For friends, family and the random search engine visitor. This blog started as an experiment in mobile blogging from my Palm TREO 600, 700, Prē, HTC Evo, Samsung 5, Pixel 3, Pixel 6 Pro. Now it serves as a simple repository of favorite activities. Expect bad golf, good fishing, great sailing, eating, drinking, adventure travel, occasional politics and anything else I find interesting along the way including, but not limited to, any of the labels listed here...
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San Francisco at 8:15 PM, fifteen minute before Earth Hour.
Tonight San Francisco observed "Earth Hour", an international celebration of freezing in the dark. Or something. During the hour of 8:30 - 9:30 P.M. local time, people all over the world turned off unnecessary lights. The at 9:31 PM people all over the world turned all their unnecessary lights back on.
San Francisco at 9:00 PM
These pictures were taken 45 minutes apart, 15 minutes before and 30 minutes into the Earth Hour event. Was there a difference? In a word, no.
8:45 My neighbors did not get the memo
I dunno. maybe we are just not as Progressive in the City by the Bay as we think we are. Time to open those reeducation camps? Perhaps.
I understand that they did turn off the lights on the Golden Gate Bridge and at City Hall. Now that was something I could get behind. But unfortunately, they did turn them back on.
The only difference I noted from here, is they turned off the lights illuminating the water tower being repaired on Alcatraz, but left the revolving spot light on, as did the illuminated Coit Tower. Probably safety related concerns for both landmarks.
Coit Tower at 9:10
We wouldn't want boats or airplanes crashing in the dark.
I am sure every participant in this event felt good about doing something meaningful to improve the environment.
Your loyal blogger has been transfixed in recent weeks by the unfolding saga of our recently elected Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi and his firecracker Venezuelan wife - telenovella star Eliana Lopez. Several times I started to knock up a blog update only to be stopped short by new plot twists, an "only in San Francisco" character, or breaking news. Finally I realized a mere blog post can no longer encompass the epic scope of this unfolding morality tale.
Some have characterized this story as a Soap Opera, Godfather Sequel, or Greek Tragedy. They all miss the mark. Nothing less than a full scale Golden Age Hollywood Musical Extravaganza or an Epic Operatic production on a Wagnerian scale will do it justice. Having neither the skill nor the time to do this properly, I'll just sketch out a few ideas in the hope that someone will take this and run with it. My fervent hope is that someday I will be sitting in the front row and watching this production at the San Francisco Opera House. Look for me opening night.
I see a three act production - recognizing the last act and final denouement is yet to be written and unfolding as we speak.
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Don't Cry For Me San Francisco A Musical Tragi-Comedy in Three Acts
Starring Eliana Lopez as Mrs. Ross Mirkarimi
ACT I - New Sheriff in Town
As the show opens, Ross Mirkarmi strides into San Francisco City Hall, escorted by his Progressive Praetorian Guard and hordes of adoring liberal acolytes singing Hosannah's and throwing rose petals in his path. He is flush with victory, having triumphed over his two major opponents Chris Cunnie and Paul Miyamoto in San Francisco's first ever Ranked Choice Voting election for Sheriff. A stunning victory because Cunnie and Miyamoto were both qualified to be Sheriff, and Mirkarimi was not. Not remotely qualified. Not even a little bit.
In the production we can stage the election as a gladiatorial fight to the death by Cunnie and Miyamoto under the rotunda at City Hall. The toga clad Mirkarimi looks over the balcony, arm wrapped around his buxom bare breasted wife, eating grapes, drinking wine, laughing and signalling thumbs down to both gladiators at the conclusion of the fight.
But all is not well in Baghdad by the Bay. Stage right, looking down on the proceedings, a shadowy figure can be seen. It is District Attorney George Gascon. Something is afoot. Scene Change.
Curtain up - It is only a few days later and Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is arrested. He is booked by the very Sheriff department staff under his purview who run the county jail. His mug shot is plastered across local TV, in the newspapers , in social media and blogs. He is charged with three misdemeanor counts of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. In a press conference, the Sheriff stands with his wife, gripping her firmly by the arm, and vehemently proclaims his innocence to the world. He demands a speedy trial, surrenders his guns, and posts bail. Court bailiffs enter stage right and left, separate Mirkarimi from his wife and child, and pull them off the stage.
Meanwhile - Eliana appears on Venezuelan radio to sing a plaintive Aria about the United States destroying her family. This despite the fact that it was her insisting a neighbor videotape her bruises and her story that is the entire basis for the domestic abuse case against the Sheriff.
"I have never had the distinct pleasure Of meeting such an idiot of such great measure That freely let me know of things That could unwind plans of what his political future brings
Yes, I do know those, some of whom you hate. Who could have a say in your fate And long friendships with some that you despise That after the fact have opened my eyes.
What to do with the ball in my court ... Let us see what happens.”
The action on stage freezes as Mirkarimi has an epiphany, realizes he just might be guilty and cops a plea.
The chorus - representing the entire citizenry of San Francisco - marches on stage and begin to wail with cries, lamentations and rending of garment begging Sheriff Mirkarimi to resign.
As Act II comes to a close the Sheriff takes Center Stage and stands alone in the spotlight...
By Richard Mertens, Correspondent posted March 27, 2012 at 11:29 am EDT Big Bay, Mich.
Jeff TenEyck was glad to come home last year. He had left Michigan for a small trucking business in South Carolina but returned to work at a new mine just outside Big Bay, the little mill town where he grew up.
"This is the biggest shot in the arm for the economy here since Henry Ford was here," says Mr. TenEyck, whose grandfather worked in a lumber mill that Ford bought in 1943.
Driven by a worldwide surge in demand for metals, mining is on the rebound in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, bringing the hope of jobs to remote and economically depressed rural communities. A dozen miles south of Big Bay, London-based mining giant Rio Tinto PLC and its subsidiary, Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co., are digging a shaft beneath a pine-covered flat called the Yellow Dog Plains. They plan to begin extracting nickel and copper early next year. Rio Tinto says the Eagle Mine will be the largest nickel mine in the country and will create as many as 700 new jobs.
Meanwhile, Orvana Minerals Corp., a Canadian mining company based in Toronto, is close to final approval for a copper mine expected to create hundreds of jobs in the sparsely populated western Upper Peninsula. Next in line, Aquila Resources Inc. and HudBay Minerals Inc. plan to apply for a permit later this year to mine zinc, gold, and silver at a small, open-pit mine along the Menominee River called the Back Forty Project.
There could be more. Mining companies have been busy prospecting for new deposits, crisscrossing the Upper Peninsula by plane and helicopter, drilling exploratory holes, leasing land, and buying up mineral rights. They've revisited old mines to see if new technology might make it profitable to reopen them.
"It's like flies to honey," says Theodore Bornhorst, professor of economic and engineering geology at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. "It's got a lot of people interested."
Kind of a stupid headline. The answer is "Both". I just hope the Eagle Mine doesn't screw up the trout streams or the Coaster Salmon run on the Yellow Dog plain.
I have some hope that they'll tread lightly as they will also be mining under the exclusive and wealthy Huron Mountain Club. They have skin in the game and a historic stake in protecting the watershed and wilderness. It's big money vs. big money. Sometimes it works better that way.
We had a blackout for about 2 hours on Russian Hill tonight. This is stitched from 3 pics, taken from The Summit at the corner of Green and Jones, looking west down Green Street and north toward Fisherman's Wharf.
That dark foreground is residential and usually as lit up as in the neighborhoods in the distance. Our three neighboring highrises were as dark as The Summit, with only emergency lights in the common areas. It looked like about six blocks in our neighborhood were affected.
Here is the scary part. We were completely without internet access for two solid hours. Well, except for one slim tether from my android phone via the Sprint network. I'm not sure it was even 4G. What a terrifying experience. Of course we reacted as would any San Franciscans, by calmly setting priorities and taking immediate action. We opened the Chardonnay in the refrigerator, thinking that if the blackout lasted more than a few hours, we should drink it while it was still cold.
Fortunately the ordeal was over by the time we finished the bottle. It was a close call.
San Francisco at 8:15 PM, fifteen minute before Earth Hour.
San Francisco at 9:00 PM
8:45 My neighbors did not get the memo
Coit Tower at 9:10
