NATURE NEWS from Jake Sigg

1. Job offerings: GG National Parks Conservancy, Americorps in Sierra Nevada
2. Choice program: Bay-Friendly Landscaping and Permaculture - October 1
3. Engaging your community in coastal restoration - workshop on September 24
4. Twain’s Frog & the Beautiful Serpent - October 2
5. 2009 Wildlife Conservation Expo - October 3
6. "From Lawns to Meadows" Oct 1 /Listed-endangered-species fountain thistle restoration Oct 24
7. The Green Hairstreak Project at Randall Museum September 24
8. Birds & Butterflies - Easy Garden Enchantment. Classes start Oct 6
9. Renewable energy crash program vs the desert
10. LTE from a meadow mouse--again!!
11. Feedback: Cayuga Playground/fonts potpourri
12. Bring your garden to life with native plants, pollinators, and birds - Palo Alto Sept 26
13. More animals seem to have ability to count/early risers crash faster than late-to-bedders
14. Power of the press: a sanguine view from 1859
15. Coal Country, a dramatic look at the struggle that is modern coal mining. At SFMOMA September 30
16. Journey to the Stars takes you through time and space to experience the dramatic lives and deaths of stars. Begins Sept 26
17. Notes & Queries: Quantitative easing (some call it printing money)
18. Restroom notes from around the country

1. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is Hiring!

Marin Stewardship Coordinator, Park Stewardship Program:
http://www.parksconservancy.org/about/employment/marin-stewardship-coordinator-park-stewardship-program-1.html

SENIOR Volunteer Coordinator:
http://www.parksconservancy.org/about/employment/senior-volunteer-coordinator-parkwide-group-programs-events.html
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Apply for Sierra Nevada Americorps Program!

Do you love the Sierra? Want to help restore and protect the Range of Light? Do you want to gain valuable environmental professional experience?

Apply today for one of the 27 open positions of the 2010 Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership!!! We are accepting applications now for positions starting January 18, 2010! To download the 2010 SNAP Application Packet, go to: http://www.sierranevadaalliance.org/programs/profile.shtml?index=1161366201_14778

Applicants are encouraged to send in their applications as soon as possible and 1st round interviews will be scheduled through the end of October. To be considered in the first round of interviews, applicants must submit applications by October 15th.

For more information please contact: Morgan Fessler, Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership Regional
Coordinator: 530-542-4546 x 312 or snap@sierranevadaalliance.org. Or visit www.sierranevadaalliance.org and the 'program's section of the website.

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2. Thursday, October 01, 2009 at 7:30pm
Program: Bay-Friendly Landscaping and Permaculture in the San Francisco Bay Area


Speaker: Casey Allen
Recreation Room, San Francisco County Fair Building
9th Av & Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park

Permaculture is a design and planning process that emphasizes using a whole system approach and emulating natural systems. With protracted and thoughtful observations of our projects we can, over time, create systems that need very little human intervention and provide an abundance of resources such as food, habitat, water, soil health, erosion control—the list goes on and on. Permaculture design concepts can be used to design landscapes of course, but also to design anything—businesses, schools, personal life, etc. Bay-Friendly is a local program that all nine bay area counties have committed to implementing. Bay-Friendly gardening is permaculture tailored to the Bay Area and is geared toward moving properties from conventional landscaping to sustainable landscaping. The program emphasizes native plant use in the landscape, as well as other concepts like rainwater harvesting, composting, mulching, drip irrigation, integrated pest management, CO2 reduction, and more. Come to this program to learn how you can reduce your inputs of time and resources and achieve a highly productive landscape in an urban environment. See examples of small urban projects and large-scale projects throughout the city. Casey Allen is a Permaculture Designer and a Qualified Bay-Friendly professional. He co-owns and operates a landscaping company in San Francisco, and has been volunteering at the Alemany Farm, a public food production site near the Alemany farmer's market. Casey also serves on the CNPS Yerba Buena Chapter board, the SF Bicycle Advisory Committee, and he is chair of the Joint Transportation Committee of the Sierra Club.

The building is served by the #71 and #44 lines, is one block from the N-Judah car, and is two blocks from the #6, #43, and #66 bus lines.

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3. Digging Into the Bay Area - Engaging Your Community in Coastal Restoration

WHEN: Thursday, September 24, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

WHAT: A workshop on volunteer-based restoration and monitoring. Speakers will provide insights, advice, and real-world examples. The California Coastal Commission’s new how-to manual, Digging In: A Guide to Community Based Habitat Restoration will be reviewed.

WHERE: Martin Luther King Junior Regional Shoreline Center at Doolittle Beach, Oakland, CA

Attendants will receive a copy of Digging In and lunch will be provided. A tour of the Martin Luther King Shoreline restoration area and nursery led by SaveThe Bay staff will conclude the workshop.
Space is limited. For more information, email coast4u@coastal.ca.gov or call (800) COAST-4U.

SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE – CONTACT (415) 904-5208.
To reserve a space, mail a $30 check, payable to the Tides Center/Marine Educ. Project, along with your name, phone numbers, affiliation, and email address to:
California Coastal Commission
Public Education Program, Digging In
Suite 2000, 45 Fremont Street
San Francisco, CA 94105


For more information, please visit the Coastal Commission's Public Education website at www.coastforyou.org

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4.
Twain’s Frog & the Beautiful Serpent
Brent Plater & Dr Carlos Davidson
Fri, Oct 2, 2009, 7-9pm
Pacifica Community Center, 540 Crespi Drive, Pacifica

Sharp Park Golf Course, located in Pacifica but owned and operated by San Francisco, is also home to the California red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake. San Francisco is considering closing the course and incorporating the land into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Join Brent Plater, Director of restoresharppark.org, and Dr. Carlos Davidson, Director of the Environmental Studies Program at San Francisco State University, to learn about the biology and ecology of the restoration proposal, and how Sharp Park can become a community-centered model for outdoor recreation and endangered species recovery including native plant habitat.
More information available from www.restoresharppark.org

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5.
2009 Wildlife Conservation Expo
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009, 10am-6pm
Mission Bay Conference Center San Francisco

Meet conservation heroes from around the world and hear about the challenges and successes of working on the frontlines of conservation. Visit the exhibits of local and international conservation organizations and purchase wildlife art and crafts from around the world.

$60 per person
Students with ID $30 per person

Learn more and buy tickets at http://wildnet.org/events/expo2009.html.

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6.
Oct 1, 7-8:30 pm
Milpitas Library 160 N. Main Street, Milpitas
"From Lawns to Meadows"
Alexandra von Feldt

Oct 2, 7-9 pm
Pacifica Community Center, 540 Crespi Dr., Pacifica
"Twain's Frog and the Beautiful Serpent" (Sharp Park Restoration)
Brent Plater & Carlos Davidson

Oct 24, 9 am to noon: Fountain thistle restoration and removal of pampas grass at I-280 & Highway 92
Register with Jake Sigg (jakesigg@earthlink.net or 415- 731-3028

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7. San Francisco Natural History Series

Monthly illustrated lectures by expert naturalists.
Presentations begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. in the Randall Museum Theater
September 24
The Green Hairstreak Project is a conservation effort of Nature in the City. Our speaker, Liam O’Brien, explains the program purpose: to connect two of the last remaining populations of a rapidly disappearing butterfly from San Francisco - the Coastal Green Hairstreak .

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8. Birds & Butterflies - Easy Garden Enchantment
(Online registration: class is in the Audubon/Nature Studies category) There are delightful creatures that could call your garden home year round. Learn to set out a welcome magnet for birds, butterflies, native bees, and other beneficial pollinators with California native plants and water-saving, ecological garden management techniques. Play more and work less in your yard. Help migrating songbirds, hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, amphibians survive and thrive. Learn about the relationship between native birds and native plants, why compost is great, how to figure out what plants will really grow in your landscape. Learn how integrate food plants and ornamentals. All levels of gardening experience are welcome, from master gardeners to "plant killers." Inspirational ecology readings, gorgeous slides of native California plants from my garden and from all over the state every week. www.thegardenisateacher.com (Four classes starting Oct 6. One Sat. field trip Oct 31)
To Register, contact Albany Adult School http://www.albany.k12.ca.us/adult/birding.html

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9.
(The September 3 program of the California Native Plant Society Yerba Buena Chapter had an absorbing and dramatic program on the giant program of renewable energy generation in the California deserts. CNPS and all conservation organizations are strong supporters of renewable energy, but, needless to say, it must be carefully planned and thought out. This one--coming from the Obama administration--is not thought out; instead it is on a fasttrack, and promoters are prepared to run roughshod over sensitive areas, including federal- and state-listed rare species habitat. A target of so many megawatts was set--presumably grabbed out of the air--without consideration of anything other than generating lots of power by a certain date. This is a scenario that I painted in my mind years ago. I thought that we might have learned something from history. Apparently not.

The following sites are about this. Kudos to Dianne Feinstein for her move to connect Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park. JS)

Nature Conservancy Magazine - current issue - Autumn 2009
"An Ill Wind? Wind power might slow climate change - but will all those windmills hurt nature?"
... the question is, How Do We Do It Right?
link - http://www.nature.org/magazine/autumn2009/features/?src=m1

The Sacramento Bee, Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2009
My View: Solar gold rush puts public lands at risk - By Bruce Pavlik
link - http://www.sacbee.com/1190/story/1814738.html

Center for Biological Diversity - today - 9/16/09

Senator Dianne Feinstein has boldly supported creating a new national monument in the California desert that would connect Joshua Tree National Park with the Mojave National Preserve, protecting some of the most pristine, ecologically important, and beautiful desert in the world. ••• While a rapid transition to renewable energy is essential to address global warming, we must not destroy vitally needed pristine public lands and endangered species habitat in the rush. Hundreds of thousands of acres of already-degraded lands are available outside the proposed monument that are far better suited for energy development. Please take a moment (really, that's all it takes- MB) to let Senator Feinstein know that you strongly support her proposed monument.

link - http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1444
"The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not television or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only those who know the most about it can appreciate how little is known about it. The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, ‘What good is it?’

If the land mechanism is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not….Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” Aldo Leopold 1949

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10. (Letter to the editor--again!)

Dear Editor,

Meadow Mouse here, writing you once again. You have no idea what excitement your publishing my last letter (see my newsletter of 17 June 2009--sent on request. JS) caused among the meadow mice at Edgewood! We were even thinking of having a public reading, but given that nearly everyone out there finds us tasty, we decided such a large gathering would be unwise.

Speaking of being everyone’s dinner, we recently learned that we, Microtus californicus, are an official Keystone Species. Of course we had no idea what that meant, so we had to look it up. It turns out it means quite a lot. It means that although we are an admittedly small and seemingly insignificant creatures—reviled as a pest by those who don’t consider us a meal—we are not insignificant at all. We are, in fact, indispensable! Apparently, without the multitudinous dinners we provide to so very many species, the entire ecological community of which we are a part would collapse, just the way an arch would collapse if it didn’t have its keystone at the top, even though the keystone itself actually bears the least amount of weight. Apparently, just because we exist, a whole lot of other species exist, too. Which means that should we become extinct, a whole lot of other species would become extinct as well.

As we go, so goes the neighborhood!

Anyway, back to learning new things—while we were looking up the meaning of Keystone Species, we discovered another interesting word that pertains to us—“semi-fossorial’. We thought that must mean we were like fossils or something, since it has been documented that we were here—right here in California—1.8 million years ago! But it turns out that’s not what it means at all. “Fossorial” means that you have limbs adapted to digging, like the mole. So “semi-fossorial,” we are left to surmise, means you have limbs that are sort of adapted to a life of partial digging. In other words, you don’t spend all your time underground digging, digging, digging, like Mr Mole, but sometimes come up- for air to enjoy running through the lovely tunnels you’ve made in the grass, which require no digging whatsoever.

And speaking of tunnels in the grass. On July 8, our relatives in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve lost all their grass cover to fire! The meadow mice hid from the fire in their burrows, of course, but once the fire was over and they came out of their burrows, there was no grass left and they were totally exposed! Just look at the photos I’ve included with this letter taken by our friend, Mr Jack Owicki, an MROSD Docent, who told us that two days after the burn he “saw a lot of voles along the trail between the main parking lot and the first big westerly turn in the trail. The burn drastically reduced the cover, making the voles a lot more visible.” Oh dear, “a lot more visible” is a lot more tribulation for a dinner-providing species. Our predators must have had a field day.

Good thing we are so good at reproduction. Indeed, whatever else may be said of us, one thing is for sure—we are terrific when it comes to reproduction. Really, really terrific. Our babies take only 22 days to develop in the womb, and our litters average 4 or 5 pups (but there can be as few as 1 or as many as 11), who are weaned in 2 weeks. By 3 weeks of age the girls can start having pups of their own, and by 5 weeks the boys usually start breeding. Meanwhile, the mother can breed again within 15 hours of giving birth. There are conditions that can alter this schedule of events, but for the most part, this is the way it goes. Pretty impressive, don’t you think?

Of course the downside is we don’t live very long, being so tasty. Most of us survive for only a few months; a year at best. That I have lived to the ripe old age of 3 borders on the miraculous, although I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to do so.

So the next time you admire a hawk or an owl or a coyote or a bobcat, just remember, they wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for us, the lowly meadow mice, Microtus californicus, a Keystone Species.

It would seem that sometimes small is not only beautiful, but powerful.

Sincerely yours,

m.m

Edgewood Explorer, newsletter of Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve, September 2009

(Ever wonder why our San Francisco meadow mice never write LTEs? I guess they’re smarter down the peninsula. JS)

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11. Feedback

(The following feedback item from Andrea O'Leary is a response to this item in last newsletter:
7. Two items on SF Recreation-Park Commission meeting on Thursday 17 September:

8. CAYUGA PLAYGROUND AND CLUBHOUSE

Discussion and possible action to approve a conceptual improvement plan for the renovation of Cayuga Playground and Clubhouse. (ACTION ITEM)
(I don't know what this item is, or whether it is nothing more than a routine item. The reason I bring it up is because of the delightful wood sculptures created by its former gardener, Demetrios Braceros. Demmy was given a lemon--in the form of an El Nino storm that blew down a grove of cypress trees in 1988 or 1989, while I was maintenance supervisor for Cayuga Park--and he made lemonade. He steadily created more artwork over the years until his retirement a few years ago. The City should treasure this outdoor museum and celebrate it. JS))

Andrea O'Leary

The community around Cayuga was drug by the nose through the fasted public process for a capital renovation that I have ever seen. Then again, RPD is rushing through most of the 2008 bond capital project conceptual design process and they're trying real hard for us all to think that's "routine." The only reason some of us can come up with is that they're trying to give the impression to the Bd. Supers. and powersthatbe is that there is an imminent need for these bonds to be sold and get that money coming their way when the bond sales have otherwise been postponed.


A project of the size and type that Cayuga is (small neighborhood project under 3 acres) would typically get only $3-4M. Instead it was allocated over $7M from the bond, then BART is throwing in another $1.3M because it is renovating the tracks above - for a total nearing $9M !! It's unreal, but the process was started and ended so fast that the public has no idea what hit them.


30% of that money is being spent on an over-designed clubhouse (from scratch) that will be seen by very few people at the end of this dead-end street. Half of Demi's carvings will be preserved, half will be discarded as unsalvageable. But, one reason for so much attention is probably because of his art pieces. Of course many of them are overtly religious and there is no clear idea what will be done about that.... call it "folk art," I guess.


Jill Fox:

Hi Jake
In response to the odd “type” characters that show up in your newsletter. I also produce a newsletter in Word (for the Department of Children, Youth & Their Families) and then paste it into an email to send. I also paste in content from other sources. I found that it is the “pastes” that throw things off. Try this when you paste from another source into your word document:
Go up to the menu bar, click on EDIT, PASTE SPECIAL, UNFORMATTED TEXT. That should clear out formatting from the source. Then you can add your formatting. Caution: it will also wipe out hyperlinks so you may have to add those back it. Hope this helps.

It does indeed help, Jill--and good to hear from you.

I received a second tip, which was to avoid Word. I compose on Word because I can so easily blow up the font to make it easy to read, then I copy and paste onto Text Edit, highlight, then specify Default, then copy and paste onto email. A little laborious--but that is only the beginning of my cyber woes. Some nights after fighting this *@#*@)&*%@#* -ing thing (I call if effing in polite company) I stick pins in Bill Gates' effigy. He may not have been personally responsible, but somebody has to pay for my suffering.

Vern Waight:

Jake: Please continue your journalistic efforts! One thing that I especially enjoy is the wide variety of fonts insofar as style, size and color. Apparently you simply cut and paste resulting in a potpourri of fonts, far more enjoyable than doing the whole publication in the ubiquitous Arial or Times Roman font.

Good for you, Vern. You corroborate my feelings about using the boring same fonts all the time. Most of the variation in fonts comes from me purposely changing the fonts just because of that.

The particular problem we were talking about is when I paste stuff onto Word document, then onto email. People receiving, especially if they have PCs rather than Macs, receive a garbled version without my formatting. Word is weird, as you may know--at least the version they "designed" for Macs. So I was given tips by a couple of people as to how to cope with this particular problem, and I am going to try it. I hope that that will make the newsletters better looking and readable than has been the case.

I love computer fonts; some are really beautiful. I want to use a particular font that suits the subject--whether dignified, ornate, casual, humorous, or what. I used to use some of the really unusual ones until I was told that some of them were unreadable by the recipient, others were garbled. So I retreated and use what I call the Google 6: Arial, Courier, Georgia, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Verdana. That frustrates me, as I can't use some of those wonderful ones. Sigh.

Ellie Billings:

On a side note, I like Helvetica... even though it is slightly boring. I actually just rented a documentary all about Helvetica and its roots.. I'll let you know if it is any good.

The current Guardian Weekly has a short item "Irked by Ikea's typeface shift" about its shift from Futura to Verdana. Such a fuss people make about it. The final paragraph is "Still, things could be worse. It could be in Helvetica."

Hahah. Ouch.

Well, I watched the documentary (on Helvetica) and it was surprisingly fascinating! People either love it and think it's god's great gift to humankind, or they think it is the devil in disguise. Also, did you know that the word Helvetica is a variation on the Latin word "Sweden"? The typeface was developed in Sweden, thus it was named so. The original name was Neue Haas Grotesk.. which I suppose wouldn't have sold well in the United States.

What about in Minnesota?

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12. "Bring your Garden to Life with Native Plants, Pollinators and Birds"

Learn how to attract native pollinators and other beneficial insects and birds to your garden! Presenters include Jim Howard, NRCS Conservationist and Jaime Pawelek, UC Berkeley native bee expert. Network and browse our outdoor resource tables for books, professional help, and other information as well.

Saturday, September 26, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm (Doors open at 8:30 am)
Community Room, Lucie Stern Center
1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
$20 for Acterra members; $30 general public. [REGISTER NOW]

This is the first in Acterra Stewardship’s new “Earth Friendly Landscape” workshop series. Watch for other upcoming workshops:

* Conserve and harvest water
* Replace your lawn with earth-friendly landscape

For more information about these workshops, please contact Claire Elliott, Stewardship Director at clairee*acterra.org
(Bumperstrip sighted recently: Kill your lawn/Ask me how)

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13.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MAGAZINE: More Animals Seem to Have Some Ability to Count
Counting may be innate in many species
http://cl.exct.net/?qs=5ba6248f276ea69afa02e64f5320a853de8d7febae93e5a0b6e45e613d5fabc2


SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND: Early Risers Crash Faster Than People Who Stay Up Late
Night owls belie slacker reputation by staying alert longer
http://cl.exct.net/?qs=137ca59c87d2da3fa92b33c2b574693c944d2cf1cf7bfcaeed819d6a6bb4bb2a

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14. Power of the press

"From ancient history we learn that several nations--Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans--accomplished, at successive periods, great works and became great powers. They exhibited much intellectual and physical activity during their dominance, and then they became sluggish and finally degraded--by reposing on their laurels, they soon sunk into senility. We think no fears of such a result need be entertained in the present age of progress. The printing-press will prevent this; it is the mighty agent which keeps the public mind in fermentation and prevents it from stagnating."

Scientific American, October 1859

(True, and--TA DAH!!, we have Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, San Francisco Examiner, and oh...just so many wonderful things)

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15.
Written, Produced and Directed by Phylis Geller
Executive Producer: Mari-Lynn Evans

Coal Country is a dramatic look at the struggle that is modern coal mining.

The Appalachian Mountains are the oldest in the world and are home to the most biologically diverse forest on the planet. The surface mining practice known as Mountain Top Removal (MTR) has destroyed over 500 of these lush mountains, buried in excess of 2500 miles of streams and headwaters, and created over 100 Billion gallons of toxic waste. Families and communities are deeply divided over what is being done to their land. Many of these families have lived in the region for generations, and most have ancestors or relatives who have or do work in the mines. Coal Country is the most comprehensive record to date of this emotional and at times violent conflict between the mine operators, the state and federal government and responsible agencies, miners, environmental organizations, and private citizens.


Date: Wednesday, September 30

Time: 6:30 pm sharp! (sorry, no late seating). Reception with the filmmakers immediately following.

Location: SFMOMA, 151 Third Street, San Francisco

Cost: Free! RSVP is required! Follow this link http://action.earthjustice.org/earthjusticeaction/events/coalcountrysf/details.tcl or copy and paste it into your browser tool bar.


Seating is very limited! You must RSVP for this special evening by Monday, September 28!


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16. California Academy of Sciences

Morrison Planetarium's second space show, Journey to the Stars, will debut on September 26. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, Journey takes you through time and space to experience the dramatic lives and deaths of stars. Witness brilliant supernova explosions, dive into the heart of the fiery Sun, and watch it transform into a red giant five billion years in the future. Journey will play 7-10 times a day until Fall 2010.
Note: The Morrison's inaugural show, Fragile Planet, ends on Sept. 25, but it will continue to play at NightLife (ages 21+).
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17. Notes & Queries, Guardian Weekly

What is quantitative easing?

Quantitative easing is merely a way of boosting a country's money supply when its economy is struggling and the normal processes of cutting interest rates are no longer viable, or when interest rates are so low--as is currently the case in the US--that they can't be reduced further.

In order to do this, a country's central bank, like the US Federal Reserve, for example, buys up assets such as securities in exchange for money, yet doesn't even have to print more money to do that. In fact, all that the central bank does is increase the size of the accounts of all the secondary banks held at its bank.

These accounts are called reserves, which all a country's ancillary banks are required to hold at the central bank. Should the secondary banks, however, swap securities for reserves, then their balance sheets shrink while those of the central bank expand.

But does it work, you may well ask? As with any fiscal therapy, that generally depends on a country's economic culture such as a preference for savings coupled with a huge trade deficit like that of Japan or a borrow-and-spend culture like that of the US.

So far, it seems that it hasn't been all that beneficial or even encouraging for either.
Brian Hartley, Christchurch, New Zealand

It is important to distinguish quantitative easing from qualitative easing, because one cannot be understood without relationship to the other. It may well be better to have a small quantity of high-quality easing than to have a large quantity of poor-quality easing.

Ask any cabinet minister. They are expert at generating large quantities of low-quality easing.
Ray Ferris, Victoria, BC, Canada

Finally buying jeans one size up.
Susan Douglas, Vancouver, BC, Canada

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18. Restroom notes from High Country News

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her shit.
Men's Room Linda's Bar and Grill, Chapel Hill, NC

At the feast of ego everyone leaves hungry.
Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, Tucson, AZ

Make love, not war.. -Hell, do both - GET MARRIED!
Women's restroom The Filling Station, Bozeman, MT

Express Lane: Five beers or less
Sign over one of the urinals Ed Debevic's, Phoenix, AZ
(Obviously not written by an English major, who would have said '5 beers or fewer'. JS)

You're too good for him. Sign over mirror in Women's restroom
Ed Debevic's, Beverly Hills,CA.

A Woman's Rule of Thumb: If it has tires or testicles, You're going to have trouble with it. Women's restroom Dick's Last Resort, Dallas, TX
(Is the restaurant name part of the joke?)

Sounds like Ed Debevic's is a chain, and that it draws interesting customers.