Advice

Days before a procession of colorful floats begins rolling through downtown Pasadena, Rose Parade officials have issued some advice for the thousands of spectators expected to crowd the 5.5-mile route Tuesday. For starters, don't bring tents, sofas or boxes that can be used as seats or stools, all of which are banned. And don't bring fireworks or start a bonfire. Also, officials warned against flinging any projectiles onto the parade route, mentioning tortillas, marshmallows or flowers as examples.

Ten-game winning streaks can do a lot for a team. The Clippers are now tied for the second-best record (18-6) in the NBA with the New York Knicks. And the Clippers' winning streak is the second-longest in the league this season, one behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, which has the best record in the league (20-4). On Wednesday the Clippers play New Orleans at Staples Center, and with a win they can tie the franchise record for most consecutive victories at 11, held by the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves.

The folks behind the website Find. Eat. Drink. have created an app for the iPhone. Like the website, it collects recommendations from top chefs, bartenders and others in the food and wine spheres for where to eat, where to shop, where to drink. The advice, some of it very passionate, doesn't come from Joe Blow but from the likes of Alex Day, of Proprietors LLC and Death & Co. , or Ana Sortun, chef-owner of Oleana near Boston. Want to know where Mugaritz 's Andoni Luis Aduriz, one of the Spanish Basque country's top chefs, likes to eat?

Paul Priolo remembers the last time Democrats enjoyed a supermajority in the state Assembly. He was the Republican leader. And his strategy was simple. "I socialized with Democrats," he says. "That was my key to getting along and overcoming the handicap of their having a supermajority…. They were the leaders and the ones you tried to get next to. "We'd fight during the day and go out to dinner together at night. But that's a thing of the past. " Yes, that's largely history.

The first step to becoming a social media expert is calling yourself a social media expert. It's often the only step. Accordingly, the Web is crawling with latter-day snake-oil salesmen willing to show you how to tweet your way to success and influence. Published by Portfolio, "The Impact Equation: Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise?" by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith is the latest book to emerge from this hit-and-miss category. Brogan and Smith are no social media charlatans, however.

If someone comes to your door selling home security systems, be wary: They could be breaking the law and they could be trying to scam you, according to the state Department of Consumer Affairs. Key things to know: • Anyone selling home alarm systems door-to-door in California is required to have passed a criminal background check and have been licensed by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. But in reality, warned the consumer agency, many sellers have done neither.

I've got two reasons to watch my weight over the next several weeks. First, it's the holiday season, when the national sport is overeating. Second, I've got another knee replacement coming up soon, and the lighter I am going in, the easier the recovery will be. Maybe that's why I've been noticing the county's public service ad campaign around town. The ads are on billboards and transit shelters, among other places, and each one examines two different meal options. The double cheeseburger, large fries and large cola depicted on one ad, for example, add up to 1,250 calories.

Re "He needs a family plan," Opinion, Nov. 20 Jonah Goldberg's recommendation to President Obama to advocate for better family values among African Americans is incredibly offensive. Given Goldberg's long-standing opposition to just about anything Obama does, I get the impression that he raises this issue primarily as a line of attack on the president. The casual way in which Goldberg marshals oversimplified demographic and research findings in service of his agenda is mean-spirited and smacks of the kind of thinly veiled racism that we saw throughout this election.

Two years into her marriage, Angie El Sherif found herself drifting from her husband. One-on-one time was scarce, and she felt like the high school sweetheart she married was no longer her best friend. She saw divorce everywhere - in the media, among friends, in her family. Then she found direction from some unexpected sources: the conservative family values of self-help authors such as Laura Schlessinger and Laura Doyle, whose beliefs seemed aligned with her Islamic views on marriage.