1. Scientific editor urgently needs temporary living quarters
2. Flight, by Dan Liberthson
3. Dust Bowl - and California's grasslands
4. Botanising the North Woods - Ted Kipping potluck
5. Vegetation Mapping Workshop Jan 16-18
6. Le Video - victim of technology?
7. Dragonflies of North America calendar
8. California Wildlife Festival - Nov 29
9. UCSF Days of Fitness Dec 1-12
10. Blue-Banded Pelican Contest: Clues and Tidbits
11. 91% income tax rate - we've done it before, and thrived
12. Promise of Blue Horses, by Joy Harjo
1. On Nov 20, 2012, at 1:49 PM, Hans Weber wrote:
A good friend just got a senior editorial job at PLOS in San Francisco with a December 3 start date. http://www.plosone.org/home.action
It looks like a scary organization to me! Scientific publication at warp speed!!
She is looking for some sort of short-term, affordable housing until she can find an apartment. I think the PLOS office is somewhere near the Embarcadero.
Do you happen to know of anything to suggest?
Hi, Jake. Thanks so much for adding me to your newsletter. As Suzanne mentions, I'm starting work in San Francisco Dec. 3 and would love to find a studio or efficiency apartment for 1-3 months while I look for more permanent digs. The offices are across from Pier 19 on the Embarcadero in the Financial District and it would be lovely if wherever I land is a good walk to work. Terry Monahan
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2.
Flight
Days and days of rain past,
the clouds break open,
let through a shard of blue.
Just there, at eleven o’clock,
a hovering hawk slightly rocks
side to side, tail and wing feathers
feeling to hold the wind.
Suddenly, silently, celebrant he
stoops into a double barrel-roll
to thrill his close-trailing mate.
I am wracked with adoration―
my lungs try to draw in
the whole sky while she merely
tips her wings and steadies.
I have climbed my steep yard
to flee the sour smell of brain work,
stale air sagging in the house
like the remnant in a downed balloon.
By my labor I have earned
the certainty that I am earth-bound.
I would give my whole
crabbed frontal lobe to win
what this hawk assumes
her natural due. But I must
let out my heavy breath, give back
the borrowed air and descend,
stair by stair, as new clouds lower
and the rain begins again.
Dan Liberthson ©
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3. From California Native Grasslands Assn
Dust Bowl, by Ken Burns - http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/
After viewing 4 hours of sobering film footage about a past ecological disaster, here is a link to an innovative project currently being conducted in Iowa that is testing the potential benefits of planting native grass and forbs into mixed "prairie strips" within a farmer's row crops, to improve biodiversity within a farming system.
http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/on-the-ground/testing-trio-prairie-strips-row-crops-and-birds
I'll leave you with a link to the National Association and Statewide Association of Resource Conservation Districts that were created in response to the Dust Bowl in order to assist farmers, ranchers and private landowners with conservation practices designed to reduce such issues as soil erosion & invasive species, and improve water and forage quality, and biodiversity. These organizations are fantastic local resources that are ready to answer your questions and concerns.
http://www.nacdnet.org/about/districts/history.phtml
for CA RCDs scroll down past map for direct links
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E.B. White
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4. Ted Kipping pot luck/slide shows
4th Tuesday of the month at 7 pm (slide show at 8 pm) at the San Francisco County Fair Bldg, 9th Av & Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park
Served by Muni bus lines #6, 43, 44, 66, 71, and the N-Judah Metro
*Please bring a dish and beverage to serve 8 people
November 27 - Bob Case, Botanising the North Woods
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5.
Vegetation Mapping Workshop
UC Berkeley and Mount Tamalpais
Jan 16-18, 2012
Please join the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and Aerial Information Services (AIS) for a three-day, vegetation mapping workshop.
This workshop is a combination of field and computer exercises in fine-scale vegetation mapping.
Target Audience: Professional botanists, ecologists, resource managers, GIS and vegetation mapping specialists. Participants should have an initial understanding of the subject matter and of GIS.
Details and Registration: http://www.cnps.org/cnps/education/workshops/
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6. Le Video
From the November 2012 Sunset Beacon:
"Tchen (the owner) said she sees Le Video as a community service, not a profit center. However, the last few years have presented serious challenges. It started when the VHS format died almost overnight nearly a decade ago. Like most stores, Le Video adapted, replacing VHS titles with DVDs as well as Blue-Rays.
Then the store had to compete with the digital revolution and the fact that people now don't have to get off the couch because of Netflix, on-demand options and Internet streaming to watch what they want, when they want it. However, Le Video, which saw 14,000 customers come through its doors in the last 20 months, is looking for a little loyalty from its cinephile base.
...There's this tendency for people to lament places after they're gone. I'm not just talking about us. Go to green Apple Books. Come to us. Go to Los Weekend. Get your ice cream at Humphry Slocome."
Full story at: http://www.sunsetbeacon.com/archives/SunsetBeacon/2012editions/Nov12/levideo.html
"Man is in love and loves what vanishes
What more is there to say?"
Wm Butler Yeats, Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen
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7.
"Quite simply, the terrestrial world is turned by insects and a few other invertebrate groups: the living world would probably survive the demise of all vertebrates, in greatly altered form of course, but life on land and in the sea would collapse down to a few simple plants and microorganisms without invertebrates." Edward O. Wilson
2013 Dragonflies of North America Calendar
Produced by the Xerces Society, this 9.5″ x 12″ calendar features stunning photography of these dramatic insects, accompanied by brief notes about their natural history, behaviors, and conservation needs. Month by month you will discover new facts about dragonflies and damselflies, learn about how you can watch them in the wild, and find out how you can contribute to citizen-science projects tracking dragonflies as they migrate from Canada to Mexico.
Preview the calendar.
Calendars cost $15 each and include shipment by USPS to US addresses. They will take 2-3 weeks to arrive. If you would like holiday delivery, please place your order by November 30th.
http://www.xerces.org/calendar/
"Mysterious and little-known organisms live within reach of where you sit. Splendor awaits in minute proportions.” E.O. Wilson
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8. Kerry Kriger:
Join me for an amazing evening in celebration of California's remarkable wildlife! Michael Starkey and I will be giving presentations on frog conservation to start the evening. Afterwards, I will be performing live music on guitar, bamboo flute, ukelele, jew's harp and a variety of drums from around the world, accompanied by my brother Chad Kriger on didgeredoo and drums. Chad and I have been creating music together for 16 years. You absolutely do not want to miss this! Please forward this email to your friends to help spread the word!
Please download, print and post the PDF of the event flyer.
The California Wildlife Festival, hosted by our friends at the National Wildlife Federation
Thursday Nov 29th, 2012; Presentations 5-6pm; Music 6-8pm
The Brower Center, one of the world's most environmentally friendly buildings. 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley
Free Admission, so please bring lots of friends!
www.savethefrogs.com/events
Kerry Kriger has been playing the bansuri (bamboo flute) since 1996 and studied the classical music of northern India with the legendary flute master Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao for nearly 10 years. He has performed in the USA, Argentina, Mexico, Ghana, Australia and New Zealand and has recorded several albums. Kerry regularly gives flute lessons, and has created a website devoted to the bansuri (www.indianflutemusic.com). Kerry is also quite adept at the darabuka, a hand drum from the Middle East, and currently studies tabla with Indian drum master Samrat Kakkeri. Kerry also plays guitar, piano, jew’s harp, and ukulele.
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9.
12 Days of Fitness
Free Open House, December 1-12
Get to know this hidden treasure in your neighborhood.
Work out for FREE at UCSF Millberry Fitness & Recreation Center.
Join by December 12 and save up to $289!
Free enrollment
Free December membership dues
This offer includes the use of:
• Cardio & strength machines
• 70 Group fitness classes weekly
• Free weights
• Swimming pool
• Squash & racquetball courts
• Basketball court
• Pilates studio
• Sauna
• Locker rooms
• Towel service
Contact Member Services today to find out more.
UCSF Millberry Fitness & Recreation Center
500 Parnassus Avenue, Level B1
415.476.0348, campuslifeservices.ucsf.edu/fitnessrecreation
Group Fitness classes are not included during Open House. Towel and lock rental available for small fee. Promotion applies to annual membership only.
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10. Blue-Banded Pelican Contest: Clues and Tidbits
International Bird Rescue’s Blue-Banded Pelican Sighting Contest, sponsored by Eagle Optics, which has generously donated two pairs of beautiful binoculars for our winning adult and youth contestants If you’ve been out scouting for these birds, you may have noticed that many Blue-Banded Pelicans are young and still trying to figure out how to survive on the coast, where food supplies can be limited and the odds of encountering human-related injuries are high.
This is M16, a Brown Pelican received at our Northern California center on August 30, 2011 suffering from fishing tackle injuries. Then a hatch-year (HY) bird, M16 was successfully treated and released on October 14, 2011 at Ft. Baker in Sausalito under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was not seen again until October 7, 2012 when it was spotted in Monterey.
Here you can see M16 searching for fish scraps on the Monterey Wharf near a commercial fish-processing area. We don’t always like to see our rehab birds begging and looking for scraps at such facilities, but young pelicans are by nature clever and opportunistic in finding fish. This can be to their detriment when they collide with fishermen and fish-processing activities, whether public or commercial.
The good news is that M16 was later spotted just a few days ago on October 30 at the beautiful Port San Luis Harbor in San Luis Obispo. By all accounts, the bird is doing well and can fend for itself!
With the help of state and federal wildlife agency folks, we will be targeting sites like the Monterey Wharf, working to locate where the birds are being fed and where they are being oiled by fish waste, or even subjected to abuse. Our simple goal is to limit the injuries faced by pelicans. And you’re helping out this cause tremendously by reporting Blue-Banded Pelicans like M16 that you may see.
So here’s your sighting clue for our Eagle Optics binoculars contest: Locate local public or commercial fish-processing or cleaning stations, and you’re sure to find a pelican or two in the area. We receive many of our reports from fish-processing stations, from California to Washington state. Here is the link to report BBP’s:
http://bird-rescue.org/pelican-project/report-blue-banded-pelicans.aspx
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11.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. -Voltaire, born 21 November 1694
91% income tax rate?
(JS: For decades we've done nothing but talk tax cuts; I scratched my head, thinking back to the time when the top income tax bracket was 91%. It shows how brainwashed we have allowed ourselves to become, letting the right-wingnuts dominate the conversation, set the agenda, and define terms.
What would happen if we start ratcheting up tax rates? Here is what would happen: Those in pursuit of the bitch goddess Success would continue the pursuit--because that's the way they're built--but we would have less display of conspicuous consumption and obscene waste.)
Excerpted from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/opinion/krugman-the-twinkie-manifesto.html?_r=0 :
"Yet in the 1950s incomes in the top bracket faced a marginal tax rate of 91, that’s right, 91 percent, while taxes on corporate profits were twice as large, relative to national income, as in recent years. The best estimates suggest that circa 1960 the top 0.01 percent of Americans paid an effective federal tax rate of more than 70 percent, twice what they pay today."
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12.
Promise of Blue Horses
A blue horse turns into a streak of lightning,
and then the sun --
relating the difference between sadness
and the need to praise
that which makes us joyful, I can't calculate
how the earth tips hungrily
toward the sun - then soaks up rain -- or the density
of this unbearable need
to be next to you. It's a palpable thing -- this earth
philosophy
and familiar in the dark
like your skin under my hand. We are a small earth. It's no
simple thing. Eventually
we will be dust together; can be used to make a house, to stop
a flood or grow food
for those who will never remember who we were, or know
that we loved fiercely.
Laughter and sadness eventually become the same song turning us
toward the nearest star --
a star constructed of eternity and elements of dust barely visible
in the twilight as you travel
east. I run with the blue horses of electricity who surround
the heart
and imagine a promise made when no promise was possible.
~ Joy Harjo ~
(How We Become Human)
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