Bush tits, I think1. Restore the Delta presents Over Troubled Waters Wed Nov 28
2. Update on Daly City Dunes
3. Give the gift of nature - Bay Nature!
4. Stealth CEQA legislation, attack on public's environmental bill of rights
5. Birding if SF Botanical Garden Saturday Dec 1
6. A Conservation Vision: Water, Wildlife and Working Lands Dec 5
7. Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us we find poems
8. Another story of Drakes Bay Oyster Co
9. Croaking: Science's New Normal? Gloomy outlook for herps
10. UCSF lapses mean research animals suffer
11. A Word A Day - seasonal gift, and a daily one
12. Sherpas Cinema's Into the Mind
13. More $100 bills in circulation than ever before
14. Every cause has its day, whether deserved or not
15. In Wisconsin, it's the law....
1. Tomorrow evening Restore the Delta will present a free screening of "Over Troubled Waters" in San Francisco. You can find the details at http://overtroubledwaters.org/buy-tickets/
"Over Troubled Waters"
Wednesday, November 28, 7pm
Landmark Theater
1 Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco
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2. Update - story on Daly City Dunes
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_22063695/battle-brewing-over-plans-develop-historic-peninsula-dunes?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
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3. This season, give the gift of nature!
Inspire your family and friends with a gift that delivers the beauty and richness of Bay Area nature throughout the year! Bay Nature magazine offers thoughtful articles and evocative photography that bring to life the natural world right outside your door.
• 1 subscription only $17.95
• 2 or more only $15 each
= Save over 30%! =
Give a gift that will give joy year-round: Bay Nature magazine.
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4. Hello Everyone: One of the most important political issues to come along.
STEALTH CEQA LEGISLATION:
ATTACK ON THE PUBLIC’S ENVIRONMENTAL BILL OF RIGHTS
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provided environmentalists, neighborhoods, ethnic minorities, low-income communities and the citizenry a chance to fight bad projects; by example, the demolitions of the Western Addition/ Lower Fillmore/ Nihonmachi, rampant freeway construction, destruction of ethnic neighborhoods, erosion of open space, disregard of nature conservancy, worsening of environmental health, demolition of historic resources, filling in the Bay……
For many years throughout California, stealth attacks on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) have been financed by developer interests, business associations and Republican deregulators---to benefit the few at the expense of the public good. After failed attempts in 2006 and 2011, introduced at the end of Board sessions, another attempt was made to rush through CEQA legislation during the November 2012 holidays---under false pretenses without stakeholders/ public vetting. But the political power play has been blunted, giving opportunities to stop these special interest politics.
COORDINATION MEETING: Thursday, November 29, 2012, 1:30 pm at City Hall Basement Café.
Neighborhood groups, legal experts and individuals will discuss strategy.
PLANNING COMMISSION: ITEM 21, Thursday, November 29, 2012, 3PM at City Hall Room 400.
Agenda: http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=3332
Executive Summary: http://commissions.sfplanning.org/cpcpackets/2012.1329U.pdf
ATTACHED: Planning Staff’s Comparison Charts.
NOTE: There is a newer version of this Ordinance, dated 11/20/12---not linked to Agenda yet.
Please attend this hearing and testify. Oppose weakening of CEQA by writing to:
john.rahaim@sfgov.org,hs.commish@yahoo.com, Mooreurban@aol.com, plangsf@gmail.com, wordweaver21@aol.com, Rick.Crawford@sfgov.org, Kevin.Guy@sfgov.org, bill.wycko@sfgov.org, joy.navarrete@sfgov.org,Sophie.Hayward@sfgov.org, jonas.ionin@sfgov.org, cwu.planning@gmail.com, richhillissf@yahoo.com, planning@rodneyfong.com
NOTE: Planning Commissioners want examples of how proposed legislation would have affected past projects, i.e. provide case studies. The proposed legislation is still being revised.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION, December 5, 2012, 12:30 pm at City Hall Room 400.
CHECK AGENDA TO VERIFY ITEM: http://sfplanning.org/index.aspx?page=3006
Please attend this hearing and testify. Or oppose weakening of CEQA by writing to:
andrew.wolfram@perkinswill.com, Tina.Tam@sfgov.org, karlhasz@gmail.com, Tim.Frye@sfgov.org, Sophie.Hayward@sfgov.org, john.rahaim@sfgov.org, RSEJohns@yahoo.com, c.chase@argsf.com, cdamkroger@hotmail.com, awmartinez@earthlink.net, diane@JohnBurtonFoundation.org
Land-Use Committee and Board of Supervisors: In early 2013.
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ANALYSIS OF PROPOSED CEQA LEGISLATION
NOTE: The proposed legislation is still being revised.
BAY GUARDIAN: Overview of CEQA issues.
http://www.sfbg.com/2012/11/20/developers-wet-dream?page=0,0
CIVIL JUSTICE CLINIC, University of California, Hastings College of the Law:
https://www.box.com/shared/static/m9x4wamwnykau8h4plum.pdf
SIERRA CLUB:
https://www.box.com/shared/static/tec0r1l82216oxvdmykf.pdf
SAN FRANCISCO ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE:
https://www.box.com/shared/static/r7m4bhc48wiuijizs0kd.pdf
https://www.box.com/shared/static/06yh1q0tiwm7fcx3g24g.pdf
SAN FRANCISCO TOMORROW (Lippe Gaffney Wagner, LLP):
https://www.box.com/shared/static/elkp78mqb5rrlcma9gcx.pdf
COALITION FOR ADEQUATE REVIEW:
https://www.box.com/shared/static/bzrxw152rzzwpz2424vn.pdf
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TALKING POINTS
· The changes are inconsistent with CEQA requirements mandated by state law and reinforced by years of court decisions.
· The proposed legislation has been introduced under false pretenses---because it is not similar to proposed 2006 and 2010 Ordinances.
· The weakening of environmental laws creates an even more uneven playing field---for the citizenry already facing powerful special interests, big money and state power.
· Tens of thousands of S.F. projects annually have environmental reviews and many good/ bad projects are constructed routinely. For the few controversial projects, many factors besides CEQA alone weigh in; by example, code variances, height exemptions, rezoning, use changes, violations of Charter/ General Plan/ Shadow Ordinances, public misinformation, non-complying demolitions, poor urban design/ planning, poor design quality planning/ zoning codes, building codes, fire/ exiting codes, structural codes, ADA, permit processes, design reviews, financing ….
· The proposed sweeping CEQA changes will impede public participation in the environmental review of local projects and the right to appeal environmental documents.
· The changes illegally eliminate the public’s right to appeal a ruling by the Planning Commission if the Board of Supervisors has to approve any part of the project.
· The changes create a purposefully incomprehensible appeals process, where appeals deadlines are triggered by unknowable “approval” actions of any kind.
· The changes weaken the standard for environmental review by city planners.
· The changes weaken the public notice requirements for CEQA exemptions.
· The changes eliminate mandatory public disclosure of CEQA exemptions for historic resources in City-recognized and adopted surveys.
· The changes decrease the opportunities to provide input and influence development projects.
· In particular, Planning Commissioners want examples of how proposed legislation would have affected past projects, i.e. provide case studies.
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5.
San Francisco NatureEducation leads Birding for Everyone! in SF Botanical Garden Every First Saturday!
First Saturdays Every Month
Next one – December 1st, 10am-noon
SF Botanical Garden, Golden Gate Park
Renowned birder Alan Hopkins will lead a hike through the exciting microhabitats of the SF BotanicalGarden and spot a variety of local and migratory birds
Meet in front of the bookstore inside the main gate of the SF Botanical Garden, Golden Gate Park (MLK Drive near 9th Ave. at Lincoln)
Please bring binoculars if you have them.
Adults $10, no one turned away for lack of funds!
Contact Anastasia Marin at anastasiamarin@sfnature.org or 415-387-9160 for more information. www.sfnature.org
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6.
Save the Date!
A Conservation Vision:
Water, Wildlife and Working Lands
Dec. 5, 2012 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
R.S.V.P.http://conservationvision.eventbrite.com/#
The Open Space Authority cordially invites you to attend a community forum to kick off the Open Space Authority's Conservation Vision for Santa Clara County. Join us for a fast-paced, interactive workshop and engage with some of the finest conservation minds in the Bay Area.
The Conservation Vision will identify critical areas and comprehensive strategies for land conservation to protect natural habitat, conserve water resources, sustain agricultural lands and ensure livable communities.
Nearly 20 years ago, a group of passionate citizens spearheaded the creation of the Open Space Authority to balance the rapid development that threatened the county’s unique landscapes, farms and ranch lands. It is now time to renew that vision and help protect our county's essential natural resources and working lands - for present and future generations.
Contact us at vision@openspaceauthority.org or call 408-224-7476 for more information.
Community Forum Location:
Campbell Community Center
Orchard City Banquet Hall
1 W. Campbell Ave # C-32
Campbell, CA 95008
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7.
VALENTINE FOR ERNEST MANN
Naomi Shihab Nye
You can't order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two."
And expect it to be handed back to you on a shiny plate
Still, I like your spirit. Anyone who says, "Here's my address, Write me a poem," deserves something in reply.
So I'll tell you a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottom of our shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up. What we have to do is live in a way mat lets us find them.
Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn't understand why she was crying.
"I thought they had such beautiful eyes."
And he was serious. He was a serious
man who lived in a serious way. Nothing
was ugly just because my world said so.
He really liked those skunks. So, he reinvented them as valentines and they became beautiful. At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding in the eyes of skunks for centuries crawled out and curled up at his feet.
Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems. Check your garage, the
odd sock in your drawer, the person you
almost like, but not quite.
And let me know.
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8. Another story on the Drakes Bay Oyster Company - Op-Ed in High Country News
Point Reyes National Seashore, embattled at 50
http://www.hcn.org/wotr/point-reyes-national-seashore-embattled-at-50?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email
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9.
Croaking: Science's New Normal?
Merging ecological emergencies and funding cuts made for one gloomy 'world summit' of herpetologists this year.
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10.
UCSF lapses mean research animals suffer
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11. A Word A Day
This holiday season, why not make a gift of words?
"A delightful, quirky collection." -The New York Times
Buy them at your nearest bookstore
"The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass email in cyberspace."
-The New York Times
Subject: Serendipity
Def: The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by chance. Also, an instance of such a discovery.
I once came across the following explanation of serendipity: Serendipity is looking for a needle in a haystack and finding the farmer's daughter instead.
Jacqueline Van Den Driest, Jerusalem, Israel
Serendipity brings to mind the aphorism:
"May you find contentment in achieving what you seek, and wonder in receiving what you do not expect."
Craig Salvay, Prairie Village, Kansas
Years ago, the image of French women was one of beauty, sexiness, etc. Serendipity was defined then as when you marry a French woman and find out that she can cook.
Al Waitz, Phoenix, Arizona
I was asked in a medical school admissions interview why I had applied to as many schools as I had.
My reply was that there were likely more straight-A applicants than open spots. I went on to say that, if the committee took the files of the top 40% of applicants, tossed them down a stairwell, and accepted those students whose files made it to the bottom step, those students would probably work out just fine and graduate as fine doctors. For that reason, I figured, it was a matter of serendipity who was accepted by any particular school, leading me to apply to more schools to increase my odds of acceptance.
The interviewer -- who turned out to be the chair of the admissions committee -- asked me if I knew the origin of the word serendipity. I said I didn't but noted that as a senior student I'd been able to break out of the grip of required pre-medical science courses to take courses like one on English Etymology.
We spent most of the rest of the interview talking about etymology.
I got the acceptance letter two days later.
You can say my acceptance was serendipitous.
Ira Salom, New York, New York
Mithridatism
Def: The developing of immunity to a poison by gradually increasing doses of it.
This is central to the plot of one of the Lord Peter mysteries by Dorothy Sayers. The murderer builds up tolerance to arsenic and then eats an arsenic-laced omelet, I believe, along with the victim who dies while he is OK.
She used sophisticated science in another one The Documents in the Case, involving a mycologist who supposedly died after eating a poisonous mushroom which the guy would supposedly know not to do.
Jonathan Cohen, Prior Lake, Minnesota
(JS: While young, we were told by our mother that women used to ingest tiny quantities of arsenic every day. Supposedly, it made the skin more beautiful and dilated the eye pupils, which made them more attractive to men. According to what we were told, they discontinued the practice when the women died young from the accumulation of arsenic in the body. I have no idea whether this is true or not.)
Elysian
Def: Blissful; delightful.
A housing development is being built near me called "Elysian Fields" and folks are just dying to get in.
Nancy Hurley, Memphis, Tennessee
Elysian
Elysium figures in the movie Gladiator when Maximus addresses his troops, foreshadowing his own demise and dreamy excursion through the Elysian Fields into the welcoming arms of his wife and son:
"If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!"
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12.
Blur the lines between dream state and reality, as you perceive the world through the minds of many. Into the Mind contemplates the experiences passed between mentors and peers to paint a philosophical portrait of human kind. What drives us to overcome challenge? How do we justify risk? What forces are at the core of a mountain addiction?
From the makers of All.I.Can., comes the next major story in human exploration; in the natural world and amongst our own silent thought. Unique athlete segments over a multitude of mountain sport genres depict the connectivity of Earth, and window into never seen before moments. Explore how we begin our perception of self, construct the foundations of confidence, and are ultimately led to the path of self-actualization.
Everything you’ve come to expect from Sherpas Cinema, but better! Fall 2013
http://vimeo.com/sherpascinema/intothemind
JS: The trailer film's triumphant technology is not matched by viewers' vocabulary - such profundities (verbatim) as:
Awesome!!!!
Wow! Looks amazing.
mindblowing trailer!
yehaa, can 't wait!
Amazing
amazing!
amazing work again
Too good!
I was not prepared for that awesomeness. Blew me away.
Amazing. Congratulation (sic)
Good job!
Amazing
Holy cow! That was simply amazing.
"A writer for the ages. Ages 4 to 8." Dorothy Parker
Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
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13. More $100 bills in circulation than ever before
If we bet you that almost 80 percent of U.S. greenbacks in circulation are $100 bills -- would you take that action?
Well, it's true. According to Matt Phillips, at least. He reported a story recently in Quartz, the new business website from the Atlantic. He found that the percentage of U.S. currency printed as $100 bills has steadily increased over the past 40 years.
Turns out, those Benjamins are being used for all sorts of things. They're popular in the black market and could be used to launder money. But they're also hoarded by people in developing countries where local currencies aren't as strong as the dollar.
Exactly how many of those $100 bills are floating around overseas? It's difficult to know for sure but Phillips says recent estimates suggest about 25-30 percent of U.S. currency is outside of the United States.
If this surprises you, you're not alone. Phillips says this "does seem to fly in the face that we were going to have a cashless economy," especially based on how people tend to shop in this country. "If you were going to make a purchase in the U.S. for a couple hundred dollars, you'd probably still use...plastic of some sort to do it. That's part of one reason why people think it might be a foreign phenomenon."
And one fun fact from Phillips that didn't make it into the interview that aired? The Federal Reserve ships $100 bills overseas on pallets, each one stacked with 640,000 bills. That means each pallet is worth about $64 million.
From Marketplace
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14. Celebrating causes
Dies irae
Every cause has its day, whether deserved or not
Nov 24th 2012 | from The Economist
WORLD Toilet Day was on November 19th. World Television Day has just passed. International Civil Aviation Day is on December 7th and International Mountain Day comes four days later.
Just as Christian saints have their days, so do causes. Over 100 are in the grandest category: UN “observance” days, usually set by the General Assembly. But anyone can link a date to a campaign. In 2001 the Singapore-based WTO—that is, the World Toilet Organisation—chose a day to mark the plight of the world’s loo-less 2.5 billion (its slogan this year was “I give a shit, do you?”). At least 19 countries mark it. But not the UN, which is perhaps “scared of using the word ‘toilet’,” a WTO spokesman muses.
The UN’s choices are curiously selective. Nelson Mandela is the only individual, dead or alive, to gain its accolade. A whiff of lobbying hangs over some: Hollywood moguls may raise a glass on World Intellectual Property Day, but campaigners for internet freedom may feel otherwise. The UN marks Nowruz (Iranian new year), but not most religious and national feasts. AIDS has a day: but obesity, which kills many more, does not. Jazz is celebrated, but no other music. Migratory birds are the only animals feted, but their day shifts, appropriately enough, falling on the second weekend in May.
Strict observance of the UN’s calendar would mean more woe than jollity. The International Day of Happiness on March 20th is followed by World Poetry Day, and then International Mother Earth Day, with the International Day of Friendship in July. But most official days are about past tragedies (the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide) or present scourges (female genital mutilation, child labour, torture, road accidents and so on).
No means exist for purging the calendar of causes when their day is done. And the whims of UN decision-making mean that, though 264 days are free of an observance, others are overloaded. March 21st, for example, requires some contortions for the conscientious: they must simultaneously celebrate Nowruz, eliminate racial discrimination, care about Down’s syndrome and exalt poetry. Any takers for World Apathy Day?
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15. Heard on Says You
In Wisconsin:
Apple pie must be served with cheese on top.
It is illegal to bring margarine across the border into Wisconsin.
Ugly people may not be seen in daylight.
It is legal to have all the parts of a machine gun, but you may not have "Morning glories" (fireworks sparklers).
In La Crosse, Wisconsin, it is illegal to worry a squirrel.
