Banditos hanged here

Apparently, each year, Chapman U’s President, James Doti, sends his college community a summer reading and movie list (Chapman president offers summer reading list), and this year is no exception.

Among his recommendations:


“I found the wonderfully accessible ‘Why Evolution Is True’ by the evolutionary geneticist at the University of Chicago, Jerry Coyne, an informative and fascinating read. It’s also timely given the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.”

Yes indeed. As you know, one of the SOCCCD’s trustees is among the directors of a publisher who specializes in right-wing tomes, including books that supposedly debunk evolution.

Yeah, Fuentes.

Looks like the Dot Man is also a David Sedaris fan (he recommends Sedaris’ “When You Are Engulfed in Flames”).

Doti recommends two foreign films:

Finally, two foreign films that definitely warrant a larger audience are “The Band’s Visit,” about a police band from Egypt that takes the wrong bus and gets left off in a small backwater town in Israel; and “12:08 East of Bucharest,” about how various hapless residents of a small town recall the Romanian Revolution and the overthrow of Nicolae Ceauşescu.

You know me and local history. Love it. This morning, the Times offers:

Hidden in O.C.'s foothills, a gnarled reminder of California's past

[W]hen the 2007 Santiago fire ripped through the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, firefighters discovered something that longtime residents of the rural area and local historians already knew.

People were lynched there.

"Under this tree," reads a plaque, "General Andres Pico Hung Two Banditos of the Flores Gang in 1857."

Rebl Girl remarked previously on the plight of the Flores gang: A rusty wet symphony of mud: Modjeska Canyon:

In 1857, Juan Flores and a band of outlaws killed Sheriff James Barton and part of his posse nearby at what is now known as Barton Mound. Pursued by a posse led by General Andrés Pico, Flores and his men were finally caught on this distinctive rock outcropping in the canyon. Now the peak, named after Flores, is a California State Landmark. Flores' loot was never found. Rumor has it that he hid it up there somewhere.

The OC Reg weighs in with:

Dana Point sticks by decision to save Doheny House

Dana Point's historic Doheny House was spared the wrecking ball again Monday night as the City Council voted unanimously to deny the property owners' request for a demolition permit. The vote upheld an earlier decision by the Planning Commission.

…
…The house, originally built in 1928 and added to later, was once owned by the Edward Doheny family, which granted land for Capistrano Beach and Doheny State Beach. The property is on Dana Point's list of historic sites.

In education news, Inside Higher Ed reports today on The Disappearing Tenure-Track Job

…[T]he American Federation of Teachers is today releasing a 10-year analysis of the data, showing just how much the tenure-track professor has disappeared. The overall number of faculty and instructor slots grew from 1997 to 2007, but nearly two-thirds of that growth was in "contingent" positions—meaning those off of the tenure track. Over all, those jobs increased from two-thirds to nearly three-quarters of instructional positions.

The growth in these jobs—and the decline in tenure-track positions—was found in all sectors of higher education, but was most apparent at community colleges….

P.S.

A friend sent me an article about those fancy schmancy New Zealand wines that everybody’s raving about (I guess) (Kiwi wine).

A team of wine scientists (two grapeologists, three winophiles, and six surly Thunderbirdians) spent $12 million to define the flavors of New Zealand’s sauvignon blanc. What makes this stuff so special? That’s the question.

Answer: “sweet, sweaty passionfruit, asparagus, and cat's pee.”