1. The Tuolumne River needs your help TODAY
2. What If...the presidential and vice-presidential candidates changed race? Food for thought
3. New York Times' thoughtful endorsement of Obama
4. Voters' Guide to California Proposition 8
5. Make it easy when you go to vote: www.GoVote.org
6. The power of Sarah Palin
7. Save the Date: CNPS annual plant sale Nov 6
8. Open seats on the San Francisco Urban Forestry Council
9. Horseradish Redux!!
10. Eruption of a seemingly quiet volcano causes global disaster
11. SF Supervisor candidate interested in natural areas
12. Cell phone numbers being released to telemarketers - you can stop them
13. The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies
14. Feedback
15. National Happiness Index bucks financial woes
16. LTE to Science News on population
17. Halloween miscellany: Venus and Moon dance/Jack o'Lantern and the devil/the Haunted Presidio
18. Notes & Queries
1. From the Tuolumne River Trust:
Can you come to SF City Hall to support the Tuolumne River?
This Thursday, October 30, there will be two important public hearings at which the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) will likely decide whether to go with a plan that diverts more water from an already threatened river, or whether to turn to water conservation and recycling instead. October 30 will be the moment of truth. We are asking Tuolumne supporters to come out in droves - if there were ever a time to speak out on behalf of this source of Bay Area drinking water - this is it! (If you can only make one hearing, the 5:00pm SFPUC meeting is the more critical.)
Planning Commission Hearing
SF City Hall, Room 400
Thursday, October 30 at 1:30pm
Special Meeting of the SFPUC
SF City Hall, Room 263
Thursday, October 30 at 5:00pm
We've come a long way. A few short months ago, the SFPUC was considereding a controversial plan to take an additional 25 million gallons of water per day out of the Tuolumne River. Most of this increase would have been for outdoor use. While that option is still on the table, SFPUC staff are now recommending a compromise - a variant that would leave most of that water in the River and turn to water conservation and recycling instead, at least until the year 2018.
Make no mistake - this has the potential to be a huge victory. But we still have concerns - we want to make sure there are strong assurances that the SFPUC and it's customers won't go over their cap, and we're concerned that the plan would still allow for an additional 2 million gallons a day to be diverted. 59% of flows are already diverted in an average year (up to 90% in some years) - meanwhile, we've seen our native salmon and steelhead populations crash. So right now, please email the Commissioners of the SFPUC and urge them to choose a plan that keeps every drop of remaining water in the River: http://www.tuolumne.org/content/staticpages/index.php/letter_commissioners.
Additional information on the 1.30 pm Planning Commission meeting:
Speak Up for Alameda Creek
October 30th, 1:30 pm Room 400
San Francisco City Hall
SF Planning Commission
The S.F. Planning Commission will discuss and vote on certification of the final EIR for the WSIP at 1:30 pm. The SFPUC will hold a hearing at 5 pm on the WSIP and choose a project.
The WSIP as proposed, specifically the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project and the Alameda Creek “Fishery Enhancement” Project, will have unacceptable impacts on the native fish and wildlife of Alameda Creek, will impede restoration of steelhead trout, and will commit the SFPUC to illegally operating Calaveras Dam and the Alameda Diversion Dam in violation of state and federal wildlife protection laws.
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2. Subject: What if
What if the shoe were on the other foot? Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin. What if the presidential candidates exchanged race? Ponder the following:
What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was divorced?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after she was severely disfigured in a car accident?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain had graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?
You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
So let's consider some other stuff like educational backgrounds:
Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University, College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world.
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3. The New York Times endorsement of Barack Obama - a thoughtful and nearly complete statement of the issues, the problems, the merits and demerits of the respective candidates. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=opinion
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4. Voters' Guide to California Proposition 8
If M. Dennis Moore ever decides to run for office in Oregon, he might do well with voters starved for humor. Moore paid good money to put his hilarious arguments mocking Measure 36, which prohibited same-sex marriage, in the state's official general election voters' guide. Calling himself a spokesman for the "Defense of Heterosexual Breeding Coalition," Moore argued that since the Bible says marriage is only for procreation, Oregon should prohibit marriage not only for homosexuals, but also for men with vasectomies, women with hysterectomies, anyone infertile, persons planning to use birth control, and non-virgins. "Agree with us or burn in hell!" Moore concluded. He blamed a lot of the outrage about same-sex marriage on God, who never stops "throwing all these radical social changes at us."
Measure 36 passed, nonetheless. (In 2006, I think)
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5. Make It Easy When You Go Vote (from Center for Biological Diversity)
www.GoVote.org is a project by the New Organizing Institute, the Election Administration Fund of the Democracy Alliance, and Working Assets. The handy and searchable GoVote Web site provides answers, organized by zip code, to all of voters' most oft-asked queries, from "Exactly where is my voting location (with maps)?" to "What identification should I bring?" All answers are available in Spanish, too.
Lack of information about voting suppresses more votes than caging, purging, or intimidation at the polls. Fight the trend and tell your fellow voters about www.GoVote.org before this historic election is history.
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6. The power of Sarah Palin
Newsweek reported on October 24:
" When those [pro-coice] voters get angry, they start donating money. In this case, Planned Parenthood has become the beneficiary. Shortly after Palin’s nomination, e-mails began circulating suggesting that pro-choice women make donations to Planned Parenthood in her honor. As of this week, Planned Parenthood has received more than 40,000 donations in Palin’s name, totaling more than $1 million." For the full article go to: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/10/24/how-sarah-palin-has-helped-pro-choice-activists.aspx
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7.
SAVE THE DATE
Annual plant sale of local native plants
California Native Plant Society Yerba Buena Chapter
Thursday 6 November, 7.30 pm
San Francisco County Fair Bldg
9th Av & Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park
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8. Open seats on San Francisco's Urban Forestry Council
The UFC is an advisory body for the Mayor and Board of Supervisors that's was formed to help guide urban forestry practices and polices and create
cohesion among the many stakeholders in San Francisco. The Council has representatives from city agencies, local nonprofit organizations, field
professionals, and urban forestry advocates from the general public. They've done alot of good work so far, including commissioning many of the
studies and reports on San Francisco's urban forest that exist today.
The Council membership was recently restructured and all seat positions were opened for new appointments. My understanding is that some, but not
all, of the current members are reapplying and that there are seats which have not been applied for.
If anyone is interested in applying they can find the forms and procedures for applying at this website: http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=4386
The UFC webpage is located here: http://www.sfenvironment.org/our_policies/overview.html?ssi=16
Anyone interested person can contact me directly for more information about the UFC.
Mei Ling Hui, Urban Forest Coordinator, Department of the Environment
415-355-3731 - meiling.hui@sfgov.org
www.sfenvironment.com
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9. Horseradish
I'm printing this email verbatim, because editing-out extraneous material takes more time than I have. After visiting the KPFA transmitter site to plan restoration work, Bill McClung invited us to his house for lunch. The message here is horseradish--and was it a message! The writer is KPFA volunteer Bob Nelson:
HORSERADISH HARVEST
Big, big thanks to John McClung for introducing us to home-grown horseradish!! At the beginning of the year, when Jake Sigg visited our site on a miserable, wet, chilly day, Bill McClung invited us to his home for a luncheon, and Bill's son John served his home-grown horseradish. It was SOOOO good, I couldn't stop eating it, even though my eyes were watering and my nose was running from its effects! We planted a horseradish root in a pot under the transmitter's front hose bib, and the rest is history! The plant flourished! When I needed to relocate the pot a month or so ago to restore the Backflow Preventer piping, I discovered that the roots had grown out through a drain hole in the pot. Those roots were ripped apart when I moved the pot, and a volunteer horseradish plant appeared in the KPFA soil! As described above, it's receiving drip irrigation! Robert and I harvested the horseradish roots from the potted plant, which yielded two very meaty roots, one for Robert and one for me. Robert took a small side-root as well to establish horseradish in his home garden! Back at my own living quarters I pulverized my harvested root and prepared it as recommended at www.horseradish.org. It's GOOD!! I'm hoping for increased future harvests!!
JS: All three of us (we?) guests pigged out, and we had tears running down our faces and sinuses were stinging. It was so good we couldn't stop ourselves.
(For years I have been decrying what has happened to all sorts of things we ingest. Nearly everything--soups, dressings, sauces, chips, you-name-it--have sugar or other sweeteners added. Mustard and horseradish are all neutered--and sweetened!!--so much so that I have stopped buying them entirely. It's unfortunate that whole generations are growing up not knowing what these things taste like, one more step in the descent of civilization. Check out that website, but beware that it is industry-sponsored. Therefore you have to sort out facts from their promotional material. Death to the neuterers!)
From the www.horseradish.org site:
1500 B.C. to First Century -- Early training among Egyptians around time of the Exodus. Appointed one of the "five bitter herbs" Jews were told to eat at Passover (still part of this religious observance). Served internship with Early Greeks as a lower back rub and aphrodisiac.
1300 - 1600 A.D. -- Accepted lateral transfer out of Central Europe to cover territory in Scandinavia and England. Increased therapeutic responsibilities as a cough expectorant and treatment for food poisoning, scurvy, tuberculosis and colic.
1601 to 1700 -- Using a unique blend of medicinal and culinary skills, developed new market in England and Germany with the creation of "horseradish ale" (mixture of horseradish, wormwood and tansy) to revive the weary travelers. European chefs in research and development uncover synergistic bond between horseradish and meat or seafood. Moved operations overseas with early American settlers who introduced horseradish cultivation in the new colonies.
1840 to Present -- Continued to climb up condiment ladder with commercial cultivation launched by German immigrants in the Midwest, spawning a horseradish industry which today produces approximately six million gallons of prepared horseradish annually. (I am presenting this verbatim from website. If I were to edit it [tempting], I would say "Continued to climb up the condiment ladder until recent decades...produces approximately six million gallons of prepared slop annually.)
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Disaster Goes Global
10. The eruption in 1600 of a seemingly quiet volcano in Peru changed global climate and triggered famine as far away as Russia
...Through a chance meeting on an airplane, (the researcher) Verosub found that the Peruvian volcano Huaynaputina may have triggered substantial social upheaval as well. While he chatted with a seatmate about his research on the effects of volcanic eruptions, a fellow seated in the row behind--Chester Dunning, a historian specializing in Russian history--overheard the conversation and introduced himself.
Verosub asked "Soi, did anything interesting happen in Russia in 1601?" "Oh, yeah. That was a terribly cold time in Russia." That cold spell was just the beginning of the nation's woes, Dunning continued...another agricultural failure the following year led to widespread starvation in both 1602 and 1603.
This lengthy famine--Russia's worst, says Dunning--claimed the lives of an estimated 2 million people, or about one-third of the population, and more than 100,000 died in Moscow alone. Government inability to alleviate both the calamity and the subsequent unrest eventually led to the ovlerthrow of Czar Boris Godunov, a defining event in Russian history.
Excerpt from Science News 30 Aug 08
Recently I printed an LTE to The Economist from a writer who raised the possibility of volcanoes and solar output canceling in the short term the effects of human-generated warming activities.
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11. From Nature in the City website:
In a recent political mailer, a candidate for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Eric Mar, has actually invoked his support for San Francisco's natural environment! To our knowledge, this is the first we have ever heard of a candidate or a sitting supervisor talking about nature in the city unprompted. A truly green supe?
Here's the quote from the mailer: "As a two-term member of the Board of Education, I have also supported programs that allow our students to learn about our natural areas, our city's native plant and animal populations, and concepts such as biodiversity and ecosystems."
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12.
REMINDER.... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls..... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS. To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
It takes about 20 seconds. or go to www.donotcall.gov
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13. The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies, by Bert Holldoebler and E.O. Wilson
The superorganism is a social colony of individuals who, through a sophisticated division of labor, a highly effective communications network and a process of self-organization, form a tightly connected community that functions as a single organism. Fewer than two dozen superorganism species are known to exist: social insects--the colonial bees, wasps, ants and termites--and humans. Fascinating in their own right, superorganisms also offer a window through which we can witness the progression of life from simple to complex forms. (The authors' purpose is) "to present the rich and diverse natural history facts that illustrate superorganismic traits in insect societies."
Excerpt from review in Scientific American, November 2008
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14. Feedback
Bruce Grosjean (accompanied by pictures):
Jake - Your readers may be interested in John McPhee's "The Control of Nature" which outlines three separate cases of human hubris, my favorite being the chapter, Atchafalaya, where he states, "It was at Old River that New Orleans would be lost, Baton Rouge would be lost. At old river we would lose the American Ruhr. The Army's name for its operation there was Old River Control." While in the area last year I spent over a day prowling the area with book in hand. Compelling author, compelling story, especially after Katrina graphically demonstrated just how vulnerable that region really is.
Chris Darling:
Dear Jake, Regarding the homeless, the most salient statistic is that the Federal Government has slashed the budget for public housing by over 75% since 1981, when Reagan became President. Clinton took part in this gutting of needed public housing, but obviously since Republicans have been President 20 of the 28 years since then, they did the most.
Yes, there have always been people who are unable/unwilling to live by the rules of working and living inside a domicile. I am not willing to judge them for what they do. They are human beings and deserve compassion no matter how they ended up without a roof over their heads.
But, without doubt, the huge increase in homelessness is because the Republicans have worked as hard as possible at taking money away from the budget for public housing. If you were to go back 30 years, the number and percentage of homeless people was much less because we, as a society, were willing to pay to help house them.
We are unlike most of the rest of the industrial countries in how little we are willing to pay to help those who are less fortunate. Overwhelmingly, we do not pay for decent schools in poor neighborhoods, we do not pay for health care, we do not pay for housing, and we even make it hard for people to get enough to eat. 30 years ago, food stamps were much easier to get with fewer strings attached. Did some people mooch off those of us working by getting food stamps who did not need them? Absolutely, but the level of hunger was much lower. I am willing to pay some extra for that mooching because it is an inevitable result of more generous help that keeps people from being really hungry, from dying without health care and so on. If government becomes stingy with social services, there is less fraud, waste, and services going to people who are not really in need. But the converse, people in need who cannot get help, is also an inevitable outcome of that stinginess.
Thanks for the feedback, Chris. Yours is intelligent and well-reasoned, and is a reminder of contributions to the problem. Much of the opinion I receive is of the variety that they "must be treated humanely", or words to that effect. That is the response of an affluent society, but lacks grounding. I am skeptical of the wisdom of trying to take care of everybody when many are not willing to take care of themselves. Perhaps I am too harsh?
A couple of people took me to task for my opinion on this subject.
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15. National Happiness Index bucks financial woes: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95650430
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16. LTE, Science News
...Science and technology have bettered the lives of millions, and the future remains bright as long as human imagination thrives. A troubling trend, though, is that no new farmland is being created, and neither is air or open space.
The question is not whether science can continue to pull off miracles. And it's not whether human population will continue to grow. The real question is at what point will science not deliver enough to stop humans from crowding themselves and every living thing off our planet?
If we don't seek an equilibrium, Mother Nature will enforce one. If we don't stop the population from growing, not even science will be able to save us. Why isn't this a component of our foreign policy?
Barry Demchak, La Jolla, California
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"There is always an applied side to thinking deeply. In any society there are many complicated issues that unfortunately get simplified to the point where short-sightedness wins...Science teaches us to think more broadly than that. If we really had wise leaders, they would take the long-term perspective seriously precisely because we are so prone to ignore it. They should listen to scientists and philosophers much more than economists who tend to be interested in what happens in the next annual quartile."
Animal ecologist Hanna Kokko of University of Helsinki in 9 September Current Biology
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17.
On Halloween, the crescent Moon will sneak up on Venus for a close encounter of startling beauty. The gathering is best seen just after sunset when the twilight is pumpkin-orange and Halloween doorbells are chiming in earnest. Venus hovers just above the southwestern horizon, the brightest light in the sky, while the exquisitely slender Moon approaches just a few degrees below.
Here are the details: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/28oct_halloweensky.htm?list198169
Good luck with the weather.
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HALLOWEEN
Jack tricked the Devil to go up an apple tree, then placed a cross on the trunk so he couldn’t get down. But sinful Jack was barred from going to heaven, and the Devil barred him from going to hell, so he had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favorite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-Lantern.
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Most successful PR campaign ever: By the 1930s, Halloween was getting rough—more than just tipping over outhouses. FDR asked people to be nice on Halloween because people were going through such hardships and didn’t need more. Kids were encouraged to ask for candy instead of doing tricks.
Perhaps it was the most successful PR campaign ever, but I don't recall being aware of FDR's request; it certainly had zero effect in my town. Tipping over outhouses (indoor toilets were a rarity in small towns and rural areas in the '30s) was the standard Halloween trick in my youth. (One time two boys pushing over a toilet fell into the pit.) There wasn't a lot of treating, because people were mostly too poor to have goodies to pass out.
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The Haunted Presidio
Friday, October 31 - 6:00-7:30 PM - Free
Take a walk on the wild side with spine-tingling tales of the Presidio’s history. Dress warmly, wear comfortable shoes and bring a flashlight (optional).
Meet Rangers Penn and Colindres at the corner of Lincoln Blvd. and Funston Ave for a moderate 1-mile walk. Reservations required. Call the Presidio Visitor Center at 415-561-4323.
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18. Notes & Queries, Guardian Weekly
Why are holidays so short?
Back in the 1960s all talk of the future was of the coming Age of Leisure, with production of goods and other repetitive tasks carried out efficiently using modern technology, thereby reducing working hours and leaving us with loads of free time to relax, pursue pastimes and develop artistic and cultural activities.
So what happened? An unholy alliance of insatiable consumer greed for unnecessary goods together with a rampant market economy has trapped us on the treadmill and forced us to work ever longer hours. So much for the Age of Leisure!
If we reverted to a 1960s standard of living, using current technology and equitably distributed, we could all have much longer holidays...and be a lot happier too.
Felix Ansell, Bradford, UK
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