Brian O'Neill, Superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for many, many years, has died following recent heart surgery
1. Celebrate Endangered Species Day Friday May 15
2. Mt Sutro fire mitigation project meeting Monday 18 May
3. SF Planning Commission update Recreation & Open Space Element of General Plan. Hearing Thurs 14 May
4. Wildflower burst on Pacifica State Beach/mallard cannibals?
5. CNPS field trip on San Mateo coast Sunday 16 May
6. Good information on bugs of San Francisco
7. A Single Swallow: Following an Epic Journey from South Africa to South Wales
8. Wanted: Candidates for board of directors, California Invasive Plant Council
9. Energy-hungry internet threatened by its own success
10. Machiavelli and Obama
11. Native oysters return to San Francisco Bay/Jack London was an oyster pirate
12. SF Examiner story on restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley/hypocrisy of Bay Area politicians
13. Feedback: May 19 election propositions/Harry Truman, Matthew Algeo/Groucho
14. UC and Jepson Herbaria on Facebook
15. It's getting wetter on world coastlines/that doesn't stop developers
16. Living physics: plants and animals exploit quantum phenomena
17. Last screenings of Joseph Campbell's final lectures
18. East Bay gardener gave painless lessons in grammar and syntax
19. International Space Station erector set
1. Celebrate Endangered Species Day and our nation's amazing wildlife and wild places. Celebrate Endangered Species Day on Friday, May 15th, 2009!
Endangered Species Day Multi-District Elementary School Art Exhibit
May 16, 2009, 1-3 pm
Don Edwards SF Bay NWR Visitor Center
2 Marshlands Rd, Fremont, CA 94536
Come to the refuge and celebrate Endangered Species Day! Meet and greet artists from elementary schools in the Fremont, Newark, New Haven, and Ravenswood School Districts who entered the 27th Annual Endangered Species Poster Contest. All artists’ work will be ondisplay on this special day.
Refreshments will be served. For more information, call Cara at (510) 745-8695. www.fws.gov/desfbay/
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2. A public meeting has been scheduled to inform those interested in Mt. Sutro issues about two proposed fire mitigation projects which would take place in the Mt. Sutro Open Space Reserve.
Attend the public meeting and become informed on this next Mt. Sutro project and about our continuing efforts to preserve, restore and improve the viability of this significant Open Space area.
Monday, May 18, 2009 - 7:00 p.m.
St. John Armenian Apostolic Church, located at 275 Olympia Way.
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3.
San Francisco Planning Commission meeting
Recreation and Open Space Element of General Plan
Thursday 14 May - 1.30 pm (I don't know when the item comes up)
The Recreation and Open Space Element (ROSE) provides the goals, objectives, and policies that will guide open space acquisition, preservation and priorities for San Francisco over the next 25 years.
G. REGULAR CALENDAR (S. DENNIS PHILLIPS (415) 558-6314)
11. RECREATION AND OPEN SPACE ELEMENT UPDATE - Informational presentation of the draft for public review of the Recreation and Open Space Element of the City's General Plan. The Planning Department, the Mayor’s Office of Greening and the Recreation and Parks Department have been working with the Mayor's Open Space Task Force and the community at large to develop a comprehensive framework for the future of open space in San Francisco. A major component of this framework is an update to the Recreation and Open Space Element (lasted updated in 1986), which provides the goals, objectives, and policies that will guide open space development, acquisition, preservation and priorities for the City over the next 25 years. This presentation will introduce the major themes of the update to aid in Commissioner and public review; subsequent hearings will be scheduled for further discussion and revisions to the draft through the summer and fall. No action is required at this time.
http://sfgov.org/site/planning_page.asp?id=104006
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4.
From Clark Natwick:
Have you seen the wildflower burst on the north end of Pacifica State Beach?
Morning glories, beach primrose, sand verbena, Indian paint brush, beach sage, dune grass and on and on.
Ryder Miller:
A Mother's Day wildlife observation from RWM:
Stopping at a lake while walking through Golden Gate Park I saw a bunch of Mallard ducks and there were also some baby duckings there as well. The interesting thing was that the mother of the ducks was chasing all the males, those with the green heads, away for the ducklings who were on their way into the lake. The male Mallards looked on from a distance. Some animals are cannibals.
(Is it cannibalism or is it desire to kill another male's offspring, giving another male the chance to mate and pass on his genes?)
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5.
(Note: Toni Corelli will also present this talk to the CNPS Yerba Buena Chapter in San Francisco on August 16.)
The Amazing Plants of Coastal San Mateo County
A presentation by Toni Corelli
Friday, May 15th at 7:30 pm
Half Moon Bay Library
The San Mateo Coast runs along the Pacific Ocean for over 71 miles and has acres of public land with over 25 parks and state beaches. Until now much of the flora has not been documented, but for the past two years with the help of volunteers over 600 taxa have been listed for the public lands along the coast. This presentation will highlight the parks and plants “west of 1” and also show how volunteers in collaboration with State Parks are helping to restore native habitat on the coast. Learn about the diverse plant communities and spectacular wildflowers that occupy this slender stretch of Highway 1. Then join us for walks May 16th and June 14th. Toni Corelli is a longtime member of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and has lived and botanized the local flora of the San Mateo County coast for 20 years.
Directions: from Hwy. 280 take Hwy. 92 west to Main Street (Half Moon Bay); turn left (south) on Main Street, then right (west) on Correas. The Library will be on the left (south) side of the street. It should take you less than 20 minutes from Hwy. 280 to Half Moon Bay.
Is it a Native? Come early for our plant ID clinic. Experts will be available starting at 7 pm to help you identify naturalized plants (those growing without human care) that have been collected with proper permit or landowner permission.
Saturday, May 16, 10 am
San Mateo Coast Walk
Join Toni Corelli for a walk to three different areas along the San Mateo Coast. Meet at Wilbur’s Watch (Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) property) along Hwy. 1 near Pigeon Point Lighthouse. The areas we will visit will be easy trails with diverse plants through coastal habitats, and beautiful vistas of the ocean. The walk is expected to end at 3 pm. For more information, contact Toni Corelli at corelli@coastside.net or (650) 726-0689.
Directions: From Hwy 92 or Hwy 84, take Hwy 1 south past Pescadero. Immediately across from Pigeon Point lighthouse, turn left onto Pigeon Point Rd., and follow as it curves around to the right. You'll see the ramp to the parking area on your left 0.8 mile from the Hwy 1 junction.
For more information, go to www.cnps-scv.org.
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6. Bug information
Mike Sullivan:
Jake – do you have any suggestions for good books or websites or other sources for information on native BUGS of San Francisco? I have become quite knowledgeable about the bugs that one is likely to find under logs in Mt. Sutro, GGP and Buena Vista, as my son Joe is very fond of the bug hunt. I would really like to know more about the rolly-polly’s, red centipedes, beetles, etc. that I’ve begun to recognize on my treks with Joe. Any good books/source materials? Mike
(I responded by directing him to the horse's mouth, Leslie Saul):
Leslie Saul:
"The Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders" by Christopher O'Toole or his other book the older "The Encyclopedia of Insects" is a good illustrated book for children about all insect and arachnid life. The best guides for local fauna are the amazingly inexpensive "Golden Guide to Spiders and their kin" and the "Golden Guide to Butterflies and Moths" which has illustrations of both caterpillars and adults. There are bigger and fancier guides now (Field Guide to Western Butterflies by Paul Opler for serious butterfly watching) but these small guides are still rather good. For general insect guides that's a bit tougher. National Wildlife Federation has a newer "Guide to Insects and Spiders" and or the Simon and Schuster's "Guide to Insects". Both get good reviews and have lots of photographs but are a bit more adult-oriented.
Mike Sullivan:
Thanks – this is all great. We are mostly interested in bugs that can be found under rocks and logs, as that’s where the odds are the best, we find! We spent an hour collecting on Sunday, and took our little critters to the education center in the Academy Sunday afternoon. We were told that “Vic” was out, but the staff helped us anyway. Our little black beetles are apparently darkling beetles, and the soft little bugs that jump around a lot, which my son calls “jumpy-bugs”, are as yet unidentified. Red centipedes are, well, red centipedes, although I’m still curious about the specific species. We also found a very large millipede, which was pretty exciting. It’s funny how after just a little bit of exploration and practice, you encounter the same kinds of insects over and over, getting to know them, and getting excited when you see something new and different.
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7.
Migrating swallows
Spring bringers
A Single Swallow: Following an Epic Journey from South Africa to South Wales, by Horatio Clare
Sixteen million migratory birds fly to Britain every year from sub-Saharan Africa in a flurry of wing beats that herald the spring. Of the 50 species that make the journey, the best loved are swallows.
Known by an array of magical names—golodrina in Spain, the bird that thaws the snow; svala in Sweden, to console; and in Africa inkonjani, the lightning bird, nyankalema, the bird that never gets tired, or giri giri, a magical charm—swallows have lived alongside humans for thousands of years. The Minoans painted them on the walls of their houses in 1600BCE. Their images decorated Greek vases a thousand years later and they are mentioned in the poetry of Virgil and Ovid. The Austrians believe swallows built the sky and myth says they pulled the thorns from the head of Christ: how else did they get their blood-red cheeks?
In his latest book, which is not so much a work about swallows as an African travel adventure built around them, Horatio Clare sets out to follow the migration route of the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) from the reed beds of Bloemfontein in South Africa to the eaves of his family’s barn in south Wales. Mr Clare, who portrayed his unconventional upbringing on a Welsh hill farm in an earlier memoir, “Running for the Hills”, sees his journey as a way of separating “the boy-man I was from the man I wanted to become”.
Travelling by any means he can find, he crosses nine African countries, meeting along the way the power-crazy, the kind, the mad and the desperate. Although his tight schedule means he rather pelts through the continent, his eye for detail and his elegant pen give a flavour of each country he crosses: great veldts and high plateaux, Congo’s “green vastness”, the “sandy seas” of the Sahel and, finally, the fertile plain of the north African coast.
Swooping exuberantly above him are the swallows, skimming over rooftops, across rivers and valleys, blue backs glistening, forked tails dancing behind them as they curve trajectories in the sky, a graceful reminder of the inspirational and unending power of nature.
The Economist 9 May 2009
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8. The California Invasive Plant Council is seeking potential candidates for its board of directors. Please consider whether you or someone you know would make a good addition. The board meets quarterly to set program direction and maintain its financial stability. Board members serve as links to its network of 1,000 Cal-IPC members throughout the state's weed-worker community. It's a fun and productive bunch, and they help make the organization what it is. [See http://www.cal-ipc.org/about/staff.php for info on current board members.]
Please pass along expressions of interest or informal nominations to Wendy West, board development chair, at wkwest@ucdavis.edu by June 1. She can provide more details on duties and expectations.
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9. Energy-hungry internet is threatened by its own success
The internet's increasing appetite for electricity poses a major threat to companies such as Google, scientists and industry executives say.
Leading figures have told the Guardian that many internet companies are struggling to manage the costs of delivering billions of web pages, videos and files online and the pressure to deliver could even threaten the future of the internet itself. "In an energy-constrained world, we cannot continue to grow the footprint of the internet...we need to rein in the energy consumption," said (a vice-president of Sun Microsystems).
...With more than 1.5 billion people online around the world, scientists estimate that the energy footprint of the net is growing by more than 10% each year...One site under particular scrutiny is YouTube, the world's third-biggest website, but one that requires a heavy subsidy from Google, its owner...an analysis...suggested the site could lose as much as $470m this year, as it succumbs to the cost of delivering power-intensive videos over the internet.
While the demand for electricity is a primary concern, a secondary result of the explosion of internet use is that the computer industry's carbon debt is increasing drastically. From having a relatively small impact just a few years ago, it is leapfrogging other sectors such as the airline industry that are more widely recognised for their negative environmental impact.
...despite efforts to achieve greater efficiency, internet use was growing at such a rate that it was outstripping technical improvements--meaning that US data centres could account for as much as 80 billion kwh this year. "Efficiency is being more than overwhelmed by continued growth and demand for new services. It's a common story...technical improvements are often taken back by increased demand."
Among the problems that could result from the internet's hunger for electricity are website failures and communications disruption costing millions in lost business every hour - as well as power cuts and brownouts at plants that supply data centres with electricity...
Excerpted from Guardian Weekly article by Bobbie Johnson, 08.05.09
(JS: A very small item, but one that I have wondered about: Standard practice for most people, in my experience, it to hit the Reply button, thus sending the entire contents of the email they're responding to. For example, when people give me feedback on this newsletter, the entire newsletter is sent back, sometimes with a brief "Thanks for item 2". Also, when there are multiple cc's--eg, perhaps >100--all of them receive another copy (sometimes including photos), with a simple message: "Thanks"!
I'm sure the energy involved is minuscule in the total picture referred to in the above article, nevertheless it's not nothing. Should I be concerned about this?)
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10. LTE, The Economist
Sir - Your article on Barack Obama's foreign policy cited Machiavelli's axiom that it is often better to be feared than loved. In fact, Machiavelli said it is better to be loved than feared, but if a prince cannot be effective and loved he should consider being effective and feared. It seems Mr Obama is both effective and loved by most people across the world. He does not have to be feared to be taken seriously.
Alexander Tregub, San Jose, California
(As often occurs, the public image of Machiavelli is wide of the truth. I may dilate on this another time, but for now, this:
Take a look at his times (15th, early 16th century Italy). Brigandry was not only common, it was certain if you were travelling or hauling goods for trading between Florence and nearby cities. Democracy cannot take root in such conditions, and strong rule is required. Machiavelli's The Prince (1532) advises rulers that the acquisition and effective use of power may necessitate unethical methods. He was a lover of classics but he knew that civilization cannot endure instability, which was rife in Italy in his time. The American Founding Fathers paid close attention to Machiavelli in drafting our founding documents.)
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11. From newsletter of The Watershed Project:
They're Back!
Native Oysters Return to the Bay
The San Francisco Bay was once brimming with oysters. Enough in fact to support the largest oyster industry on the West Coast. Yet, by the early 1900s, California's population and industrial growth led to a degradation of water quality in the Bay and by 1939 the last of the native oysters in San Francisco Bay were commercially harvested. Today, The Watershed Project leads an effort to monitor and restore native oysters to the San Francisco Bay. Our "Oysters on the Half Shell" Program involves three interconnected approaches: restoration, monitoring, and education.
Read More
Pearly White Beaches
A Brief History of Oysters in the San Francisco Bay
Jack London was an oyster pirate. Before the Bay Area's very own literary hero published any written works, he robbed the San Francisco Bay of one of its most valuable shellfish. London wrote about his oyster high jinks after joining the California Fish Patrol. In one of his stories, London acknowledges that oyster thieves could cash in on "thousands of dollars every year" from stealing oysters straight out of their beds. His involvement in the oyster trade of the late 19th century is indicative of the role that oysters once played in both the San Francisco Bay Area's ecosystem and trade.
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12. From May 10 San Francisco Examiner on efforts to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/columns/oped_contributors/Why-the-religious-community-should-care-about-Hetch-Hetchy-44617897.html#comments
From a posted comment:
"The real height of hypocrisy are the self-proclaimed environmentalist politicians in the Bay Area who now seek to double-down on the destruction of Hetch Hetchy by building a Peripheral Canal that will destroy the Delta as well. They are just pawns of Bechtel and whoever else is pulling the money strings. Are you listening Senator Simitian (D-Palo Alto)? And where is our green Mayor wannabe Governor Newsom? The silence is deafening."
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13. Feedback
Frank Noto:
Thanks for the Truman items. They fairly accurately depict his pre-presidential years, even if they don't tell the full story, which of course one cannot do in so few words. He actually was a well-regarded US senator by the time he was elected VP, heading an important and highly visible committee charged with overseeing war production, and fighting waste, inefficiency and corruption. That largely countered his previous image as a tool of the Pendergast machine. He also had a distinguished WW I military career.
Thanks again for covering the CA propositions. My attitude is that the perfect is the enemy of the good here. Well, in this case the enemy of the mediocre. If Prop. 1-A and the other revenue measures fail, we will suffer terrible cuts in essential services. Tens of thousands more teachers will be laid off, along with firefighters and health care workers, and our cities and counties will cut parks, clinics and cops to the bone. Needy folks will lose Medi-Cal benefits, we'll continue to have no money for mass transit ... heck, Jake, you know the story, and you know it is true. Voting "no" does not solve a thing, it does not create revenue. I say vote YES for this flawed measure that is better than nothing. If you don't like the cap, or its budgetary changes, then work to change them with subsequent legislation and ballot measures. For now, this is all we have.
Frank: I have no doubt that the consequences you write about will happen. I suspect many voters' thinking is similar to mine, which is that patching up a rickety structure on the verge of collapse will solve nothing, and possibly could make it worse. I have lost confidence in the political and economic system and can see no alternative to letting it crash. Only then can we start building again.
I hope that doesn't sound irresponsible: You're right--the consequences of voting No will be horrible. But that's when you stand a chance of getting people's attention toward addressing problems. Getting attention is very difficult, as you know.
I'm attaching (not attached here) an inflammatory opinion piece from Denise D'Anne. It doesn't necessarily reflect my views, but it's not totally off the wall either. I'm sure it's the way many people are thinking. (She says Vote No on ALL.) She also provides this:
ORIGINS OF SWINE FLU: http://www.narconews.com/Issue57/article3512.html
Nan McGuire:
As you know, the Older Women’s League of which I am a Board member also opposes 1-A plus all the others. It is maddening that the teachers, the League of Conservation Voters and other usually reasonable groups have seen fit to endorse this game of smoke and mirrors by our devious Governor. They completely overlook how damaging this will be to children under five, mental health patients and seniors whose ranks are growing with every stroke of my computer keyboard.
Alice Polesky:
Hi Jake, I took a look at what Sheila Kuehl had to say, and as I think she is really great (came up with a great plan for single payer health care for Californians, which she tried, fruitlessly, to get through a few times), I'm probably going with her recommendations. Here's a link to her website, in case you're still up for more thoughts -- basically, the only prop she supports is 1C. But her rationale sounds good: http://www.sheilakuehl.org/
1-C -- ugh!! It drew derision in our neighborhood meeting for allocating $1 million per year to help people who are problem gamblers! The people we are enticing to part with their money are mostly poor people, and we're making it easier for them to part with it. So we create some more problem gamblers, and a million dollars to help them. Pinch me, am I dreaming?
I was against the lottery to begin with, and I'm as opposed as ever. The world's sick.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." — Groucho Marx
Lynne Sloan (of KGO):
I notice your reference to Matthew Algeo (Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure). He will be our guest for an hour to discuss this excellent book on May 24 at 5am. (810 am or www.kgoradio.com) I thought you might like to know. Love your newsletter.
The audio archives are available on our website for one week following broadcast so you can listen at your leisure - or your fan (me) at the station can make a copy of it for you.
Alice Polesky:
I thought you might enjoy Groucho singing what was probably his keynote song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtMV44yoXZ0
(His keynote song is "I'm against it.") So am I, Alice. I am truly becoming a grouch. I find myself more and more opposed to almost every proposal to build something. My only regret is that I didn't start opposing them earlier; I look around and think "Did I vote for this?" and "My god, we shot the wrong architect."
I have joined CAVE-men (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) and BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything).
There, I've said it, and now you know.
Tony Gantner:
Jake: Is there any way to put signs at the bases of the GG Bridge w/o impairing aesthetics, etc.--during the spring (at minimum)---warning boaters/ships?
I thought you might have some ideas-or possibly have info on the matter--perhaps heard suggestions re warnings to boaters etc. The email is intended for the people being cc'd (Sierra Club & Mirkarimi's aide).
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From University and Jepson Herbarium
We want to announce that you can now find us on FACEBOOK! It is an easy way you can keep up with what is going on here - we'll announce news about TJM2, new treatments that are on-line, botany lunch topics at the Herbarium, Jepson Workshops news - photos from our trips, workshops that have been added to the schedule, etc!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Berkeley-CA/University-and-Jepson-Herbaria-UC-Berkeley/92158086132
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15. From SPUR newsletter:
It's getting wetter around here
A new report by the Pacific Institute reveals that a 1.4 meter sea level rise will inundate thousands of acres in California and impact almost half a million people by 2100. Hardest hit will be low-income people and communities of color, the Bay Area in general, and critical infrastructure like ports, railways and water treatment facilities.
(Do you become dizzy or experience stress and confusion when you read an item like this? Do you know what 1.4 meters is? It's 56 inches, or almost 5 feet! It sounds almost casual when you're writing off many coastal cities (including parts of San Francisco), such as New Orleans, New York City, and dozens of others, not to mention whole countries like Bangladesh and The Netherlands. If the 1.4 meters prediction is accurate, doesn't that mean the probable end of civilization? The bulk of the world's population will be directly or indirectly affected; many of them now live in that inundation zone or immediately adjacent.
My confusion deepens when that above item is immediately followed by:)
Reinventing America's cities
New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff presents a compelling argument for reinvestment in cities. "Cities are invaluable cultural incubators," Ouroussof writes, "But for years they have been neglected, and in many cases forcibly harmed, by policies that favored sprawl over density and conformity over difference."
Why reinvest if they're going underwater?
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16. Living physics
From green leaves to bird brains, biological systems may exploit quantum phenomena
Until a century or so ago, nobody had any idea that there even was such a thing as quantum physics. But while humans operated for millennia in quantum darkness, it seems that plants, bacteria and birds may have been in the know all along.
...On one level, it seems perfectly natural that quantum mechanics would serve a function at life's foundation. After all, quantum principles define the properties of atoms, from which living matter is made. And yet the quantum rules, which allow particles like electrons to exist in two places at once and sometimes behave like waves rather than particles, seem an unlikely driver of life's tightly regulated processes. Bizarre quantum properties are supposed to govern objects such as individual atoms, not great clumps of matter like redwoods or robins.
...In green plants, light particles are absorbed by pigment molecules--primarily chlorophyll--found in leaves. An incoming light particle, or photon, boosts an electron in the chlorophyll into a mobile state. Once excited, the electron is quickly shuttled from the chlorophyll to a nearby "acceptor" molecule, setting off a series of electron transfers. Moving from one molecule to another, the electron ultimately reaches the "reaction center," where the energy is converted into a form the cell can use to make carbohydrates.
It's these initial, near instantaneous energy transfers that are so remarkably efficient--scientists estimate that more than 95% of the energy in the light hitting a leaf reaches the photosynthesis reaction center. Although each of the biochemical steps that follow adds a loss in energy efficiency, the first steps in the process closely approach the ideal of one photon leading to one electron transfer.
Previous models of photosynthesis assumed that the light energy stored in excited electrons found its way to the reaction center via random hops, particles moving in a step-by-step manner to successively lower energy levels. But some scientists seeking to explain plants' superefficient energetics have considered the notion that plants may have a way to exploit the quantum behavior of electrons.
In the odd quantum world, particles can behave like waves. Rather than simply moving from one chlorophyll to another, electrons can exist as whirling clouds of energy, jostling back and forth between the molecules. In this wavelike state state, the electrons become connected, or coupled, and act in a concerted manner so the excitation is actually "sloshing around" between the molecules.
Scientists theorized that this and other quantum effects could allow for more efficient movement of energy but were faced with a problem in trying to capture evidence of such effects in the lab. In the classical world, either molecule A or B is excited, and scientists can track the transfer of excitation by measuring changes in the molecules over time. But in the quantum world, things appear to exist in a multitude of states, making measurements more complicated. Besides measuring changes of excitation in A and B over time, the scientists needed a way to measure simultaneous excitations of A and B--a signature of a quantum effect called coherence.
...Fleming's team, publishing in Nature, noted that quantum coherence could explain the extreme efficiency of photosynthesis by enabling electrons to simultaneously sample all the various potential pathways to the reaction center and choose the most efficient one. Rather than hopping from one molecule to another in a step-by-step manner, the electrons could try various routes to find the path of least resistance.
Going for a spin
...Birds may give scientists another pair of eyes in which to view quantum effects in living cells. Studies suggest that migratory birds about to embark on their seasonal journeys may tap into a quantum property called spin to help them "see" Earth's magnetic field using photosensitive proteins in their eyes...evidence for the theory is mounting.
...Discovering how quantum effects play out in photosynthesis and bird navigation may point scientists to other examples of the quantum in biological systems.
"Photosynthesis, after all, is one of the oldest processes around. If we see that nature learned at the very beginning, when they were still bacteria, to control quantum processes, there's no reason why nature should have forgotten that in the future for more complex things" (says a researcher.)
Excerpted from Science News 9 May 2009
Ever splitting the light! How often do they strive to divide that which, despite everything, would always remain single and whole. Goethe
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17. Screenings of Joseph Campbell's Final Lectures
The Presidio Interfaith Center will host Screenings of Joseph Campbell’s Final Lectures at 7 pm on several upcoming Mondays: April 13, 27, May 11, 18, June 8, 22. During the final years of his life, Campbell embarked on a lecture tour in which he drew together all that he had learned about what he called the “one great story” of humanity. The lectures were filmed for the Mythos series, hosted by Susan Sarandon. Robert Walter, long-time Campbell colleague and now president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, leads discussions afterwards with special guests. On Monday, April 13, the opening session features a one-hour documentary about Campbell’s life and contribution. For more information, including guest bios, please visit the website. (THIS SITE DIDN'T WORK FOR ME: JS) Suggested donation: $20 per screening; no one turned away. See a brief excerpt of the film.
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18. Excerpted from article 'Gregory Whipple, Garden Legend', by Stephen Edwards in Manzanita, newsletter of Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Spring 2009
Greg Whipple, who died last year, lives on at the garden in many ways, not the least being the formative influence he had on the use of language by the garden's three successive directors, all of whom he tutored in proper English. Understanding does not reduce to language by any means; nevertheless to perfect the language is to perfect the understanding, and clarity of expression, leading to understanding, has been critical to the writings that have long helped to explain the garden's mission and achieve its educational and conservation goals. Greg served as copy editor for all three directors, and finally as assistant editor for (the garden's publications).
Gregory's help with grammar was not confined to editing. He was quick to correct all his fellow workers in day-to-day conversation. These corrections were never resented, for he offered them patiently and with good humor, and he usually explained the rule, and the reason for the rule, so we were illuminated. He genuinely wished not to reproach, but to make us better speakers of the language, for our own good and for the sake of preserving the culture.
Greg is the one who taught me to lie on the grass, rather than to lay on it. (You lay the book on the table, but lie on the lawn.) This was a very significant distinction for a young man. He explained error in number: "Someone left their hat in the car." (Who are "they?") I hope I am cured of dangling participles: Having said that, the matter is settled. Unfortunately, though, the problem of split infinitives remains as intransigent as ever: It is proving impossible to definitively address this problem. All our network news anchors seem to be determined finally to eliminate this time-honored but largely stylistic rule.
Greg had a deep voice, sometimes stentorian, and he spoke with perfect, clear diction and impeccable grammar. Members of the public encountering him for the first time would ask us, "Who's that English guy?" But he had no English accent at all, it was Turlockian with a touch of Stanford. These visitors simply had not yet heard good English spoken by an American.
Gregory and his wife Anne also liked to play with the language. Lewis Carroll was one of their heroes, and Greg could recite Carroll's most famous poem from memory: "...One, two! One, two! And through and through the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!...And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"
...Playing with the language also involved Carrollian word creation. Thus Greg often called me a "thrombulent protovortipule." When I became garden director I was much relieved to learn that I was now "ineffably bulbous," a term of praise and affection especially fitting in a garden paying increasing attention to Liliaceae. However, my grammar immediately came under much stricter control, for Greg now had the reputation of the garden to protect. I loved every minute of that.
...(jumping to the final paragraph) But there was also a serious quotation, taken from the Greek poet Pindar, by which we meant to honor him: "For every one good thing, the immortals deliver to men two evils. Men who are as children cannot take this becomingly. But the manly do, turning the brightness outward."
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19. International Space Station comes together:
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