Two local towns top 'most livable cities' list

According to a recent survey I conducted, Fairfield and Suisun City are the most livable cities in America, just ahead of Vacaville and Rio Vista.

Miami and New York City were well down on the list as was Paris, France; Paris, Texas, and Paris Hilton.

The survey uses a variety of data to determine livability.

(Parenthetical note: My "study" is based on emails I routinely get and read that rank cities. The kingpin of this type of "study" is WalletHub, which uses data to determine the best cities in which to raise children, the best cities in which to work, the best live-work balance cities, etc. They crunch data and come to a conclusion, then release a list of (for instance) 150 California cities, ranked.

(Part of my problem with them is that they selectively choose the data for the measurements. Does having more parents with college education make it a better place to raise children? I don't know, but they seemingly choose things like that at random.

(The other problem I have is that the cities I love the most – Fairfield, Suisun City, Eureka – invariably rank low.)

My study based conclusions on five factors to determine the most livable cities:

• Distance from Travis Air Force Base.
• Distance from the Suisun Marina.
• Amount of time I've lived there.
• How close it comes to rhyming with "Barefield" or "Fa-foon Gritty."
• How many people I know who live there.

Fairfield and Suisun City tied for first. The tie-breaker was whether you could subscribe to the Daily Republic newspaper's home delivery in the city, so the cities remained tied.

"These cities tested off the charts," I said in a press release after reviewing the list. "They are clearly the most livable cities in America. The fact that they each scored 10 out of 10 on four factors and 9 out of 10 on another is amazing. Bravo to both cities. If more cities were like Fairfield and Suisun City, the world would be a better place."

Vacaville earned a spot as the third-most-livable city in the world. The gap between the top two and Vacaville was large, but Vacaville still placed well above such popular cities as Austin, Texas; New Orleans; Moscow; Luckenbach, Texas; and whatever Springfield is the one where "The Simpsons" live.

Rio Vista was fourth and Vallejo rounded out the top five.

Most of the other cities in the top 100 were in California, with the notable exception of Grarefield Baboon-Witty, France, a small town near the German border that scored very high in one unspecified category.

"This list is based on data, so don't argue with it," I said. "The nice thing is that it gives a template for what makes a place livable. We have high hopes that other cities will follow the lead of those that topped our list and move to Fairfield and Suisun City."

The mayor of Grarefield Baboon-Witty was pleased with his city's placement on the list.

"Je souhaite seulement que je vivais plus près de la marina de Suisun, (I only wish I lived closer to the Suisun Marina)," he said.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.

Exclusive interview with dethroned king of apples

The Red Delicious apple was sad. With good reason.

In August, the U.S. Apple Association announced what had been clear for a long time: Red Delicious is fading. Gala is growing.

For the first time in “at least five decades,” the Red Delicious apple isn’t the best-selling apple in the world. Years of being popular in lunch boxes, pies and fruit salads aren’t over, but Red is moving into the shadows.

“This isn’t how I expected it to end,” Red told the Daily Republic in an exclusive interview. “This shakes me to the core . . . get it?”

Red sighed. Being the Tom Brady of the apple world is great, until you suddenly are watching another apple move into the spotlight.

Red Delicious dropped to No. 2. According to the aforementioned Apple Association report, U.S. growers will produce 52.4 million 42-pound boxes of Gala apples this year, compared to 51.7 million boxes of Red Delicious.

People at the Apple Association said this ends a run of at least 50 years at the top for Red, but couldn’t be more specific.

Red could.

“I remember exactly when I became No. 1. It was 1967,” Red said. “I was on top of the world. The next year, the song 'Little Green Apples' came out and didn’t faze me. Then the Beatles formed Apple records and that didn’t faze me. Those were the days. It was the first time I shouted, 'How you like them apples?' Those were my salad days . . . no pun intended.”

The rest of the top five apples, by the way, include Granny Smith, Fuji and Honeycrisp.

“Honeycrisp? That'’s crazy,” Red said. “That’s not an apple. That’s a science experiment.”

Red said he was particularly hurt by the fact that the Honeycrisp (which is genetically engineered) edged out the Golden Delicious for the fifth spot on this year’s list.

“Golden is my brother. We’re the Delicious brothers,” Red said. “We’re like Steph and Seth Curry. Or Alec and one of those other Baldwin brothers. And comparing Golden and the Honeycrisp is like comparing us to oranges, right? Totally different things.”

The rise of new varieties is the main reason for Red’s decline, according to Darren Seifer, a food and beverage industry analyst who was quoted by Bloomberg in an article on Gala's ascension.

“Today’s health trend for consumers is proving you’re authentic and wholesome,” Seifer said. “It’s more about individualism. Brands must find a way to appeal to that individualism.”

When I read that quote to Red, he scoffed.

“I’m not saying that guy is a bad apple – no pun intended – but he’s overthinking it,” Red said. “I was good enough to last through Woodstock, Watergate, disco, all of the Jurassic Park movies, the Macarena craze, the dot-com bubble and Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential candidacy. And what’s more wholesome than a Red Delicious apple? I mean think of the name. I’m Red. I’m Delicious. I’m an apple. What the heck does Gala even mean?”

Red said consumers’ attraction to what he called “new, unproven” fruit could be problematic.

“It only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch,” Red said.

Then he hung up from his iPhone.

Made, of course, by Apple.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.

Follow AP style when you complain about this column

There are two books that guide the way I live: The Bible and The Associated Press Stylebook.

I won't discuss the former here (and yes, capitalize the Bible as a title when you refer to the Scriptures in the Old and New Testament, according to the AP Stylebook).

I was reminded of the value I attribute to the AP Stylebook when I saw a tweet by someone demanding that the headstone on their grave be reviewed by someone who knows AP style. I realized how important it was to me (my birthday, in October, better have the month abbreviated).

First an explanation: The AP Stylebook is published annually as a guide for how newspapers (and other media) should use the language. It's pretty complex (my version, the 2013 edition, has 484 pages) and covers everything from which American cities require state names with them to the difference between an engine and a motor to the fact that Polaroid is capitalized to the definition of "heavy snow."

There are many style guides, such as those to help with college writing, medicine and law. But AP style is the best.

I left the Daily Republic as an everyday writer four years ago, but am still a writer and editor. And still insist that we follow the AP Stylebook at my workplace. Obsessively.

Which is why I'm irritated when I see people ignore AP style (even though those people may not know AP style exists. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking writing rules!).

For instance:

There is no comma between a person's last name and the abbreviation for junior or senior. In other words, the Hall of Fame outfielder is Ken Griffey Jr. (no comma). And, by the way, his last name is Griffey. Not Griffey Jr.

While including a date, you abbreviate all months with more than five letters. In a nice coincidence, those months are consecutive. The only months you spell out while using a date are March, April, May, June and July.

In a related note, you spell out the whole month if there's not date involved. It's "he was born in October," but "he was born Oct. 15, 1991." Got it?

I'm a violent opponent of the serial comma, but I've addressed that previously. I confess that proponents of the serial comma (most frequently when you use a comma before "and") have a point. So on this, I'm not an AP style Nazi (the German political party was founded in 1919 and abolished in 1945, according to the AP Stylebook).

A job title is only capitalized before a name. The correct style is Fairfield Mayor Harry Price or Harry Price, Fairfield's mayor. Got it? Even the president and a senator don't get their job title capitalized unless it immediately precedes their name.

There are numerous other issues, but I won't bore you with details (too late?).

By the way, my stance on AP style comes with an expiration date. In the years since I left daily newspaper work, the stylebook changed the rules for cities and states (spelling the full state name, rather than abbreviating it) and softening its stance on over/under (now you can write "it cost over $1 million," even though it historically has been "more than.").

I disagree with both, which I guess makes me kind of a hypocrite (no mention of hypocrite in the AP Stylebook, which ends its "H" section with "hyphen."

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.

Protect language, beliefs of baby boomers

The culture and beliefs held during the childhood of baby boomers must be saved.

As a parent of two adult children, I've known for decades that many phrases and common cultural beliefs from my childhood were lost. Some are culturally insensitive, so farewell. Others are just gone.

I'm a (fake) historian and in the interest of preserving my culture, I hereby present a series of phrases and beliefs that were universally understood by children in my (semi-rural, largely white) youth, but create a blank stare from someone born in the 21st century.

Consider this a document to help people understand what my people once believed.

In alphabetical order:

Carrots. Help your eyesight. Everyone knew this, which is why it was funny if someone with glasses ate carrots.

Citizen's arrest. We all knew that you could do this if you saw someone doing something illegal. There's no evidence that it ever happened.

Crossing fingers. If you had your fingers crossed, a promise didn't count. There was some debate about whether having two sets of fingers crossed meant the promise stood.

Eenie, meenie, miney, moe. This is how you started the selection of who is "it" in any version of "tag" or while picking teams for anything. It eliminated one person at a time, so it took awhile, but we all understood it.

Eureka! It was my hometown, but more importantly, it was what you shouted when you found something. Because it means "I found it!" in French, apparently.

Farewell, cruel world. This was what people yelled before committing suicide by jumping off a building or cliff. Always.

For he's a jolly good fellow. This is what you sang when someone does something well. Often paired with three cheers: Hip hip hooray!

Geronimo! What you yelled while jumping out of an airplane, presumably with a parachute. However, you could yell it if you were vaulting from a tree or window.

Hiccups. This is what "drunks" did. They slurred their words, they hiccuped and we laughed, because it's funny to be drunk.

Hi-ho Silver! This was what the Lone Ranger (before our time) yelled, but everyone knew that's what you shouted when you got on a horse. Research reveals that it was really "Hi-yo Silver!" so I apologize to all my pretend horses.

Hunger strike. The most effective nonviolent way to get something done. Worth threatening, but no one I knew ever tried it.

Piranhas. The flesh-eating fish were present in every stream and river. Or at least you could yell that and scare your friends.

Popcorn. The seven digits (767-2676) that you dialed on your phone (yes, dialed) to find the exact time. You called "popcorn."

Quicksand. Nature's most dangerous substance was apparently widespread during cowboy days. Here's what we knew: It was dangerous and if you struggled, that only made it worse.

Rattlesnakes. The living companion to quicksand. They were present everywhere and often are encountered by the same people who dealt with quicksand.

You dirty rat. What gangsters say, it was also the standard impersonation of film legend Edward G. Robinson.

There are more – email me or leave comments of your favorites – which I'll address in a future column (he wrote, with two sets of crossed fingers).

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.

Time for clarity on what makes a star, superstar

Is Aaron Paul a TV star? His Jesse Pinkman was a key character in "Breaking Bad," but is he a star?

Is Klay Thompson an NBA superstar? A star? What about Susan Boyle: A singing star? Is country music songstress Miranda Lambert a superstar or just a star?

It's time to settle these disputes. There has to be a way to measure this. We have to know what makes someone a star or a superstar.

For instance, does being on a prime-time TV show (or now, on a streaming TV show that many people watch) automatically make you a TV star? Do you need to have a lead role to be a star?

What about superstar? To be a superstar singer, do you need to have multiple No. 1 songs or multiple sold-out international concert series? Can you be a rock star if you're the bassist for a reasonably popular band?

Today, I define the terms: I propose that "star" means you're in the top 10 percent of your field.

Let's face it, playing major league baseball, getting a recording contract, landing a role in a TV show or a movie is impressive. Few of us get that far.

But doing so just makes you a major league player, a recording artist or a working actor. It doesn't make you a star at any of them. To be a star, you have to be better than 90 percent of your cohorts.

This obviously raises the bar in many fields, but what's wrong with that? As John F. Kennedy, star president, said: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Same thing with calling someone a star: You don't get to be a star because it's easy. You become a star because it's hard.

Some stars: Alicia Keys, James Taylor, John Legend, Johnny Mathis, Aerosmith in music; Clint Eastwood, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Emma Stone, Bette Davis in movies; Buster Posey, Troy Aikman, Venus Williams and Lennox Lewis in sports.

They're all great. They all are memorable and famous and beloved by their fans. But they're not 1 percenters.

That's the definition of superstar: The top 1 percent of a field.

If you're a "super" version of a star, you are extremely elite. That doesn't mean above average, it means better than 99 percent of people in the field.

In the NBA, where there are 450 players on rosters at any time, there are four or five superstars. In pop music, where there are (he makes a guess) 1,000 legitimate active recording artists at any time, there are 10 superstars.

In movies, where there are roughly (he's guessing again) 2,500 actors, there are 25 superstars. Half are men, half are women.

This is an exclusive club, get it?

Some superstars: The Beatles, Jay-Z, Whitney Houston, Wham! in music; Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Katheryn Hepburn in movies; Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Manny Pacquiao in sports.

I hope this makes it simpler.

Roseanne Barr isn't a superstar (she's a star). Brandon Belt isn't a star (he's a major league starter). Taylor Swift is a borderline superstar and Draymond Green is just a star.

Oh, to wrap things up: Aaron Paul is a TV star because his role was so great. Klay Thompson is a star. Susan Boyle isn't a music star. Miranda Lambert is on the fringe of superstardom, but I don't follow country music enough to know.

Feel free to debate me, but remember the rule: Top 10 percent makes you a star, top 1 percent makes you a superstar.

And to further wrap things up: Yes, Wham!

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.