May 15th was not only a “Spare the Air” day and “Bike to Work” day; it also was a day of record temperatures in The City. As the day went on, the heat soared to 97 degrees in the city.

As noon approached, trouble began to brew on the BART system. For the next 8 hours, the system was plagued by delays of 45 minutes or longer.

I met the BART problem head-on at rush hour last night. I arrived at Civic Center at about 4:40pm. Trains were being held in between stations and at stations for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. The first train only went to 24th street/Mission, so I didn’t get on. Then I realized, soon enough, the trains were ONLY going to 24th Street/Mission, where you would have to transfer.

17 minutes later, two more trains came and went, absolutely packed to the ceiling. Finally, I got on a train. At 24th Street, something strange happened- the train went backwards. Apparently, while I was zoning out in iPod land, the train had suddenly become a Richmond train and just started going the other way at 24th Street.

At 16th, I disembarked to attempt another try towards my destination. Alas, my “SFO” BART train, again, suddenly became a Richmond train and turned around. But, at least, this time, I managed to GET OFF the train at 24th.

The platform was packed with people, the trains kept turning around. Then two more packed trains rolled by. Finally, I braved one of the packed trains. My last BART train of the evening made several long pauses to cool itself, but I did finally make my destination at 6:20pm.

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Last week, Jason Bond (interesting mashup of Jason Bourne and James Bond) a researcher at East Carolina University named a newly identified species of trap door spider after peninsula celebrity and rock legend Neil Young. The spider is named Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi, and was discovered in Alabama last year.

“There are rather strict rules about how you name new species,” Bond said. “As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species just about any name you please. With regards to Neil Young, I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice.”

Photo of spider, ECU News Services. Photo of Neil, Cover Lay Down.

Other famous namings of new species? Any suggestions out there?

Californians continue to mount a significant opposition to the state legislatures decision to allow spraying for the LBAM (light brown apple moth). Tomorrow there is a vote scheduled at the state senate that could stop the spraying without the consent of the communities being sprayed. There is transport arranged (pavement reference for those paying attention) from the Ferry Building early am. Taking all interested parties right to Sacramento where you can make your presence felt on this issue.

Interesting the Governator is being quoted as saying that the spray is completely safe for humans. This taken from The SFBG Blog, “Q: Will the Spray Cause Erectile Dysfunction?“:

ABC: Will you comment on LBAM spraying?

Governor: It’s important we do everything we can because it can destroy our agriculture products and harm our environment. Other countries can cut off our agriculture trade. Public safety is my number one priority and there is nothing that shows this program is unsafe.

ABC: Senator Migden is proposing legislation to prevent spraying before an EIR is done. Do u have a position?

Governor: We have done all the studies in the world and nothing says it is unsafe. We wouldn’t spray if it were unsafe.

Ballsy considering that they won’t even disclose the sprays makeup. Duck! Here comes the Trade Secret claim to protect this vendors secret recipe they want to spray on us.

Details From the Flyer in circulation:

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THE SPRAY - Come to Sacramento: Wednesday 4/16 1:30 PM CAPITOL, Room 4202

Agriculture Committee hearing Support LBAM legislation: Five bills and two resolutions collectively correct a broken system in California by providing both the information and the process to enable communities to
protect themselves from the dangers posed by aerial pesticide spraying.

The AG Committee hearing is the main hurdle for these bills. Show your support and make your voice heard during the public comment period! Bring your kids!

Fax or call in support of legislation to:
Assemblymember Nicole Parra Chair Agriculture Committee
Fax (916) 319 – 2130
Phone (916) 319 - 2030

“I am in support of the package of aerial spray legislation, AB 2892, AB 2763, AB 2764, AB 2765 and AB 2760 and related resolutions SCR 87 and ACR 117. I support this legislation because Californians have a right to informed consent regarding pesticides sprayed by the state over homes and communities.”

Sample letter and more info on www.StopTheSpray.ORG.
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Related

• Sign the petition to stop the spraying
• Get Ready To Be Sprayed… But Will “Sexual Confusion” Be Enough?
• SFBG: Mirkarimi: Don’t spray on me
• HuffPo: Bush Administration to Blue-State California: Drop Dead!

Yesterday the California State Supreme Court shot down the final appeal for Proposition H, the absurd ban on handguns and ammo that has been wasting taxpayer money and time since 2005. The Proposition, that Mayor Newsom endorsed btw, was doomed from the start since it violated the California State Constitution and everyone knew it. It was a cheap political stunt which got votes from the uninformed public who don’t realize that when you take the guns from law abiding citizens the only people left that have them are people who aren’t exactly disinclined to shoot you. Oh yeah, and the criminals.

NRA Press release on yesterdays victory

My original post about Proposition H.

Today is Cesar Chavez day in California. A holiday first established by the Cesar Chavez Foundation to honor the late Cesar Chavez. Chavez, a man who bettered working conditions for farmworkers in California and much of the United States passed away April 23rd, 1993. Fasting for 25 days in a show of non-violent protest, he lead the Farm Worker movement in it’s efforts to raise awareness of the miserable working conditions in California circa 1965. Also starting the national boycott of table grapes around 1970, “NO GRAPES” or “NO UVAS”.

Of note in Chavez’s history was his opposition to the Farm owners bringing illegal immigrants over the border as strikebreakers, although Chavez did support the ‘86 federal immigration act.

The UFW during Chávez’s tenure was committed to restricting immigration. César Chávez and Dolores Huerta fought a federal law that prohibited hiring illegal immigrants in 1973. Later during the 1980s, while Chávez was still the UFW president, Dolores Huerta, the cofounder of the UFW, was key in getting the amnesty provisions into the 1986 federal immigration act. [2].

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h/t to Ms. Banneker at the LA Metblog: Happy Birthday, Cesar Chavez

If your job has been outsourced to Mumbai and you want to go retain it in India, there’s a new option for you…

SFO will soon have Jet Airways as a new tenant, becoming the first Indian airline to fly from San Francisco to Mumbai and only the second airline worldwide to fly nonstop from San Francisco to Shanghai. The airline which also has codesharing with American Airlines, will begin SFO flights in May, and previously launched daily service from New York’s JFK and Newark airports, as well as Toronto within the past year.

The airline, which won an award for ‘Best Full Service Airline in India’ for the year 2007, touts it’s luxury class offerings ranging from First Class suites with private closets, dining tables for two, and 23″ flat-screens. The Premiere business class features “pods” with 73″-long totally flat beds. Even the Economy seats supposedly divy up more legroom than average and all customers can fiddle with hi-tech personal entertainment systems, complete with 200+ movies, games and Bose noise-canceling headphones.

The Indian airline which was founded in 1993, also runs flights to and from Brussels, London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat and Doha.

For more information, please visit: http://www.jetairways.com

San Francisco commercial property owners are seeking lower assesment valuations, with the 10 biggest claiming a total drop in value of $1.2 billion, which means Gavin and the Supes potentially losing another $13.2 million in annual dough to play with. The New Jersey based investment group that owns Crocker Galleria downtown say that their marquee retail property alone has lost $242 million in value.

DataQuick has recently reported that …

“In the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area, the median home price fell 11.6 percent to $548,000 compared to a year earlier and 17.6 percent from the region’s peak median price of $665,000 last summer…as sales (volume) has dropped 36.7 percent last month from February 2007.”

These figures and stats can be reinforced as I observed that the normally thin classified pages of the suburban Concord Transcript newspaper last Thursday alone contained literally 5 1/2 jam packed pages of tiny typefaced foreclosure trustee sale notices…and even auctions in Gawd Forbid! the newest “shoreline” developments of San Francisco.

8TH ANNUAL ‘BYOBW’
EASTER SUNDAY
MARCH 23, 2008 - 5 PM
VERMONT STREET @ 20th, SF
BIG WHEEL RACE
FREE OUTDOOR EVENT
the race is no longer down lombard street!!
BIG PEOPLE ON KIDS’ TOYS
NO RUBBER WHEELS
NO REGISTRATION
HAND-MADE PRIZES
FUN

Out of all the crazy San Francisco events I attended last year none is closer to my heart than the Bring Your Own Big Wheel race. Unfortunately the crowds were so huge last year that Lombard Street is now sadly off limits. This year has been moved to an even windier street! Vermont St is the new location and this Sunday at 5pm is the start. The official website has details of past events. You can also check out my photos from the last event. Hope to see you there!

While most people were enjoying a pint at the parade or getting dressed for the Brides of March, hundreds of members of the group Anonymous descended upon the Church of Scientology headquarters in San Francisco to protest what they feel is a cult that has been given religious and tax exempt status. They also believe the CoS has committed many crimes including extortion and murder just to name a few. The protest loosely coincides with the birthday of church founder and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard which was on March 13th. The protest was very orderly and while multiple attempts were made to give brochures and pamphlets to the Scientologists entering and exiting by the side door, none took the material as long as I was there. It was by far the best protest I’ve been to in a very long time for the entertainment factor alone. I mean how often do you get to see Cthulu in a party hat?

Since some people couldn’t make it out I’m including a list of further reading materials I received from some of the protestors.

www.enturbulation.org
www.xenu.net
www.xenu-directory.net
www.whyaretheydead.net
www.youfoundthecard.com
Operation Freakout
Operation Snow White
Fair Game Policy
Lisa McPherson
Scientology and Me

I swear to whatever deity I need to though if I never hear Rick Astley again it will be too soon…

Click here for more photos of the protest

File this one under bummer. Patrick Swayze has been spending time at Stanford University’s cancer department getting radical chemotherapy for a case of pancreatic cancer that he was diagnosed with in January. Things aren’t looking good though and the doctors have given him only 5 weeks to live. If you want an autograph I’d head down to Palo Alto very soon! I’ll hold off on all the ‘Ghost’ references since I’m sure they’ll be everywhere in a day. I’m not a big fan of his movies but I really hope the Stanford doctors can save the day. [via Transworld News]

Update: Looks like The Swaze may pull through after-all. Who knows if it’s just PR spin or if the original source was just being sensationalist. Here’s to old Bodhi pulling through.