The Editors

Mako Steel Opens Washington DC Office

by The Editors on December 23, 2008

Mako Steel is a Carlsbadistan-based company that “designs, supplies, and installs steel buildings for the self-storage industry” recently opened a sales office in Washington, DC, according to a story on Inside Self-Storage.

Mark Colwell [will be] the lead as Northeast sales and project manager. Colwell has worked with the company for more than five years.

Just another nationwide Carlsbad company we never knew existed.

[Link: Inside Self-Storage]

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Carlsbadistan Has The Hanta

by The Editors on December 23, 2008

One mouse trapped in Carlsbad has tested positive for hantavirus, according to a story in the North County Times.

The virus, carried by wild rodents, can spread to humans in the form of a rare and potentially fatal illness, county health officials said. So far this year, 11 mice trapped around the county have tested positive for hantavirus. Routine tests usually confirm between two and eight cases a year, officials said.

We sincerely hope that Santa doesn’t catch the hanta.

[Link: North County Times]

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Victoria’s Secret Manager Working Overtime

by The Editors on December 22, 2008

VictoriasecThe manager of the Victoria Secret store in Carlsbadistan’s Plaza Camino Real doesn’t seem to care about the rules as long as she gets her job done. Police were called when she refused to leave the business at 2:46 AM on December 20, 2008 claiming she had “some paperwork to do.”

According to the Carlsbad police log: A mall worker reported that “she is not allowed to work past midnight without a work order, which she did not have.”

She eventually left. Can someone give this dedicated employee a raise? Or at least a holiday bonus.

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Vons Evacuated After Bomb Call

by The Editors on December 22, 2008

A phone call cleared the Vons supermarket at 985 Tamarack Ave. on Friday December 19, 2008 at approximately 7:07 PM. A male caller reportedly said he “heard” that there was a “bomb in the back of the store.”

According to the police log “The caller was not definitive and seemed he was merely passing on info.” The store was immediately evacuated to the front parking lot.

After searching the store and the perimeter Carlsbad police reported that there was “nothing unusual” found.

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Life Technologies Buys VisiGen

by The Editors on December 22, 2008

Compared to the deals we’ve been used to from Life Technologies (formerly known as Invitrogen) their $20 million purchase of a Houston, Texas based VisiGen Biotechnologies isn’t all that impressive. But it could be huge for Life and for the business of DNA sequencing.

Primary founder Susan Hardin remains at the helm as president and CEO, while the other five co-founders have chosen to stay at the university. . . . VisiGen has been developing a brainchild of Hardin — a radically new method of sequencing DNA that could achieve the goal of sequencing a human genome in one day at a cost of $1,000. A genome is the genetic code in a person’s DNA.

According to a story in the Houston Business Journal the cost of sequencing the first DNA was $3 billion. So doing it for $1,000 would make it a little more widely accessible.

[Link: Houston Business Journal]

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Hoehn Prop. 8 Protest Makes USA Today

by The Editors on December 22, 2008

Blacklistx-LargeLast March we mentioned that Robert Hoehn, the co-owner of Carlsbad’s Hoehn Motors donated $25,000 in support of banning gay marriage (Prop. 8). Recently, his business has been picketed and he’s not happy about it, according to a story in USA Today.

I just hate being pigeonholed as a hate monger or bigot,” says Robert Hoehn, who contributed $25,000 to the campaign for Prop 8, which amended California’s Constitution to exclude same-sex marriage. “I have friends in the gay community, and I don’t think any of them would say that. . . . Hoehn has seen protesters outside his Carlsbad, Calif., car dealerships, his name and business have appeared on websites publicizing donors, and he has received “the most vitriolic kinds of e-mails, letters and phone calls.”

Guess Mr. Hoehn is experiencing some of the costs associated with supporting legislation that denies the personal rights of others.

[Link: USA Today]

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Smash And ATM Grab At Chevron

by The Editors on December 19, 2008

A Carlsbadistan news tipper’s report that the Chevron Station on Avenida Encinas (in the Ralph’s shopping center) had its ATM forceably removed Friday December 19, 2008 at approximately 4:15 AM in a smash and grab robbery was confirmed by a spokesman for the Carlsbad Police Department.

According to the news tip an employee at the station said, “There was about $15,000 worth of damage for a haul of about $80 and they didn’t touch the register.”

Wonder if it was the same people who made off with $32,000 from a Chula Vista ATM on Thursday morning.

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Bike Riding Food Stealing Robber

by The Editors on December 19, 2008

Just after 5 PM last night a man on a bicycle punched a shopper in the Albertson’s parking lot on Carlsbad Village Drive then rode away with a bag of groceries according to a story in the North County Times.

The robber was described as white, with brown hair, 5 feet 11 inches tall, and in his mid-20s to mid-30s. He was wearing a blue jacket and a beanie at the time of the robbery and he was last seen riding away on his bike with only one shoe, police said.

The shoeless food bandit?

[Link: North County Times]

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Legoland Sea-Life Aquarium Opens Again

by The Editors on December 19, 2008

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After a bit of a false start opening on August 11, 2008 (it closed three months later on November 1, 2008) Legoland is happy to announce the December 23, 2008 grand re-opening of their newly remodeled Sea Life Aquarium.

The most stunning change at SEA LIFE is the addition of two 6-foot-long zebra sharks, and 40 cownose rays to the Lost City of Atlantis Display. These new residents make SEA LIFE Aquarium at LEGOLAND California Resort home to more sharks than any of the other 28 SEA LIFE Aquariums world wide. Other new creatures throughout the Aquarium include chocolate chip sea stars, blue linkia sea stars, African general stars, sea apples, Flying Gurnard and juvenile Port Jackson Sharks.

Having seen neither of the iterations in person we’re going to have to guess that now, it’s even better.

[Link: Legoland]

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The Risk Pool: Carlsbad Not In Compliance

by The Editors on December 19, 2008

News-Pool T350Tonight at midnight a new federal law goes into effect regarding pool drain covers, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune. The new law will:

. . . require pools and spas used by the public to have new anti-entrapment drain covers. The covers are designed to protect swimmers, especially young children, from being trapped underwater by the suction created by the filtration system. . . .Congress enacted the law requiring the pool drain covers last year after 7-year-old Virginia Graeme Baker drowned when she became trapped in a spa drain in 2002. Her grandfather, former Secretary of State James Baker, pushed for its passage.

Drains have reportedly resulted in nine deaths in seven years, with 63 injuries. Currently, the Carlsbad Pool is no in compliance and, “Carlsbad officials have not yet decided whether to close the city’s single pool until the retrofit is done.”

All we can say is: close it until it is fixed and fix it immediately. Having been sucked onto a couple drains in our lives we can say that these drains are far, far more dangerous that the statistics suggest.

[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]

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