Let’s see if it happens? Stay cool, and stay safe. This in from the Natl. Weather Service:

SAN FRANCISCO-SAN FRANCISCO BAY SHORELINE- SANTA CLARA VALLEY…INCLUDING SAN JOSE- 341 AM PDT TUE MAY 13 2008
…EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING FOR THE CITIES OF SAN FRANCISCO…OAKLAND AND SAN JOSE INCLUDING THE SANTA CLARA VALLEY…
A SIGNIFICANT HEAT EVENT IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WITH RECORD OR NEAR RECORD BREAKING HEAT POSSIBLE FOR THE URBAN AREAS OF THE GREATER SAN FRANCISCO BAY REGION. AFTERNOON HIGHS ON WEDNESDAY ARE FORECAST TO REACH THE MID 80S TO MID 90S AND THEN WARM TO THE UPPER 80S TO NEAR 103 ON THURSDAY WITH RECORD TEMPERATURES POSSIBLE. …………………… ALSO…NEVER LEAVE CHILDREN…ELDERLY OR PETS UNATTENDED IN ENCLOSED VEHICLES…EVEN FOR A SHORT TIME. TEMPERATURES QUICKLY RISE TO LIFE-THREATENING LEVELS EVEN WHEN THE WINDOWS ARE PARTIALLY OPENED.

Seriously people, don’t be complete schmucks and leave anything that can’t tolerate heat in the range of 150 degrees fahrenheit in your car. Better yet, don’t drive. Looks like the weather is going to be spectacular for a walk.

Discovered in a Berkeley backyard by a retired entomologist awhile back, the presence of the rarely seen Light Brown Apple Moth will soon have you ducking for cover.

Last May, I mentioned the agricultural quarantine that the Light Brown Apple Moth had caused statewide, and now we get official word that the aerial chemical spraying campaign is on it’s way to San Francisco.

The intentions of the chemicals used are to “create sexual confusion”, and get random male mating to occur, which shouldn’t be hard in San Francisco.

While the pesticides & insect “phermones” to be used claim on their containers “Harmful if inhaled. Avoid breathing vapor or spray mist,” that won’t stop California’s multi-billion dollar agricultural industry from forcing you to do just that.

Officials claim no “adverse” effects are expected when aerial dissipation of vast quantities of CheckMate OLR-F and LBAM-F will be sprayed over the Bay Area beginning as early as June. Tell that to hundreds of residents of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties who have reported health problems from last years coating. One of the more dangerous aspects contained in the sprays is a chemical called 2 hydroxy 4n octyloxybenzophenone, an endocrine disrupter that is contained in the “microcapsules”.

Either way, whether you like it or not, it’s your turn Bay Area…

State and local agricultural officials will “explain the Light Brown Apple Moth eradication program and address any concerns” in two “meetings” in SF & Oakland next week.

The locations & times of the two brief 1 hour scheduled public meetings are listed below, as well as info on the relatively untested stew they’ll be dropping on a vast swath of urban populous. A link to an anti-spray website and a likely useless petition is also included for those who wish to practice the futile prospects of “online opposition”.
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where the sidewalk ends

Originally uploaded by Liz Henry.

Yesterday I went back to work. I teach at Evergreen Valley College
in San Jose. Lo, I found a few handicapped parking spaces out back of the building where I teach, but it was up a very steep hill, in a sort of back alley with no sidewalk connecting it to campus. Out in the main parking lot, there was a big area of disabled parking spots, so I went for that.

Then I had three choices: Head to the center of campus. Head into what looked like a big complicated indoor/outdoor building maze. Head down a sidewalk that went in the direction of my building!

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Joann my dear, we’ll miss you greatly. But I’m happy to announce that we have just launched our 53rd, yes you heard that right, fifty freakin third city blog. San Jose is in da hizzy biatches!

We are also looking for San Jose bloggers to join the team so if you’re interested in writing about your town then let us know!

Not Rimming- get your minds out of the gutter. From my friend who is thinking up a good nickname as we speak:

Q: What’s the difference between a south-bay libertarian and a
south-bay liberal?

A. The SB liberal hasn’t gotten his job back, because things are really going downhill. The SB libertarian has been back at a similar job, but this time with no company cafeteria, for a year, because things are really picking up.

I was just chatting with another SF Metblogger who had missed the fact that in the comments of the medieval warming post, Joann had said she’s leaving the blog as a writer. I checked, and she’s deleted most of her posts too.

I respect the fact that Joann hasn’t appreciated the last few rounds of the game “pick on the republican”, and I say goodbye, and that I’ll miss her!
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I had been feeling envious of those who were able to attend Macworld until I read the post by Jess. She was a little disappointed by the crowd. Old folks in their late 30’s listening to old people music. Talk about being out of place, I would have been mingling with people my son’s age.

Old as I am, I was still pleased to receive an iPod 30GB for Christmas. With my feeble non-geek mind I somehow managed to get the newfangled gizmo loaded up with tunes from local San Jose and San Francisco bands of the 60s like The Chocolate Watchband, Janis Joplin (Big Brother), Jefferson Airplane, The Doobie Brothers, Moby Grape, Grateful Dead, Country Joe & the Fish, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. In the1960s the San Francisco Bay Area music scene was an electric, wondrous and psychedelic experience. Jess–you would have loved it too.

The first time I heard “Tower of Power” preform it was in a bowling alley in Fremont.
Now they will be at The Fillmore–Saturday, January 20. Beware, for there will be a lot of bald heads in the audience.

Metroblogging cities gave 7 gifts to the world. Though not an official Metroblogging city San Jose would like to join the party. We might not find enough boxes, wrapping paper and bows for seven gifts but…

Red Gift box: Safety
New York may be claiming the title Safest Big City in the country, but the murder rate in San Jose is less than half of that in NYC.

Blue Gift box: Climate
San Jose lies inland, protected on three sides by mountains. Our annual rainfall (October through April ) averages 14.4 inches, and the Fog that can blanket “the City” is not a frequent visitor here in the South Bay. Occasionally snow can be seen coating Mount Hamilton or the Santa Cruz Mountains, but almost never falls on the valley floor. The average Summer temperature ranges from the 50s to the 80s. In the winter the average temperature ranges from the 40s to the 60s.

Gold Gift box: Money
San Jose currently has the highest median income of any city with over 225,000 people, and our residents produce more U.S. patents than any other city in the U.S.

With our gifts you will stay safe and warm while you mingle with the well-to-do and MENSA qualified.
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What is THAT beer doing under my tree?

This morning after dropping a fare at SJC, I passed by the new BevMo on Lincoln Avenue in Willow Glen. Noticing a Grand Opening banner on the storefront I wondered how the business was faring.

Any chain store opening in Willow Glen is met with trepidation. When Longs announced wanting to locate here alarms sounded throughout the village. Everything from too much traffic to shopping carts hanging out on every corner would be the ruin of us all. Longs is now a fixture and so far Willow Glen has suffered no curses.

  BevMo went through much the same. Overheard in the Glen the quivering voices–What will become of the wine shop up the Avenue?– We already have a liquor store!–Dirty men will be sitting in the gutters tossing back little brown bags. Hide the children! Hide the dogs!
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Photo by DC Metroblogger

Look at that little sticker on the back of this San Jose taxi: CNG.

So that’s a natural gas powered taxi. How odd. Why is this taxi burning cleanish fuel while the next dozen are using the usual gasoline?

I heard a rumor it has something to do with the San Jose airport, or maybe it was SFO. That CNG taxis could go there every day while others only every other day. True?

Is this San Jose being more green than San Francisco too? Might there be a SJ vs. SF rivalry after all - on the environmental front even?

Better yet, do you know a CNG taxi driver or ridden in one? Was it different? Or cheaper? Or did you even care?