SLO LIFE Magazine Aug/Sep 2019

| BRIEFS
TOP 25
“That’s America’s Top 25” favorite pizza
joints from New York to California
according to Yelp reviewers—and Petra
Mediterranean Pizza & Grill in SLO
made the cut this year. How’d they do
it? The website 24/7 Tempo says it’s the
restaurant’s unique pizza selection that
wows customers, including a gyro pizza
and a Greek feta pizza. Owner Todd
Aburashed says, “You have to have a lot of
love and care; you have to be generous.”
MISO
A soon-to-be-patented device small enough
to hold in one hand, yet a potential source
of light for the more than 1.6 billion people
in the world living off the grid. The impact
of the MISO, short for “Multiple Input
Single Output DC-DC Converter with
Equal Load Sharing on Multiple Inputs,”
could be profound, according to Cal Poly
professor Taufik who developed it with
former student Owen Jong. MISO combines
the input of multiple low-power electricity
sources into one stronger output source. “In
the developing world,” Taufik says, “a little
electricity goes a long way.”
45%
The percentage of incoming Cal Poly
students who identify as members of a
minority, making this the most diverse
class in the university’s history. That’s
2,609 out of 5,769 transfers and firsttime
freshmen enrolling for Fall 2019,
including Hispanic/Latino, African
American, Asian American, Native
American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander,
multi-racial, and undocumented students.
24 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | AUG/SEP 2019
“We want
peace and joy
to be given a
chance.”
Northern Chumash Tribal Council
Chairman Fred Collins speaking in
support of the California Coastal
Commission staff ’s recommendation
to phase out off-highway vehicle access
to Oceano Dunes State Vehicular
Recreation Area.
$284,300
The newly-reduced price of a piece of
California history: Nitt Witt Ridge in
Cambria, also known as the “Anti Hearst
Castle.” Still on the market in July, six
months after being listed for sale at the
original asking price of $425,000. The
eccentric structure (considered by some a
remarkable piece of folk art) is California
State Landmark 939.
BB Guns, Batons,
& Brass Knuckles
Among the many items event-goers could
not bring into the California Mid-State
Fair that opened for 12 days beginning July
17th. All visitors (except law enforcement)
who hoped to attend the mutton-bustin’
or vinegar competitions, see the Fabulous
Thunderbirds in concert, or enjoy the
carnival rides for free on opening day (a first
in the 73-year history of the fair) also were
screened for ammunition, knives, Mace, and
handcuff keys among multiple other no-nos.
6
The number of deaths at the Oceano Dunes
year-to-date, making it the most lethal on record.
$2.8 million
The value of clothing, jewelry, and home
goods made by artisans from around the
world that HumanKind has sold during
the decade it has been open in downtown
San Luis Obispo. The shop on Monterey
Street, which operates as a nonprofit,
celebrated ten years of “fair trade”
shopping and inspiring change in July.
“Frank’s imprint
is evident in
every facet
of this great
institution.”
And now it’s on a two-story,
32,000-square-foot instructional building,
too. Cuesta College’s seventh president,
Dr. Jill Stearns, honored its second
president, Dr. Frank R. Martinez, during
a recent naming ceremony for the first
structure to be built on campus with
Measure-L bond funds passed in 2014.
The 96-year-old Martinez joined the
college as vice president in 1964, became
president in 1977, and retired in 1988.
65,820
Registered borrowers in the County of San
Luis Obispo Public Libraries database,
a number that has grown from around
1,400 when the system was founded 100
years ago. The number of branches also
has grown from one in 1919 to fourteen
in 2019 covering 3,000 square miles from
Cambria to Nipomo. SLO LIFE