Machines

Proposed legislation to remove junk food and sugar-loaded drinks from vending machines at California state office buildings and on government property is intensifying debate about when the battle against obesity becomes a gateway to "nanny state" tactics. Backers of the Assembly bill, AB 459, said California shouldn't condone the sale of fatty snacks and sodas in the workplace when taxpayers are already shelling out vast amounts to cover the healthcare costs of overweight government employees.

The manager was rushing directly to practice from work, so she jogged onto the infield carrying a plastic bucket of baseballs while wearing a skirt. '"You can't play baseball in a dress!" shrieked one of her players. "Just watch me," Claudia Chiovare said. One of the coaches was once challenged by a player who didn't want to wear his required protective cup. "How are you going to know if we have it on?" he taunted. "You've got to knock on it, and we've got to hear it," Tracy Chiovare said.

The tinted windows at Cafe Miss Cutie in Garden Grove are a giveaway that this isn't your ordinary coffeehouse. At about 20 tables, men play cards and smoke, tossing cigarette butts onto the wood floor seconds before lighting up again. High-pitched pop music pulsates as waitresses dressed in sexy lingerie — and sometimes less — deliver the brew the customers crave: Vietnamese coffee, strong and sweet, in a small glass topped with whipped cream. The cafe is one of about 20 in this Orange County city, which includes part of Little Saigon, one of the largest Vietnamese American enclaves in the U.S. It also is among those raided in March by more than 150 federal and local law enforcement officials, exposing an underbelly of what police say includes nudity, gambling and prostitution.

Proposed legislation to remove junk food and sugar-loaded drinks from vending machines at California state office buildings and on government property is intensifying debate about when the battle against obesity becomes a gateway to "nanny state" tactics. Backers of the Assembly bill, AB 459, said California shouldn't condone the sale of fatty snacks and sodas in the workplace when taxpayers are already shelling out vast amounts to cover the healthcare costs of overweight government employees.

All aerobic fitness machines help you elevate your heart rate and work up a good sweat. But the cardio contraptions reviewed here are designed to do that and more, offering great general fitness benefits while helping you to take your specific sport to a new level. If you ski, cycle, row or run, these products are designed to develop the specific muscles, coordination, skills, endurance and protection that'll allow you to raise your game. Set for the slopes SkiXtreme: A simple, minimalist ski simulator designed by Ohio contractor and ski enthusiast John Scimone that is made of two pivoting foot platforms connected to a frame through several resistance springs.

Not so long ago, people made juice by squeezing oranges on a little cone-shaped tool. How quaint, compared with the machines and shops and ingredients that are part of the world of juicing. "It's becoming part of the culture," said Dr. Frank Lipman, who incorporates holistic medicine in his New York practice. "Juicing is a quick way to get a boost. " That might sound odd to the millions of people who have a glass of fruit juice each morning with their cereal or toast. But the sorts of juices that are gaining cachet these days are distant relatives to the cartons of apple or orange juice on many supermarket shelves.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Siripong Khwanthong sidles up to a lottery seller along a crowded street near Bangkok's Patpong pleasure district, studies the selection and settles on a ticket ending in 37. "The number just came to me," he says. "Maybe I'll be lucky tomorrow. " If the government has its way, Siripong soon will be buying lottery tickets from machines. And that's fine with him: Not only would it be more convenient, but it also could save money by cutting out the surcharge that street vendors command selling "lucky" numbers, which can add as much as 50% to the $2.70 ticket price.

Now that Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and other sugary soda producers are planning to list health information on vending machines, calorie counts aren't just for the likes of McDonald's and fast food joints. In full view of consumers, the machines will have a “Calories Count” display alongside messages such as “Check Then Choose” and “Try a Low-Calorie Beverage,” according to the American Beverage Assn. trade group. Labels listing the number of calories per container will be affixed to selection buttons.

You'd be hard pressed to find a company that talks more about its "people-centric" management culture than Barry-Wehmiller, a privately owned manufacturer of industrial equipment. Barry-Wehmiller, which has $1.5 billion in annual sales, says it's all about fostering "personal growth" among its 7,000 employees, whom it calls "team members. " Its "Guiding Principles of Leadership" include the imperative to "treat people superbly and compensate them fairly. " (Italics are theirs.)

Your prayers have been answered: Finally, Angelenos can drop hundreds of dollars at vending machines in local malls for a single ounce of caviar. Admit it, Black Friday isn't even over and you've already broken down the door at Urban Outfitters and spent your mortgage payment on door-buster deals. So what's another few bucks or 400 for an ounce of Royal River Beluga caviar? Beverly Hills Caviar is stocking the vending machines at Burbank Town Center, Topanga Westfield Mall and Century City Mall with fish eggs as well as truffles, escargot, oils, gourmet salts and gift boxes ( hat tip to the Eater blog )

Specktor will appear at the Festival of Books on Sunday at noon on the panel "Fiction: Inside Hollywood" with Adam Braver, Alex Espinoza and Nina Revoyr. More information: latimes.com/festivalofbooks Matthew Specktor knows the offices of talent agency CAA - past and present - like his own backyard. That's because, as son of top agent Fred Specktor, they practically were. He ran around in the hallways; he worked in the mail room. And although that it set him down the not unexpected Hollywood producer path, what he really wanted to do was write.

North Korea recently launched a cyber attack on South Korean TV stations and banks. Iran carried out a cyber campaign against U.S. banking sites. The U.S. and Israel released malware that disabled Iranian nuclear centrifuges. Or did they? There's no doubt someone did all these things, and there are reasons to believe that those suspected are responsible. But because of the way the Internet is designed and the poor general state of computer security, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint an attack's origin.

Rob Mersola's “Dirty Filthy Love Story” is a world premiere from Rogue Machine that follows hard on the heels of the company's 2011 hit, “Small Engine Repair,” slated for an off-Broadway opening in 2013. Rogue Machine deserves high praise for scouting out edgy world premieres -- and certainly, “Filthy” is so stratospherically over-the-top that it goes into orbit. The center of Mersola's vertiginously revolving cosmos is Ashley Floerchinger (Jennifer Pollono, in a delightfully galumphing turn)

Travelers who hail a cab in New Orleans will be able to do something riders nowhere else in the country will be able to do: Slide into the back seat and buy a cold soda from a vending machine. About 250 taxis will be outfitted with a touchscreen on which customers can swipe their credit or debit card to pay 99 cents for a Coke, Diet Coke or other soft drinks, a statement from the cab company says. The taxi drink dispenser is the brainchild of Simon Garber, an immigrant from Ukraine who owns New Orleans Carriage Cab and Yellow-Checker Cab. It took four years to develop the dispenser connected to a fridge that holds 36 cans, the company said.

The Strokes "The Comedown Machine" RCA Records 1 star One of the key axioms of the acting trade is to never seem desperate for a role. To be a hot commodity, behave like you couldn't care less; those who appear to need a job are at a disadvantage. "The Comedown Machine," the fifth album by New York band the Strokes, exudes nervousness; you can almost see beads of sweat forming on the band's foreheads as it works, and fails, to stay relevant while tossing off harmless 1980s-style ditties.

After a frenzy of activity on the campaign trail in recent weeks, culminating in last week's primary election, the mayoral candidates are focusing on raising money , trotting out new endorsements and courting party and labor loyalists to build their general-election campaign machinery. On Tuesday, Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti courted two key groups- - the most influential labor coalition in the county, and the county Democrats, neither of which endorsed in the primary. Reflecting the tightness of the race, the county Democratic Party again split on which candidates to endorse in the May 21 runoff election.

The Solidoodle is hardly the only 3-D printer attracting attention from those looking to play with the latest technology. More than a dozen printers are trying to capture slices of the market, though some of the devices require assembly or lack the kind of hand-holding tech support that the typical American consumer has come to expect. But make no mistake: 3-D printing is spreading. Aaron Pratt, vice president of marketing for manufacturer Afinia, said the first buyers of his company's H-Series printer were early-adopter hobbyists, but in the last few months the company has seen a surge in sales from high schools, where teachers have incorporated the machines into the science curriculum, and from colleges, where professors are using the hardware for discussions on everything from design to the future of American manufacturing.

Travelers who hail a cab in New Orleans will be able to do something riders nowhere else in the country will be able to do: Slide into the back seat and buy a cold soda from a vending machine. About 250 taxis will be outfitted with a touchscreen on which customers can swipe their credit or debit card to pay 99 cents for a Coke, Diet Coke or other soft drinks, a statement from the cab company says. The taxi drink dispenser is the brainchild of Simon Garber, an immigrant from Ukraine who owns New Orleans Carriage Cab and Yellow-Checker Cab. It took four years to develop the dispenser connected to a fridge that holds 36 cans, the company said.

Not so long ago, people made juice by squeezing oranges on a little cone-shaped tool. How quaint, compared with the machines and shops and ingredients that are part of the world of juicing. "It's becoming part of the culture," said Dr. Frank Lipman, who incorporates holistic medicine in his New York practice. "Juicing is a quick way to get a boost. " That might sound odd to the millions of people who have a glass of fruit juice each morning with their cereal or toast. But the sorts of juices that are gaining cachet these days are distant relatives to the cartons of apple or orange juice on many supermarket shelves.

Three Philippine men have been convicted of importing military weapons through a shipment to Long Beach in a plot to arm Mexican drug cartels and gang members, federal authorities said. Evidence presented during the four-week trial in federal court in Los Angeles showed that the men conspired to sell weapons that included machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as well as explosives including mortars and grenades, according to the FBI. The men, identified as Sergio Syjuco, 26; Cesar Ubaldo, 27; and Arjyl Revereza, 26, met with an undercover FBI agent who posed as a prospective buyer, federal authorities said.