Vincent M. DeDomenico Sr., who with his brothers invented Rice-A-Roni, one of the classic kitchen helpers of the 1960s, died Thursday at his home in Napa, Calif. He was 92.
His death was confirmed by his daughter Marla Bleecher.
The DeDomenicos invented their signature product in 1958 after watching a sister-in-law mix a can of Swanson’s chicken broth with rice and vermicelli, according to an account in “Napa: The Story of an American Eden,” by James Conaway (Mariner Books, 2002). They concocted a version that used dried soup.
Rice-A-Roni transformed the business of the Golden Grain Macaroni Company, which was started by Mr. DeDomenico’s father, Domenico. After leaving Sicily in 1890 at 19, he settled in San Francisco, initially starting a vegetable store, then opening a factory that sold pasta to Italian stores and restaurants.
Hey, did you know you can find out who voted on what by astrological sign? I’m amazed I hadn’t heard of this before, but those handy folks at the Washington Post offer a number of vote total data options, including by party, state/territory, region, boomer status, gender, and astrological sign. Who knew?
Question: On Passage
Bill: H R 2693
Vote description: Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act
Vote type: Yea-and-Nay (Help)
Result: Passed, 260-154, with 2 voting Present and 16 not voting.
Date/time: September 26, 2007, 2:49 p.m.
Republican majority opinion: No (Help)
Democrat majority opinion: Yes (Help)
Fox News ran a one-hour special last night on General Petraeus that I somehow managed to miss through sheer dint of effort, though I hear that the scene in which Julie Banderas washed the general’s feet with her hair had a tender, sultry lyricism seldom seen in a cheapo documentary.
Torrance firm sees the nonlethal ‘light’
Torrance firm’s police flashlight disorients and provides a nonlethal way to incapacitate subjects.
A newly invented law enforcement tool to combat crime can do more than make suspects throw their arms up in surrender.
It can make them throw up - literally.
Touted as a nonlethal device to subdue suspects or control crowds, the LED Incapacitator looks like a normal flashlight, but packs so much power it can disorient a bad guy and cause temporary blindness.
Before long, it might be hanging from police officers’ belts throughout the land.
“The whole purpose is to be able to create a nonlethal way to hold off perpetrators,” said John Farina, chief executive officer at Intelligent Optical Systems Inc., a Torrance research and development business that invented the device. “It’s a lot less lethal than a .38-caliber revolver.”
The device - using light emitting-diode technology - produces such a dazzling display of blue, green and red lights that those who find themselves in front of its strobe can’t see, may develop a headache or even become physically ill.
Imagine a strobe light in a disco - Department of Homeland Security-style.
“It’s at its base a very, very bright light that flashes at a frequency that, if you keep looking at it, will be extremely uncomfortable for you,” said Bob Lieberman, IOS’s president and chief technology officer.
“If you looked at it a very long time, it can become extremely disorienting. In some cases, it can cause vertigo and possibly nausea,” Lieberman said.
I’ve heard the same thing said about Martini Revolution.
Just floating a theory: Is it possible that the editors of the WSJ ran the headline as a big, fat, juicy fuck you to the Bancrofts? Sort of like, “Hey, bitches! If you’re gonna sell us down the river to that Aussie slimeball cocksucker, we, too, can play the tabloid headline game.”
Mr. Blue: You a policeman? [cop nods]
Mr. Blue: Well done. The mayor will go to your funeral. [raises his gun and points it at the cop's head]
TP123, as it ought to be known but is not, is playing tonight and tomorrow at FF.
Since my current date is gone to Florida for a few days — she’s really short and almost unbearably cute — you’ll not find me in the back of the theater, enthusiastically sucking her face. Bully for you.
Instead, I’ll be that white guy in the lower left of this photo, striking a Jesus on the beach pose.
…It makes me a little gloomy that it’s taken a bridge collapse to bring out whatever long-dormant humanity lies in Powerline. Kinda reminds me of that oft-quoted line from Flannery O’Connor: “…would have been a good woman had somebody been there to shoot her every day of her life.”
