The Majority of Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Plan to Relax on Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November, but it hasn't always been that way. In December 1941, Congress passed a law signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt to change it to the 4th Thursday; previously it was the last Thursday of the month (signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1863). The change was made in part to distance Thanksgiving a bit from Christmas (which hasn't kept Santa from appearing at most local malls well before today).

Moving on to tomorrow, Black Friday...in a drawing and informal survey on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page yesterday, the question was asked, "what are your plans for Black Friday?" 

Based on the responses, I might have to sell short consumer retail stocks, as only 13% of the 188 responding to the survey mentioned they plan to shop on Black Friday! (And that includes one response who said he was "Amazoning.")

In fact, 4% of folks responded with "Not Shopping" I suppose to make a point....although that does not really answer the question as to what they DO plan to do.

Overall, 43% of the responses indicated a plan to "hang out" with family and/or just relax, or just SLEEP (9% indicate that) tomorrow. These folks plan to eat leftovers, relax, watch movies at home, play games and basically enjoy a day with family. Not a bad way to enjoy Black Friday.

Nearly 20% of responses indicates plans to go out and about on Black Friday, not necessarily to shop, but to enjoy the outdoors, take a hike, go to the movies, visit an amusement park, watch Santa fly from the sky at Janss Marketplace, watch kids' sports, etc.

Only 7% of responses indicated they plan to work on Black Friday. Yes, some of us still do have to work. And 5% indicated plans to get moving on holiday decorating around the house.

Other responses included "not sure," chores, travel, packing for move, buying a car, job interview, studying, party, get a facial and so on.

Most Popular Thanksgiving Meal Side Dishes From Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Fans

Copyright: 123RF Stock Photo from Mark Stout

In another Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Page drawing today, readers were asked to indicate a favorite Thanksgiving meal side dish. The following is a summary of this informal survey:

Tied for most mentioned side dish...<drum roll>... Sweet Potatoes and Stuffing, each with 19% of total comments.

Tied for third most mentioned side dish: Mashed Potatoes and Green Bean Casserole, each with 11% of comments.

Tied for fifth most mentioned side dish with 6% of total comments each were Yams, Veggies and dishes made with Pumpkin.

Other mentions in the drawing included Potato Casserole, Cranberry Sauce, Broccoli Casserole, a Thanksgiving Jello with Cream/Celery dish, Pecan Pie, Mac & Cheese, Roasted Potatoes, Noodles, Craft Beer (hmm), Sweet Potato Pie, Blair Sausage and Cranberries.

For a compilation of community holiday season events and activities through the end of the year, visit THIS LINK.

Space Shuttle Endeavor at the California ScienCenter Well Worth the Trip

The California ScienCenter is located in Exposition Park, about an hour-long drive from Thousand Oaks. Located adjacent to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the ScienCenter is a fantastic place to explore the world of science with the kids.

Sweetening the deal is the addition of Space Shuttle Endeavor at the Samuel Oschin Pavilion, the Endeavor's temporary home until the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is opened (currently anticipated sometime in 2018).

The Endeavor was first launched into space in May 1992 and its final mission was in May 2011, with 25 space missions and nearly 123 million miles flown. The orbiter has a wingspan of 78 feet and length of 122 feet. At 57 feet tall, it has quite a presence inside the Pavilion.

Also impressive is the array of informational displays surrounding the Endeavor, covering key milestones for all NASA space shuttles, including the Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor. For example, we learned that the Discovery has flown the most miles of any of the shuttles - over 148 million miles on 39 missions.

In addition to the Pavilion, the Endeavour: The California Story exhibit contains artifacts and displays associated with the shuttle program here in Southern California.

Admission to the California Science Center is free of charge; parking is currently $10. Due to the popularity of the Endeavor exhibit, timed reservations are required for weekends, holidays, special events and other high attendance periods, including Thanksgiving week and school winter/spring breaks. There is a $2 fee for online, printable reservations, $3 for phone reservations.

Better yet, book the Endeavor and an IMAX film together and the $2 Endeavor fee is waived. You won't regret it as the IMAX films are spectacular.

Visit www.californiasciencecenter.org to learn more.

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers are Thankful for Many Things

As part of a drawing for tickets to the Reagan Library yesterday, we asked Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page followers to comment on something they are thankful for this holiday season. Over 300 folks commented in the span of eight hours. The word cloud below sums up what this great local crowd is thankful for as we approach Thanksgiving.

Word cloud courtesy of tool at www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud

For a compilation of community holiday season events and activities through the end of the year, visit THIS LINK.

Tips For Using Public Wi-Fi Networks From the Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission notes that wi-fi hotspots in public places like coffee shops, libraries, universities and so on, while convenient, are often unsecured, which means the information you send when you're logged in to these hotspots can be seen by others.

Short of simply not using public wi-fi hotspots, there are things you can do to protect yourself.

1. Try to confine your use of unsecured public wi-fi hotspots to web browsing rather than logging in to websites and apps that require personal information.

2. If you do need to sign in to websites using login and password information, try to only use sites that are encrypted, or that basically scramble the information submitted so that others can't see it. How do you know if it is encrypted? If there is an "s" after http at the beginning of the web address, that means it's secure. But make sure the https shows up on every page you visit, not just the page you sign in.

The good news is that many sites requiring login are consistently using https these days, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, not to mention banking and financial sites. You may notice when you go to a site like Amazon.com, initially you'll see www.Amazon.com in the browser, but a secure web address once you click the sign in page.

As you can see, Yahoo mail uses https

3. The FTC notes that mobile apps don't have a visible indicator like https and that many mobile apps don't properly encrypt information. So if you have that $100 birthday check form Aunt Hattie and want to deposit it to your Chase account using your mobile app while enjoying your Frappuccino at Starbucks, use your phone's 4G or 3G data network, not the free wi-fi.

The Federal Trade Commission has more useful tips for using public wi-fi hotspots at www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0014-tips-using-public-wi-fi-networks.

County of Ventura's VC SafeDiner App Provides Convenient Access to Inspection Results

Ventura County Environmental Health launched the VC SafeDiner app for Apple and Android devices in early 2015.

VC SafeDiner is a quick and easy way to view the latest inspection results for food facilities in Ventura County. The app allows you to search by name, address or city; and also provides a map feature allowing you to view food facilities within a radius of your current location. Full inspection results for the last year are displayed, including recorded violations and inspector comments. 

I've tried it and it works great, replicating the searchable database on the County website at www.decadeonline.com/main.phtml?agency=VEN.