Phil and Daniel Rudnick hope to put Buttonwillow on the map by creating a world class concert and festival center, in praise of the Yeti cooler and correcting the record on the old Padre Hotel

 * ... MUSIC FESTIVAL: Is Kern County ready to host its own Coachella-style music festival? Phil and Daniel Rudnick believe so and are trying to push through a plan to build a world class music festival venue off 7th Standard Road and Interstate 5. The venue would house up to 65,000 concert

goers and provide shuttle buses, RV parking for 700 vehicles, camping areas for another 2,200 people as well as security, stages, toilets, showers and food booths. The best part of it all? It won't cost the taxpayers a penny because all costs are picked up by the Rudnicks. Stay tuned as this is headed for a a Nov. 7 hearing with the county. If you support this idea, and I do, contact your supervisor to let him or her know. For more information go to the projects website CalCentre.com.

 * ... REMEDIAL CLASSES: It looks like the California State University System isn't the only public university system to scrap the concept of remedial classes. Colorado, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia and Florida are also rethinking the concept, which has come under attack for being an ineffective way to gauge student preparedness. Consider this from The Wall Street Journal: "For the class of students who started in 2009, the six year graduation rate across the California State University System was 66 percent for students who didn't need any remedial classes. It was 45 percent for those who took remedial classes in both math and English."

 * ... YETI COOLERS: Have you heard of the Yeti cooler? It is a basic plastic cooler but is so popular in some parts of the country that people pay up to $1,300 for the top of the line Yeti Tundra 350. A country song has been written about the Yeti ('Buy Me a Boat' by Chris Janson) and Miranda Lambert swears by hers. Yeti coolers started off as favorites of hunters and anglers, but burst into widespread popularity a few years ago with the introduction a stylish soft cooler that goes for the princely fee of around $300.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Get a head start on preparing for winter by beginning your seasonal depression on the first day of fall."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "I just read that Hugh Hefner passed away, but I only read the obituary for the articles."

 * ... PADRE HOTEL: Memo to 23ABC KERO TV which erred in a story on earthquakes by saying the Padre Hotel was constructed of brick and would be at risk of collapsing during a quake. Said Brett Miller, whose company renovated the Padre and now owns and operates it: "The Padre survived the big one because of the reinforced concrete structure. They have done a disservice to us by not fact checking."

 * ... MEMORIES: Did you know that John Philip Sousa and his "distinguished band" arrived by train and performed at the old Bakersfield Operation House (the old Hill Theater) on Nov. 1, 1909? An advertisement in the Bakersfield Californian announced that "the March King is in excellent health and a thoroughly enjoyable concert is a firm expectation of the local lovers of the best in music." Thanks to the Facebook page Kern County of Old for posting this.

Bakersfield's Tyler Williams places second in the grueling and prestigious Paris-Roubaix bicycle classic and a cluster of earthquakes have put the Los Angeles area on edge

 * … QUAKES: A series of earthquakes have rattled the Los Angeles area and led to speculation that an even larger quake may be overdue. According to The Los Angeles Times, there have been five

earthquakes larger than 4.0 in the last five months. That is the greatest cluster of quakes in the LA area since 1994. Bakersfield has had some smaller quakes and of course is just an vulnerable as the LA basin. The twin 1952 quakes destroyed much of historic downtown Bakersfield.

* … TYLER: Hats off to 19-year-old Tyler Williams of Bakersfield who placed second in the prestigious and grueling Paris-Roubaix bicycling race in France. Williams in a gifted athlete and cyclist who competes on the professional Under 23 BMC development team. The Paris-Roubaix classic is one of the most punishing one-day races in professional cycling and has been held in northern France for more than 100 years.

 * … SPOTTED: Spotted on a friend's Twitter feed: "One of my goals in life? To finish a tube of chap stick before losing it.”

* … SCAM: Barbara Mullin lives in Kern City and dropped me a note to say the scam artists posing as security system experts have made the rounds there. "My son lives a little over a mile from me and they had been running in that neighborhood as well. Apparently, they have covered a good amount of area in Bakersfield. Another scam I got was a phone call saying they were from (Microsoft) Windows, that my computer had a virus, my e-mail was compromised and I was going to lose everything. Some time ago, they called and said they were from Windows Service System and said the same thing. I was stupid enough to believe them and I lost everything I had on my computer. Lucky for me, I called Dell and they restored my computer to working but I lost all my e-mail addresses and everything I had in my folders. So beware of anyone saying they are from Windows."

 * … MERCY: Kudos to the Friends of Mercy Foundation which launched a new annual giving program – The Legacy Circle at Mercy.  In its inaugural year, 23 people ranging in ages from approximately 25 to 37 became charter members by donating $500 each. They met three times during the year and at their second dinner, voted to use their cumulative gift of $11,000 to fund two state of the art Vein Finder Devices. Each of these devices is being used several times each day in the emergency rooms at Mercy Hospital Downtown and Mercy Hospital Southwest. These devices are unique to the Mercy hospitals and allow caregivers to more easily access veins when  a patient needs an IV insertion.  This past month, the Foundation launched the second year of the Legacy Circle and recruited 30 new members; 86 percent of last year’s membership joined the group once again. If you are interested in finding out how to join this group of young philanthropists, contact the Friends of Mercy at (661) 663-6700 or www.supportfriendsofmercy.org.

 * … FREE BOOKS: Here is an effort worth getting behind. Austin Albert is a 17-year-old senior at Liberty High School who is working on a community service project for his Boy Scout crew. He wants to create several "free libraries" in the South High School area but needs residents, churches or business owners to allow the mini library to be placed on their property. He already has collected more than 200 books that will stock the libraries. Contact Austin if you can help at (661) 303-7556.

Lake Isabella dam could fail, swallowing Bakersfield under 30 feet of water

A nice update of the perilous condition of the Lake Isabella dam above Bakersfield was presented in the New York Times this weekend. The Californian has done numerous similar stories, pointing out on how an active earthquake fault lies underneath the earthen dam. According to The Times, a catastrophic failure would send enough water down the Kern River to put Bakersfield under 30 feet of water. (photo courtesy of The New York Times)