March 2008
All entries and daily links from March 2008.
Monday, March 31, 2008
- SF Home Depot is a no go (SF Gate)
Plans for a Home Depot in San Francisco have been shot down by the recession. It would have brought in a few jobs and some tax revenue, but was controversial because it would hurt local hardware stores and big box retail doesn’t fit well inside San Francisco neighborhoods.
Swim Practice
Friday, March 28, 2008 at 9:03am 0 comments
I've been taking advantage of the pool at my new gym to get back into swimming. Last night after work I got to try out the new goggles and swim suit I picked up the other day at Sports Basement. I'd only needed to replace my old goggles, but discovered the company which makes my favorite cycling shorts, Sugoi, also makes swim suits that are as perfect a fit for me as their cycling shorts.
Last week when I first got back into the pool, I was completely exhausted by what a few years ago I would have considered a warm up, but I felt a lot better after last night. More than anything my problem now is breathing. I haven't quite got the rhythm for when to take a breath and end up having to take one too many or one to few when I'm doing a flip turn.
I hope to be back to my old routine soon.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
- Sign Up Forms Must Die (A List Apart)
There are a lot of great services on the internet, unfortunately there are a lot which first make you go through a sign up form and verify your e-mail address (so they know they have a real email address to spam) before you can even try out their product. Screw that.
- White People Like San Francisco (Stuff White People Like)
The continuing scientific study of white people looks at why white people like San Francisco. My favorite bit is, "No matter how much you have offended someone from San Francisco, you can always make them feel better by asking them how they feel about Southern California."
Sunday, March 23, 2008
- Little-known open spaces in downtown San Francisco (SF Gate)
The Chronicle's urban writer John King introduces some of the hidden open spaces hidden above the ground and open to the public in downtown San Francisco.
Port of Oakland's Pollution Problem
Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 7:03am -1 comments
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the idling trucks at the Port of Oakland is spewing out diesel fumes, but a study released this week by the California Air Resources Board spells out just how bad it is. The SF Chronicle sums it up pretty well,
“The two-year public health inquiry covered a large swath of the Bay Area - an area of 3,800 square miles that is home to 3.1 million people. The residents had an elevated risk of cancer - nearly 1,200 additional cancers per million people due to long-term exposure to diesel particulate matter than people living elsewhere, the study reported in preliminary findings.”
Totally unacceptable and the Port of Oakland is looking to cut diesel emissions by 85% over the next decade or so. The Port is helping replacing some of the oldest and most polluting diesel trucks independent owner-operators who otherwise couldn’t afford it, and they are (or at least a couple years ago they were) looking at building a new rail link over Altamont to get rid of a lot of that traffic altogether. All those diesel trucks are also adding to the congestion on bay area freeways.
So this is great right? Well, this from another Chronicle story,
“Late Monday, 54 companies, including Gap Inc., Levi Strauss. J.C. Penney and Target Corp., as well as trade associations, wrote Oakland Mayor Ronald Dellums saying the proposals violate state and federal law and impose an unfair burden on those moving goods by container.
“Litigation almost certainly would put the brakes on a timetable for pollution mitigation the port staff members say they would like to start as soon as possible because of health risks.”
These companies are killing people in West Oakland, and paying what it costs to not kill people would be a burden? Who should be suing who here? More stats courtesy the Chronicle,
“In 2005, county public health officials compiled state data revealing that West Oakland children ages 5 and under visited the emergency room for asthma at a rate nearly three times higher than children in Alameda County overall. Additionally, a study of death certificates dating to the 1960s showed that residents of West Oakland lived 10 years fewer than people living in the Oakland hills.”
This is not right and since these companies are not going to be responsible, you might want to help keep pressure on Senators Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi who took notice when the Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge shortly after leaving the Port of Oakland and spilt bunker fuel into the bay. Polluted air is no less a problem than polluted water.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
- Dollarshort returns
My friend Mena has started blogging again, with a completely new, and very beautiful design. Welcome back!
Arthur C. Clarke has gone beyond the stars
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 4:03pm -1 comments
Writer, inventor and futurist Arthur C. Clarke died today at his home in Sri Lanka today at age 90.
I'm at a loss for what to write, but feel some kind of farewell is in order. I've read dozens of his books and I owe him for much of my interest in space and a better perspective of just how small and fragile this little water covered rock we call home is.
He didn't live to see his vision of the space elevator become reality, but I hope the rest of us will benefit from his legacy someday.
Beware the Brides of March
Monday, March 17, 2008 at 2:03pm 0 comments
Julius Ceasar was warned to “beware the ides of March” and you might still want to look out for March 15 because a mob of people in wedding gowns will be wandering around near Union Square in San Francisco. I missed it the last couple years, but Brian and I checked it out this year after a couple pints of Guinness at an Irish pub to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Just down the block from Tunnel Top, the bar where it began, the Brides encountered an actual wedding. After a couple minutes of chanting “we want the bride”, she came out of the church to a huge round of applause.
Brian’s already decided he wants to be a bride, and not just a bride’s made, next year.
My New Gym Has a Pool
Friday, March 14, 2008 at 1:03pm -2 comments
I rarely go to the gym despite the fact it’s less than a block from my house. It hard for me to get motivated when I find my gym kind of creepy, but I’d never been to a gym which wasn’t comparable to high school PE class.
I never saw the value of high end gyms (having never been) and friends who go often complain about the cost, but then I found out The Sports Club here in SF has a pool and my friend Boston got me in touch with a membership coordinator he knows. She invited me for a tour and free week trial, but by the end of the tour (once I’d seen the pool and the spin class) I told her I might as well just sign up now.
There’s only two months left before the 545 mile AIDS/LifeCycle ride from SF to LA and I need to be on a bike training more than just the weekends, and with a storm brewing this weekend spin class might be the only option.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
- Harvey Milk filming in SF wraps up with parade (SF Gate video)
While I was out on my bike sunday, the Harvey Milk film wrapped up it's location filming with a re-enactment of the 1978 Gay Freedom Day Parade. I wish I could have been there, but I'm glad I had a chance to be an extra last month.
- Bicycle fatalities on the rise in Bay Area (SF Gate)
I hope the killing of two cyclists by a sherif's deputy in Cupertino this weekend will bring renewed attention to cycling safety.
Friday, March 7, 2008
- Business Card Eye Candy (BittBox)
A lot of really great design on a very small canvas.
- iPhone Human Interface Guidelines (Apple)
Pure porn for interaction designers like me.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
- John Gruber on Games for the iPhone (Daring Fireball)
"No traditional buttons but a 3D accelerometer and multi-touch screen -- make the iPhone analogous to the Wii, in that it opens up new concepts in game UI design. This also opens the iPhone to a new market -- those who don't want to buy a handheld that doesn't have cool games." Or for occasional gamers who buy games here or there, but not enough to buy a GameBoy or PSP.
Gaylord of the Dance
Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 10:03am 1 comments
Bruising my tailbone snowboarding has had me off mike bike for the last month, and I already felt pretty far behind training for this summer’s AIDS/LifeCycle ride from SF to LA, but I haven’t raised much yet this guy has gone all out with a video which got picked up on SFist today. SFist’s Brock goes a bit negative about the “fundraisers that will litter the city for the next few months or so”, but with a government that places tax cuts over health funding we need to find the money to fight and treat HIV/AIDS somewhere. So why not make a party out of it?
Andrew, the fat one in the video, works for the AIDS/LifeCycle and hand delivered the rider information packets to me and everyone else who knew to so the money for stamps could go to fight HIV/AIDS instead. Please support the fight against AIDS, by supporting me with a donation.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
- Mayor Gavin Newsom, "Separate is not Equal" (Daily Kos)
Four years ago Mayor Newsom ordered San Francisco to allow all couples, gay or straight to marry. It didn't last very long, but launched a legal process that made it's way to California's Supreme Court today.
- Five more LOST episodes this season (Lostpedia Blog)
Probably old news for many fans, but in the wake of the writers strike this season of Lost will be truncated to just 13 episodes. The final three seasons were to be 16 episodes each and the three episodes cut out of this season will be made up later on.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
- California Supreme Court hears Gay marriage case tuesday (AP)
Four years ago Mayor Newsom ordered the City to allow any couple, gay or straight to marry. For a few weeks there was magic in the air and San Francisco celebrated the institution of marriage until an end to it was ordered by the state. The case has worked its way to the California Supreme Court and there's a very good chance they will rule in favor of equality.
Chinatown
Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 9:03am -1 comments
Brian and I took a walking tour of Chinatown yesterday. City Guides offers free walking tours of various San Francisco neighborhoods every weekend and we've already picked out some other tours we want to take.
Less than 20 minutes in I filled the memory card on my camera, but before long Brian's battery died and we swapped cards and I was able to keep shooting. Chinatown Flickr Set.
