A Few Random Bits

Your Boulevardier is playing catchup. Hereby presented are a few things that may be of interest:

Rain Gauge Report: last week's storms deposited some three-tenths of an inch in the gauge at Chez Boulevardier. The rain late on Monday night was quite heavy here.

JD's x 7: Your Boulevardier is happy to see that JD's Restaurant is now open seven days a week. It's a favorite place for breakfasts, but too often in the past the urge to dine there has struck on a Tuesday, when JD's was closed. Now we can get our linguica and eggs (and read the wisdom on the walls) any day we feel like it.

Sunday Visit to Valley Java: The Trusty BoulevarDog deserved a longer-than-usual walk, and got one to Valley Java last weekend. Your Boulevardier splurged on a cafe latte, and got a lovely creation in coffee and foam -- almost too pretty to sully with a sprinkling of brown sugar. The crowd was low-key and friendly, almost unanimously greeting the Trusty BoulevarDog as she lay blocking the walkway. (Your Boulevardier offers his apologies to those who had to step around or over her.)

The Band is Coming: The Castro Valley Community Band plays its spring concert on Wednesday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m. This is one of the very few opportunities that Castro Valleyans have to enter the Center for the Arts without paying, so Your Boulevardier recommends doing so. Of a particular highlight this concert: Elizabeth Gaston will play Cecile Chaminade's Concertina, Op. 107.

Physics of Basketball: Your Boulevardier was listening to NPR's "Science Friday" program on the radio today. The guest was John Fontanella, a professor of physics and author of "The Physics of Basketball," discussing the application of science to sports. The first caller was a math teacher and basketball coach from Castro Valley, asking for advice on how to link a classroom discussion of parabolas with free-throw shooting. (Turns out it's harder than it seems, because a free-throw shot isn't a pure parabola -- other factors, including drag and spin, are at work.) Your Boulevardier did not catch the caller's name, but he commends the caller; should you read this, sir, please chime in.

Earthquake!

Your Boulevardier was having a quiet glass of wine with a friend, at Chez Boulevardier, when an earthquake struck this evening at around 8:40 p.m. It was a surprisingly loud and rollicking jolt; preliminary seismographic readings indicate that its magnitude was 4.2.

The United States Geological Survey does an interesting thing online after an earthquake: it encourages people to report their impressions of the event. The reporting is subjective, of course, but the questions the USGS asks are interesting and well-defined to get useful answers.

To see how people perceived to this evening's earthquake, check this link. Some 116 Castro Valleyans in ZIP Code 94546 have reported this event as of 9:45 p.m.