what you Jeopardy fans (and I know you’re out there) refer to as the Daily Double-sunrise and sunset from the same day. And now let’s meet our returning champion.

Not too much going on in the political humor front as Mr. Political Irony.com has gone on vacation and I haven’t been checking out any monologue action. But here’s one that made the cut. “Here’s a cute story. You know the Obama kids? They got a swing set there on the White House lawn. And here’s the nice thing. This is what you like about Obama. He is a very conscientious guy. Thinks of everything, because the swing set didn’t cost the taxpayers anything. They built the swing set out of old pieces of Dick Cheney’s guard tower.” -David Letterman

So in keeping with our humorous theme, here are a couple of jokes from one of the greats, Milton Berle. A husband and wife were visiting a zoo where the animals were in compounds rather than cages. Unfortunately, the wife leaned over too far at one of the compounds and was grabbed by a giant male gorilla. As the gorilla was carrying her off, the wife cried, “What should I do? What should I do?” The husband said, “Do what you do at home. Tell him you have a headache.”

As part of a fact-finding tour for the jungle animals,a female zebra went to the United States. Seeing a cow, she asked, “What do you do?” The cow said, ‘I give milk.” Then the zebra saw a sheep and asked, “What do you do?” The sheep said, “I grow wool. They take it and make clothes.” A moment later, a stallion ran up. The zebra said, “What do you do?” The stallion said, “Take off that silly housecoat and you’ll find out.”

That’s right, when it comes to Uncle Miltie and jokes, we always take the high road. So that’s our show. In the meantime, think about what you can do to make this planet a better place, enjoy the March skies and get ready for lots of college basketball. As far as my NCAA pick, I’m going to defer to my ex-college basketball correspondent from my SportsTalk radio days, Dr. Michael Schur. Michael, who is the Jay Bilas of Pediatric Anesthesiology, used to call Chapel Hill his home but now hails from lovely Satellite Beach, Florida. I believe it was he who first coined the phrase, “If God isn’t a Tar Heel fan, then why is the sky Carolina blue?”

Anyway, after speaking with Michael over my ham radio on Saturday night, he is picking John Calipari’s Memphis Tigers to take the title. “They’re long, they’re hungry, play suffocating ‘D,’ and most importantly, Hubie Brown used to coach in Memphis.” Now you can see the importance of four years of medical school. And here’s a little secret-Michael has told me that if he and his wife Jody have another child they’re going to name him Tarik Evans. He’d be a diaper dandy.

One final thought on the tournament. Coaches say winning is a habit. I prefer the words of the Doobie Brothers, as in “What were once habits are now vices.” And congratulations go out to my favorite point-guard playing son, Jason, who as a freshman was selected for Honorable Mention honors this season in the Mission Trail Athletic League. It just goes to show what hard work, dedication and New Jersey genes can do for a child. Aloha, mahalo and later, Jonny Flynn fans.

Good morning and greetings, NFL fans. We’ve had a beautiful week of weather here on the central coast, with clear skies and unseasonably warm weather. The thermometer hit 86 on Saturday and that was followed by a Super Sunday. Not bad for a mid-November weekend. We’re talking Donna Summer weather in the late fall. George Carlin, in his weatherman days as Al Sleet, would have said “these conditions were due to a Canadian low, which is not to be confused with a Mexican high.” In fact, it was so hot on Saturday that I saw a dog chasing a cat-and they were walking.

This week also featured a full slate of lunar action here on the coast. Ideally, when the full moon is rising, or there’s a bad moon on the rise, I like to head down to Steamer Lane to experience the lunar moment. Today’s blue moon is from this past Wednesday. I was driving along Delaware Avenue when I saw the moon shrouded by the red clouds. Nothing like shooting a full moon rising between the telephone lines. And then a cow pole vaulted over the moon.

The sunset is from the previous Wednesday along West Cliff Drive. There haven’t been many clouds in the sky to bring on the necessary drama for the dusk delights but Saturday night’s sunset was just gorgeous. It was low tide and there was a exotic red glow in the sky as the sun dipped into the Pacific. I hadn’t seen that kind of glow in the sky since my first Grateful Dead concert and I was indoors at the time. Sunshine, daydream.

Another incredible week for the world’s crashing economy. I just can’t seem to catch a break. While I waiting for a package from DHL, I received a gift card from Circuit City and American Express offered to extend my line of credit. It’s such an incredibly stressful time for so many people. But at least those bailout packages are working.

On the subject of our faltering economy, courtesy of Jay Leno, here’s how bad the economy is. China had to cut back on the amount of lead they’re putting in our kid’s toys. Exxon-Mobil had to lay off 25 congressman. And parents in Beverly Hills are being forced to raise their own kids. And speaking of kids, Jewish children are asking their parents about Hanukah. The parents told them, “Ask Santa.”

That’s it for the Monday experience. As I write this Southern California is on fire as hurricane force Santa Ana winds over the weekend drove these blazes wild, destroying people’s homes and the sacred memories that go along with them. Just a devastating scene for all those Laker fans in SoCal. So try to be grateful for the little things, like Eli Manning and the New York Giants having a record of 9-1 through week 10 of the NFL season. So enjoy the warm skies, the autumn breeze and we’ll catch you across the middle. Aloha and later, Brian Williams fans.

Good morning and welcome to our final blog for July 2008. This month has flown by faster than John McCain flip flops on economic issues. Anyway, during the summertime here on Monterey Bay the skies are usually bankrupt of the clouds needed for our world-class sunrises and sunsets. I actually had not taken any sunset shots this summer until this past Monday evening when out of nowhere, clouds appeared in the western sky. Before you could say, “Let’s drill for oil off the coast” I headed down to Natural Bridges for a light changing experience.

As you can see from the first few photos, the sky was not hurting for clouds. At this point I was just amazed because summer sunsets come around as often as I praise the Bush administration. But it was cloud central as along the coast the gulls were screaming, the cormorants were clustering and the pelicans were flying in formation . But the most fascinating part of this evening extravaganza was when the sky started to change color, almost out of nowhere the whole sky filled with clouds, (photo #3) with an texture I had rarely seen. Overall, just a spectacular display of color and pageantry along the edge of the continent.

One quick news item. Our good friends at Exxon Mobil just reported a record profit over the last quarter (3 months) of $12 billion dollars. In laymen’s terms, that’s $90,000 a minute, or $1,500 a second, which is actually not much compared to over the $3,000 a second we spend in Iraq. Anyway, congratulation, oil boys. You deserve it. While American motorists spend their paycheck at the pump, you guys can go out and party. I guess oil is fair in love and war.

So Sunrise Santa Cruz is going on hiatus from the blogging business for a couple of weeks while I head over to Sunset Beach for some papaya therapy, macadamia nut meditation and trade winds analysis. Throw in some 80 degree water temperature on the North Shore and I’m a happy camper. When I return, we’ll see show you some shots of this tropical paradise in the middle of the South Pacific.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard from a lot of you out there in cyber space. I would love to hear your thoughts on the blog, the baseball races or life in general. You know, reach out, connect. Get in touch. Check in. You know the drill. Until then, enjoy the summer sky, your good health and we’ll catch you around the 18th of August. Aloha, mahalo and Derek Jeter rocks. Later, Olympic fans.

Good morning and welcome to the place where sunrises feel at home. On today’s menu we will be featuring a montage of dawn delights from the skies over Palm Desert, California. I journey there once or twice a year for a little rest and relaxation (let’s just say I’ve seen veals more active) and bring my Canon Digital Rebel for some photo fun. This is the true desert, just how Moses first saw it. Palm trees, waterfalls, flowers blooming year round, mountains that change color throughout the day topped off by long green fairways. Ah, the natural beauty of the desert.

And the desert it is smoking hot, which brings us to today’s subject. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found a smoking gun. They claim that tobacco companies deliberately changed the menthol levels in cigarettes depending upon who they were marketing them to – lower levels for young smokers who preferred the milder brands and higher levels to “lock in lifelong adult smokers.” The researchers reviewed industry documents dating back decades on product development and on strategic plans for menthol products. It’s your basic let’s hook em while they’re young.

The study says the tobacco companies researched how controlling menthol levels could increase sales among specific groups. Milder brands with lower menthol levels appealed to younger smokers. The milder products were then marketed to young consumers as the minty flavor would be more appealing to the younger lungs. Virginia Slims had a slogan back in 1968. “You’ve come a long way, baby.” This ad campaign was directed at young women. Within the next two years smoking among girls ages 12 and up increased over 110%.

One document from R.J. Reynolds noted that all three major menthol brands “built their franchise with YAS (younger adult smokers) … using a low-menthol product strategy. However, as smokers acclimate to menthol, their demand for menthol increases over time.” So it’s a menthol health issue. In 1962 Winston’s cigarette “spokespersons” were the Flintstones as they were sponsored by Winston at that time. After Wilma became pregnant though, the Flintstones was sponsored by Welch’s Grape Juice. Is it just me, or did Pebbles look an awful lot like Barney Rubble?

In 1987, R.J. Reynolds marketed low-level menthol varieties to persuade consumers to switch from regular brands and to recruit new, young smokers, noting: “First-time smoker reaction is generally negative. … Initial negatives can be alleviated with a low level of menthol.” Either that or just start them off with chocolate cigarettes and they can just practice blowing chocolate smoke rings.

The researchers concluded that Philip-Morris USA used a two-pronged strategy to increase Marlboro’s share in the menthol market by targeting young adults and older smokers. Marlboro Milds were introduced nationally in 2000 and became popular among young smokers. Then there were the Marlboro Extra Milds for the extra young smoker. The entry of that product coincided with an increase in the menthol level of the regular Marlboro Menthol brand intended for older smokers. The milds were responsible for almost 80 percent of the company’s menthol-category growth that year. Makes me want to grab my lighter at head out to Marlboro country.

Speaking of Marlboro, there have been many “Marlboro Men.” In 1992 “Marlboro Man” Wayne McLaren, who was dying of lung cancer, made an appearance at the Phillip Morris annual shareholder’s meeting to ask the company to voluntarily limit its advertising. Phillip Morris Chairman Michael Miles responded “We are certainly sorry to hear about your medical problems. Without knowing your medical history, I don’t think I can comment further.” The longtime “Marlboro Man” died three months later. Another “Marlboro Man,” David McLean died of lung cancer in 1995. Which begs the question, where are the Marlboro women?

“For decades, the tobacco industry has carefully manipulated menthol content not only to lure youth but also to lock in lifelong adult customers,” said Howard Koh, a co-author of the paper. William Phelps, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company, said the study’s conclusions are not supported by the facts cited. One 1944 print ad for Philip Morris cigarettes claimed that “When smokers changed to Philip Morris, every case of nose or throat irritation–due to smoking–either cleared up completely or definitely improved.” How dare they call them “cancer sticks.”

“At our company, our marketing goal is to find ways to effectively and responsibly connect brands with adults who smoke,” Phelps said. “Those brands are designed to meet the diverse preferences of adults who smoke. What we disagree with are the authors’ conclusion that menthol levels were manipulated to gain market share among adolescents.” I say don’t let those wacky warning labels about cancer and emphysema ruin your day. Light up and leave me alone. In 1934, Camel cigarette ads advised you to “Smoke as many as you want. They never get on your nerves.”

Greg Connolly, one of the report’s co-authors, said the tobacco industry was careful not to talk about adolescents in the documents he reviewed, mostly from the ’80s and ’90s. “They talk about young smokers. For me, that’s just a euphemism for going after adolescent, first-time smokers,” Connolly said. An excess of 400 million cigarettes are smoked in the United States each year. This would translate into more than 23 million gallons of nicotine. What a pretty sight that would be.

Congress is considering legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco. And while the bill would ban fruit and candy flavorings, it would allow the continued sale of menthol-flavored brands. The advocates are pressing for an amendment to ban menthol. Brands marketed as menthol cigarettes make up about 27 percent of the U.S. cigarette market. While overall cigarette sales have declined, sales of menthol cigarettes have been stable in recent years. What I love about menthol is the mint like flavor that improves the perceived taste and lessens the impact of nicotine’s bitter flavor and scent. Maybe that’s why smokers of menthol cigarettes find it harder to quit. Personally, I’d rather fight than switch.

That’s our dog and pony show for today. Coming up on Friday we are going to switch gears and go to the evening skies as an outstanding sunset blew into town Monday night. So enjoy the desert rises, the last week of July and the warm summer days. Later, USA fans.

Good morning and welcome to the central coast, where we’ve experienced two major forest fires in the last month. The first, the Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz mountains, burned 4,270 acres and destroyed 35 homes. The second began last Wednesday. I was cruising the westside at around 3:30 when all of a sudden white smoke appeared in the sky (photo #1) coming from the Bonny Doon area. As the fire spread it looked like a bomb had gone off (photo #2.) I was shooting at Natural Bridges as the smoke spread across the sky in a rather eerie fashion. Soon everything was changing color due to the smoke and the ocean (photo #5) turned into a coppertone sea. As the smoke got thicker the sun (photo #6) displayed shades of colors that signaled something is very wrong here today.

Fortunately, as of today the Martin Fire is pretty much contained. We have some friends living in Bonny Doon who refused to evacuate their home so things were kind of dicey for a while. Overall, 520 acres burned and the cause of the fire is under investigation. Investigators are speculating that hikers, trespassers or magic squirrels in the Moon Rocks area of the Bonny Dune Ecological Reserve might have accidentally ignited the blaze. Rumor has it that this area, which is closed off to the public, is a favorite spot for people who like to practice preventive glaucoma.

So I got to wondering, what’s the story with wildfires, these raging blazes that rapidly spread out of control, much like the Bush administration did after 9/11? Like vacations, they occur most frequently in the summer, when lightning and morons are roaming the sky and woods. We haven’t had any rain in months and the brush was dry and the flames moved unchecked through the woods like Ray Allen did through the lane at the end of the game 4 on Thursday night. Like the Bonny Doon blaze, fires often begins unnoticed and spread quickly with the wind carrying the flames from tree to tree. As you can see in photo #3, dense smoke is the first indication of either a fire or a Grateful Dead concert.

These intense displays by Mother Nature got me to wondering about other big-time fires. Here’s number one on the disaster hit list. On the evening of October 8, 1871 the worst recorded forest fire in North American history raged through northeastern Wisconsin and upper Michigan with hurricane force winds. By the time it was over, 1,875 square miles of forest had burned, an area twice the size of the state of Rhode Island and Donny Rumsfeld’s ego.

An accurate death toll has never been determined since local population records were destroyed in the fire. An estimate of between 1,200 and 2,500 people were thought to have lost their lives. Peshtigo, Wisconson, the town hardest hit, had an estimated 1,700 residents before the fire. The city was gone in an hour. In Peshtigo alone, 800 lives were lost. More than 350 bodies were buried in a mass grave, primarily because so many had died that no one remained alive who could identify many of them.

The fire was so intense it jumped several miles over the waters of Green Bay as well as jumping the Peshtigo River itself to burn on both sides of the inlet town. Surviving witnesses said that the firestorm generated a fire tornado which threw rail cars and houses into the air. The smoke blocked the sun, the rising moon turned red and witnesses thought it was a sure sign of the apocalypse.

This Peshtigo fire represents the greatest tragedy of its kind in North America. Yet amazingly, most people have never heard of it because it occurred at the same exact time as America’s most famous fire-the Great Chicago Fire that destroyed 17,450 structures, caused about $200 million in damage and left one-third of the city homeless. This makes the suffering of present day Cubs fans look like a romp in the park. As you can imagine, this fire grabbed all of the national headlines. But citizens of Wisconsin are well aware of this painful tragedy as well as the Packers losing to the Giants in this year’s NFL playoffs

So that’s our look at the Hall of Flames. If you follow the national news, you know the torrential floods in Iowa and killer tornadoes throughout the midwest have been dominating the headlines. Hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, reality television, we are living through some wild times. So get on board and enjoy the ride here at Sunrise Santa Cruz and we’ll catch you for some Larry bird action on Wednesday. And speaking of which, get ready for game 6 between the Lakers and the Celtics Tuesday night. With any luck, it will be a classic. Later, sports fans.

Good morning and welcome to westside story. On Wednesday we checked out a spectacular sunrise over the Pacific at Lighthouse Point. Today we are again blasting back to the past and heading a couple miles up the coast to Natural Bridges State Beach. These are a couple of never seen before sunsets that I thought would be a good way to close out the week. Then again, I thought the Lakers winning game 4 and tying up the NBA Finals would be a good way to finish off the week but I guess the Celtics had another idea.

We’ve been talking food this week here on the blog. Well, when it comes to healthy vegetables, my personal favorite and the numero uno choice of Americans is the proud potato. Mashed, baked, scalloped, roasted, french fried, au gratin, no matter which way you serve it, I find them all to be very apeeling. These taters tots are included in one of every three meals that Americans eat. But where did these carbohydrate cloggers first set down their roots? The origin of the potato has become, a “hot potato” between neighbors Peru and Chile. The spud dispute began last Monday, when Chilean Agriculture Minister Marigen Hornkohl said 99% of the world’s potatoes derive from spuds native to Chile and that “you cannot petition the Lord with prayer.”

Peru, where the potato and llama races are a source of national pride, bristled at the claim and said that these spuds come from a part of the Andes near Lake Titicaca, most of which is located in modern-day Peru. The country claims to have some 3,000 varieties of potato, all of which can be made into french, steak and seasoned curly fries. And by the way, who named Lake Titicaca? Howard Stern?

The spud dispute is just the latest flare-up between the testy neighbors. The one previous to this was which nation actually coined the term “peasant.” This new, simmering, so-called “Pisco War” flared up again when Peru’s agriculture minister called Chilean Pisco “bad,” after Chile declared May 15 “National Pisco Day.” This is not to be confused with “Joe Piscopo Day.” Now both nations are fighting over bragging rights to the potato and who receives the next major earthquake.

Andres Contreras, a researcher at Chile’s Austral University in Valdivia, said archaeological studies have found the first evidence of human consumption of potatoes dating back 14,000 years in southern Chile, right before the discovery of ketchup. This would be long before evidence emerges of spud consumption in Peru, which also claims bragging rights to Peruvian lilies, Peruvian marching powder and Shining Path rebels.

Now this is where things gets starchy. The head of Peru’s National Institute for Agricultural Innovation, Juan Risi, called Chile’s potatoes mere “grandchildren” of Peru’s tubers. “Peruvian potatoes that originated near lake Titicaca are the true potatoes, and their children spread throughout the Andes,” Risi said. And we all know that the children shall lead us. But who even knew that potatoes were sexually active?

Experts say the disputes reflect lingering historical tensions between the Amos and Andean neighbors. The disputes are “a very superficial manifestation of this ongoing concern of national pride and wounded feelings over various problems in the past,” said David Scott Palmer, a professor of Latin American politics and American policy at Boston University. I believe the professor is referring to soccer matches, border disputes and the origin of “chili fries.” Bottom line, it sounds to me like both nations have a potato chip on their shoulder.

That’s it for another week of blogging with the stars. So happy Father’s Day to all you well-deserving males out there who put time in with your children to make this world a better place. And on a personal note, here’s wishing my father, Daniel Gilbert, a Happy Father’s Day. 91 years old, living in Santa Cruz and still going somewhat strong. Unbelievable. They say every American eats about 126 pounds of potatoes every year and he is definitely one of them. And remember, while you’re reading this people are worried about losing their homes in the Bonnie Dune fire so try not to sweat the small stuff. So have a great holiday weekend, enjoy the sunset cruz and we’ll take a look at that raging fire on Monday. Later, aloha fans.