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If you haven’t been yet, I highly recommend a visit: http://www.calacademy.org/

We spent over four hours. It was fantastic.

I often listen to the BBC throughout the day. If nothing more than to hear some world news reports and avoid the sensational crime and celebrity reports that pollute most U.S.-based news outfits. Sure I spend some time with C-Span and NPR, but the BBC offers a fresh broadcast.

Honestly, what sparked this blog was an experience I had with my husband while driving the long 6 to 7 hours from Milwaukee to Detroit. Our rule is that the driver gets to choose the radio station. In my case, more often than not, this means news or talk radio. On one of those recent trips, I was listening to the BBC and he questioned me on it – “why do you listen to this? It’s annoying.”

The material provides me a view of the international stories that I like to hear, and I enjoy the passion with which the English conduct governmental business. However, I have to tell you…I think the real reason that I listen is because it sounds more intelligent, and I don’t mean the accent.

Sure, the accent is proper, and therefore may sound a little “uppity”, but I mean the vocabulary. The words actually spoken. How diverse is your vocabulary or that of people you know? Do you often learn new words? Do you look up words when you hear them and don’t know the meaning?

I often find myself looking for a simpler term when I think a word is what we often call word-nerdy. At the risk of sounding uppity, I sometimes like to use the best word for the situation even if it is unfamiliar to your “average joe.”

Really?! Come on! That was my response when my friend told me about California’s newest common-sense law. Apparently, you can no longer drink on the PUBLIC beaches, and remember they are all public in CA.

Picture this: I’m standing behind his boat, up to my waist in the water, holding a can of beer and chatting away. He says “You know, you are illegal right now, BECAUSE your feet are touching the sand.” All I had to do to be “legal” was sit on the back of the boat. No feet on the ground.

Then, he took me for a tour of Tube-a-palooza. Thousands (about 3000 from estimates) of people sitting on floatation devices of all sorts drinking themselves into oblivion to avoid the feet-touching-sand law.

Somehow it’s less of a disturbance if they are in the water? Nevermind the hazard it creates having thousands of drunk people floating around. At least they aren’t disturbing the people sitting on the beach…really?!

Check it out sometime. It’s become some sort of phenomenom now in the San Diego bay. This new law has succeeded in increasing the numbers of drinkers at the beach tenfold. It has manifested into a cult of sorts, and no one wants to miss out.

Instead of enforcing the laws already on the books that apply – like disturbing the peace or drunk driving or drunk in public for those who get rowdy ON the beach – we now have a law that encourages drinking in the water with thousands of your closest friends. Brilliant.

I love California – lived there for 10 years. Always excited to go back. And, every place has its pros and cons. But, California is supposed to be progressive, liberal, tolerant, whatever you want to call it. However, besides stupid laws like this one and no talking on your phone while driving, California’s three strikes law has proven to be the biggest blunder in the history of criminal punishment.

I know I am veering off-topic from boozing at the beach, but it saddens me to know that this great state has such an ugly side. A progressive state should not have the highest incarceration rate, one of the poorest educational systems, and the highest tax rates. One cannot reconcile these facts.

In closing, I encourage my friends in San Diego to keep partying, but be safe. It is not worth it to have senseless injuries or deaths to prove a point to those who pass dumb senseless laws. Instead, get off your tubes and take action to change the law.