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Swing away -- Urban Putt opens today!
After a sneak peek and a couple of delays, Urban Putt finally opens at 4pm today. The high concept mini-golf course, restaurant, and bar combination arrives just in time for some Cinco de Drinko fiesta time.
The former mortuary at South Van Ness and 22nd Streets is freshly coated with a new paint job that seamlessly blends with the neighborhood. There's nothing flashy about Urban Putt from the outside but as you step inside, you're transported into a gadgety, steampunk world — a techie's Disneyland.
The elaborate 14-hole golf course designed by the guys behind Mission Bowling Club can hold 40 golfers at a time, so expect a wait list as long as Nopa's on a Friday night. Golfers start out at the Earthquake Hole where they navigate around Lotta's Fountain and moving buildings into a fire hydrant hole. Expect kitschy San Francisco references scattered around the course: a Transamerica windmill, the Day of the Dead hole, and a robot hole built by the people from Make Magazine. Several other of our city's landmarks also make an appearance.
While it's a tad cramped, the course's beauty remains in the details. A lot of the course was built by Urban Putt's in-house 3-D printing machine. With custom ironwork, wood designs, and digital features, there are many surprises! At the Music Hole, the golf ball is lifted 10 feet in the air and dropped down an elaborate chute bouncing on drums, tambourines, and xylophones before making its way back onto the turf. In the left corner is a dark room resembling something out of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The two-hole underwater course includes an LED-lit floor, a moving octopus, and an interactive submarine decked out in bells and whistles, levers, and buttons.
If mini-golf isn't for you, the building's second floor is entirely dedicated to a different kind of sport: eating and drinking. The full bar and restaurant UP @ Urban Putt is run by chef Dane Boryta, formerly of Bottle Cap. The restaurant will serve up traditional Americana dishes that include burgers, pizza, salads, and desserts — basically what you'd find at any mini-golf course. Guests can eat at communal wooden picnic tables or private high tables. Other upstairs divertissements include skee ball and Caddyshack on repeat. Expect weekend brunch offerings in the near future, because what new restaurant is complete without the city's favorite weekend pasttime?
Urban Putt is basically every eight-year-old's birthday party dream. Pizza, ice cream, mini golf ... what more can a kid ask for? Moreover, later in the night, adults can have their own fun. No one under 21 will be admitted onto the course after 8pm. While the restaurant stops serving food at 11pm on weekends, drinking and golfing is available until 2am, and putters can sip drinks designed by the Bon Vivants — strong and tasty enough to decrease your chances of getting a hole in one. Pro-tip: the Duck Shooting hole is exceptionally difficult to master, even while sober. Fore!
Urban Putt
Mini-golf: Mon-Thu, 4pm-midnight; Fri, 4pm-2am; Sat, 10am-2am; Sun, 10am-midnight, $8-10
Restaurant: Sun-Thu, 5:30-10pm; Fri-Sat, 5:30-11pm
1096 South Van Ness, SF
(415) 341-1080
So long as people get to pay to have an authentic experience, that is all that counts!
Are you feeling OK?
And so is Cinco de Mayo. Except for the tasty food! But that's cultural appropriation. Which is racist.
I love it. Housing going up anywhere in Sf is the death knell of our local culture. But literally the most twee thing ever in existence in the mission should be a blast? Do you think Hispanic families in the mission will come here? How do you people live with yourself ?
Yes, it's a proven fact that Hispanics hate mini golf.
I've decided to go easy on him since I'm sure he is feeling humiliated right now.
and produce stands - right Greg?
stereotypes Hispanics as poor, grubby people who don't like entertainment or spending money on anything.
What next? Greg advocates more watermelon stands and friend chicken joints for Bayview?
I didn't write that comment. I have no idea what the poster is even trying to say. As far as I can tell, it sounds like someone more in line with your worldview than mine. Sounds like matlock actually, with his disjointed logic and non-sequiturs, but it's not his MO to imp people.
has been busted. Claims there is another Greg here trying to discredit him.
Sorry, buddy, but you have stereotyped people far too much to duck your error on this one. If the shoe fits, wear it.
been busted. They can't find one single concrete example where I have *ever* used racial stereotypes, so they repeat the same lies over and over again hoping they'll stick.
You claimed that this new establishment is undesirable because Hispanics families would not go there.
As if that matters.
As it turns out, I was at Campos's fundraiser at the Armory Club at the time the comment was written. And a delightful fundraiser it was! Very good turnout. This article wouldn't even be on my radar anyway.
But whatever. You're just trolling. I'm going to take a cue from marcos, who you also appear to have imped, and not spend anymore time on this. Because no one actually believes I would write that drivel, not even you. Shit, of course you know it wasn't me. You're the one who wrote it!
Sorry, but claiming that a business has no merit because non-whites won't go there is EXACTLY something you would say. Except that you realized later that it came across wrong and now you are covering your tracks.
I've not imp'ed anyone. No need.
I bet he's a blast at parties.
Is there anyone he doesn't hate?
It was late, and I was tired and emotional.
jiggle his moobs got you all hot and bothered Greg?
For reals.
Sounds awesome, actually.
Then don't go.
For reals.
Mini golf sounds fun, then you do it and it is not, drinking doesn't even save it.
I'm not coming at this from a "I'm Greg and I'm a white liberal blabbering about race theory." I'm coming at it from the over priced food and drink doesn't make something ironic fun.
that they have no interest in?
You like it? Go. You don't like it? Don't go.
Either way, it's not a story. It's called choice. And fortunately we don't have a central communist committee deciding which stores and joints should open based on ideological desirability and purity, as Greg clearly wishes.
The market will decide if this places endures and prospers, or withers and dies.
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Lighting designer Etsaban Caracciolo specified an Avolites Diamond 4 for his latest UK and European tour with the punky energetic US rockers, Fall Out Boy. During FOB's latest US shed and arena leg of the tour – just previous to them hitting Europe this time around – he was using two D4 Elites – supplied by Upstaging. Lighting equipment for the UK tour was supplied by Southampton based GLS who also looked after the last FOB tour here in February.
FOB's set can be as random as it is powerful, there is rarely a set list, and much of the show has to be improvisational, live and hands on – making Avolites the ideal choice of console for the environment. "I have everything right there on the faders, ready to grab whenever I need it" he says.
He adds that in the US, the doors are often open at 5.30 p.m., curtailing the working day and reducing afternoon programming time, so here again, the D4's quick, simple patching and programming functionality is a real asset.
The Diamond 4 was controlling a large variety of fixtures. GLS were using their new Robe ColorSpot 1200 AT moving lights on the back truss – nine of them – joined by four Martin Professional MAC 600s, three bars of ACLs and four Martin Atomic strobes with scrollers.
On the floor were two 8' vertical trussing towers, each rigged with a MAC 500 on top and an Atomic-and-scroller, plus another two 5' truss towers, with MAC 500s atop. Also on the floor was another pair of MAC 500s perched on top of the backline, and two MAC 600s at the front edge each side, firing across stage. There were also two 4-lite moles hidden beneath two 'ego risers' on stage left and right.
The front truss contained eight MAC 600s, six Source Four profiles and four 8-lites to illuminate the audience. The D4 was also controlling a DF50 smoker and fan, and the FOH follow spots were Lycian Stark-lites.
Dimming was done with a 48-way Avolites ART 2000 rack and one of GLS's own 54-way hot power distros. The tour was crewed by Dave Dickinson and Karen Wood, helped by Caracciolo who was a working LD for the tour.
For Caracciolo, based in Lawrence, KS, it's his fifth tour with FOB. Their 2005 schedule included 305 live shows and also saw the release of their phenomenal "From Under The Cork Tree" album. He describes his stylistic approach to lighting Fall Out Boy as "Creating a good old fashioned rock show" with spectacular beam patterns, bold colours and dramatic movement, a winning combination that matches FOB's manic energy, making a blisteringly good all-action show.

subset: commoncrawl


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Continuing our comparison of the 2012 Reds to the 2012 Cardinals, let's see how each offense projects...
One important caveat...
The following comparisons don't account for playing time. Players like Allen Craig figure to be a major part of the Cardinals offense, despite not being represented here. Likewise, for the Reds, Ryan Hanigan, Ryan Ludwick, and other "role players" will likely see significant playing time. However, in the interests of simplicity, I used only the players I expect to get the majority of the playing time at their respective positions.
Today, we'll look at offense only. The following projections can be found at FanGraphs. I'm using Bill James' 2012 projections for this exercise. First, let's look at how the two teams match up by position…
Second Base
Brandon Phillips (2B)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .279/.334/.435; wOBA – .332
Skip Schumaker (2B)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .282/.340/.363; wOBA – .309
Differential (wOBA): +.23 Reds
Short Stop
Zack Cozart (SS)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .256./.306/.404; wOBA – .315
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .270/.338/.394; wOBA – .324
Differential (wOBA): +.09 Cardinals
First Base
Joey Votto (1B)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .310./.412/.547; wOBA – .403
Lance Berkman (1B)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .279/.396/.498; wOBA – .380
Differential (wOBA): +.23 Reds
Right Field
Jay Bruce (RF)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .270./.349/.510; wOBA – .363
Carlos Beltran (RF)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .279/.369/.480; wOBA – .367
Differential (wOBA): +.04 Cardinals
Third Base
Scott Rolen (3B)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .268./.338/.434; wOBA – .334
David Freese (3B)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .299/.357/.452; wOBA – .353
Differential (wOBA): +.19 Cardinals
Left Field
Chris Heisey (LF)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – . 267/.328/.485; wOBA – .346
Matt Holliday (LF)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .307/.390/.533; wOBA – .394
Differential (wOBA): +.48 Cardinals
Center Field
Drew Stubbs (CF)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – . 258/.336/.403; wOBA – .331
Jon Jay (CF)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .287/.340/.414; wOBA – .328
Differential (wOBA): +.03 Reds
Devin Mesoraco (C)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – . 262/.324/.457; wOBA – .332
Yadier Molina (C)
- BILL JAMES: AVG/OBP/SLG – .282/.340/.394; wOBA – .320
Differential (wOBA): +.12 Reds
Combined Differential: +.29 Cardinals
Summary: The Reds project to have an offensive advantage at 5 of the 8 position, yet the Cardinals project to be slightly more productive overall due to huge offensive advantages at third base and left field.
My take: I think these projections are slighly pessimistic with Cozart. While I don't expect Cozart to be great, I do believe he can produce at-or-above Furcal's projection. Likewise, James seems to be very low on Drew Stubbs. I'm expecting Stubbs to be at least as good as he was in 2010, if not better. On the flip side, I'm not as optimistic about Devin Mesoraco for 2012. I expect great things from the young catcher, but an OPS approaching .800 is a lot to expect from a rookie. I believe Mesoraco is certainly capable of that kind of year, but I find it unlikely.
For the Cards, I expect Jon Jay to be better than these projections suggest. James has Jay's SLG and OBP below his career average. Conversely, I'd be surprised if David Freese put up these numbers. I expect a slight regression from Freese in the power department, and overall wOBA slightly under his 2011 numbers.
Your thoughts?


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- Lawyer for Jill Kelley Says He'll Sue US Attorney in Tampa if Leaks Continue re Petraeus Case
Legal Ethics
Lawyer for Jill Kelley Says He'll Sue US Attorney in Tampa if Leaks Continue re Petraeus Case
Posted Nov 28, 2012 12:52 PM CDT
By Martha Neil
A lawyer representing Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, whose complaint about threatening emails wound up linking her name to a sex scandal that led to David Petraeus' resignation from his position as CIA Director, has threatened to sue the U.S. Attorney in Tampa.
Abbe Lowell wrote in a letter to W. Stephen Muldrow, an Assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, that he may pursue legal action If leaks about Kelley continue. The letter accuses the feds of giving his client's name to the media, among other information. A probe by the FBI determined that the emails to Kelley, who knew high-level military men because she served as a volunteer social coordinator for a military base in Tampa, came from Paula Broadwell, who wrote a biography about Petraeus and, other emails reportedly revealed, had had an affair with the retired four-star U.S. Army general.
"These leaks most certainly had to come, at least in part, from government sources," Lowell wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Post. "I write to ask whether the Department of Justice is investigating these leaks and potential infringements upon the Kelleys' privacy ... as part of its current work."
The Tampa Tribune reports that the U.S. attorney's office in Tampa is meeting Wednesday morning with the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General's Office to determine who should respond to Lowell.
Because the letter doesn't specify who the lawyer thinks may be responsible for the claimed leaking, it isn't clear that his office should be involved, U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill of Tampa told the newspaper. "He does not say our office leaked it. If the leaks did not occur in our office, we have no jurisdiction."
O'Neill said his office would "definitely investigate" if Lowell is alleging leaks by someone local. But if the claimed conduct occurred in Washington, D.C., he said, the investigation would have to take place there.
Meanwhile, the Post reports, Lowell also complained to Florida bar authorities about Barry Cohen, a lawyer who previously represented Kelley and her husband, Scott. Lowell contended that Cohen violated his ethical obligations to his former clients by holding a press conference to discuss them with the media several weeks ago, as the Petraeus scandal was unfolding.
Cohen did not immediately respond Tuesday night to a request for comment from the newspaper. However, the Associated Press reports that he said Tuesday that he hadn't seen Lowell's letter and contended that Kelley has already "lost the battle in the court of public opinion," regardless of what her counsel does now.
"No matter how many high-priced lawyers and publicists she employs, she has been exposed for what she is," Cohen said.
Cohen's law firm formerly employed Kelley's twin sister, Natalie Khawam, who is an attorney, and was later sued by Khawam for alleged breach of contract and sexual harassment. A Tampa Bay Times article provides additional details about the suit and Cohen's reported comments about Kelley.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "Another Woman at the Center of the Petraeus Scandal Has Retained Counsel"
ABAJournal.com: "Attorney Gloria Allred Suits Up for Lawyer in Media Firestorm, Thanks Petraeus Family for Support"
Daily Intel (New York Magazine): "Jill Kelley Launches Fight for Privacy As Pentagon Digs Deeper Into Her Inbox"
New York Times: "Investigation Into General Narrows Look at E-Mail"
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June 3, 2013
I am happy to report that our beloved Elder Ronald Freeman, veteran L.A. Chapter Black Panther Party founding member and deacon in the African Orthodox Church, is doing a lot better. Keep praying for him, 'cause he wants to go home and get to Cuba. Send him cards at All of Us or None, c/o LSPC, 1540 Market St., Suite 490, San Francisco, CA 94102.
April 2, 2010
Set on the banks of the Mississippi during the Civil War, "…and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi" is a poetic journey of forgiveness and redemption inspired by the myth of Demeter and Persephone. This thought-provoking play combines traditional storytelling, gospel music and a wicked sense of humor to create a rich, imaginative world that allows trees to preach, rivers to waltz and Jesus to moonwalk. The run has been extended through April 25.


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GRAPEVINE -- Playing football with his brother, Ben, or video games; these are the things 10-year-old Sam Fleming wants to talk about.
Not cancer.
"I just want to be as normal as I can be," Sam said while hanging out in his younger brother's bedroom at their family's Grapevine home.
Sam's life has been anything but normal since he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer, at the age of four. He takes as many as 15 pills a day. He's fed infant formula through a tube for extra nourishment at night.
"I don't want to talk about treatment and all that," Sam said.
Sam's mother, Linda, said her son has always had a positive attitude despite multiple surgeries, experimental treatments, and trips to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York every eight weeks.
"He was born that way, I tell you," said Linda with a smile. "He is a spirited kid. He just likes to play."
Thursday evening Sam, accompanied by his eight-year-old brother Ben, played the part of grand marshal at the Gift of Light And Snow holiday event held at the Texas Motor Speedway. He flipped the switch on more than two million LED Christmas lights.
"It's pretty fun. I'm glad Sam gets to light it," said Ben, with a supportive pat on his older brother's shoulder.
Ben rode in a pace car right behind big brother Sam. He also received a little taste of the limelight, when so often he's in his brother's shadow, due to Sam's illness.
Neuroblastoma has a very high recurrence rate and kids are never in remission.
"Ben is Sam's best medicine," Linda said. "He plays with him. He's right there with him for everything."
Thursday's event ushers in the holiday season at Texas Motor Speedway. According to a news release, crews have been working for weeks to install more than 600 unique holiday displays.
Besides the lights, there will be Snow Town, a new attraction that includes an outdoor tubing hill and 100 tons of real snow. It opens to the public on Nov. 22 and runs through Jan. 5, 2014.
It benefits the Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth, Tarrant Area Food Bank, and KLTY Christmas Wish.
It's a seasonal event for the speedway, but the Flemings celebrate one holiday all the time.
"Every day for us is a huge Thanksgiving," Linda said. "We are thankful for the people around us, family and friends. Thankful he's here."
The gift of life is worth celebrating all year long.
E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com


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Sandblasted and painted my new 54 blade recently plus added a snow deflector on the top.
It'll be placed back in storage a few more years until needed later on.
Plans are to start a restore on a used second blade this week, all will be blasted with new skids, bell crank, cutter blade and a top snow deflector added.
Not sure just what to do with that one once it's finished, like most restores it's one of those things where you might just brake even if sold....


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Bears offensive lineman J'Marcus Webb has been arrested on drug charges. Webb was arrested in Pulaski County on Sunday evening and charged with possession of controlled substance, cannabis and paraphernalia.
Pulaski County Sheriff Randy Kern says Webb was released on bond on Monday.
The Chicago Bears issued the following statement regarding the arrest of J'Marcus Webb:"We are aware of the recent arrest of J'Marcus Webb in Pulaski County, Illinois. We are currently gathering information to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the arrest."
205 N. Michigan AvenueGround FloorChicago, IL 60601Station Operator: (312) 565-5532Newsroom: (312)565-5533


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The food was a vast improvement over our previous NCL experience. I don't know if that should be attributed to the executive chef on board the Jade or if the improvement is NCL-wide. Although we did dine in two of the specialty restaurants, we could easily have been happy in the regular dining room. The menus and the food were excellent! We were part of a large group and most nights had standing reservations in the same part of the dining room. The staff that served us were excellent. Most memorable was Monika from Romania. She served us with such poise, grace and efficiency. Her customer service went a long way to making the 2 weeks very special.
In other parts of the ship, service was not too hot, though. Some of the wait staff in the Blue Lagoon left a lot to be desired. They seemed more interested in socializing with one another than doing their jobs. Housekeeping was OK. I don't know if our steward came on board midway thru the cruise but, Victor was an absolute joy! We enjoyed his cheery greetings when we passed him in the hallway and on land.
The entertainment was varied and excellent. This is one of the reasons we return to NCL.
The shore excursions were good but pricey. It would be easy to spend as much on shore excursions as it is on the cruise itself. A few times, we ventured out on our own which was OK too. Sadly, I waited too long to try to take advantage of some of the great recommendations made on Cruise Critic. If I had planned earlier, we could have saved a bundle.


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Princess Royal University Hospital maternity unit gets £52,000 Department of Health cash (From News Shopper)
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Princess Royal University Hospital maternity unit gets £52,000 Department of Health cash
10:09am Sunday 3rd February 2013 in Bromley By Robert Fisk, Chief Reporter
BIRTH partners will be able to stay overnight at the Princess Royal University Hospital's maternity unit thanks to a £52,000 cash injection from the Department of Health.
The South London Healthcare NHS Trust is set to use the money to purchase reclining chairs to enable family members to sleep in the ward.
This is set to improve the experience for women, especially when undergoing an induction of labour or following a caesarean section.
And the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich has been given £400,000 to build a birthing centre.
The Trust's chief midwife Donna Ockenden said: "We are delighted to have been granted this money to improve the birthing environment for women.
"The Oasis midwifery-led unit at the Princess Royal Hospital has been a real success and this extra funding will mean that the same facilities will now be available for any parents using the services at Queen Elizabeth."
Comments (5)
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11:37am Sun 3 Feb 13
Polly Staight says...
...Meanwhile the people of Lewisham aren't quite so fortunate.
Bearing in mind that Lewisham is (A) not Tory, and (B) very well endowed with recent arrivals...
This looks like racial discrimination.
I don't suppose the government is racialist is it?
12:40pm Sun 3 Feb 13
DollyG says...
3:06pm Sun 3 Feb 13
beanie59 says...
4:35pm Sun 3 Feb 13
Concerned of Orpington says...
4:10pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Eagles_Man says...
Concerned of Orpington wrote:That depends how far back in history you want to go.
No way does any of this compensate for the closure of Lewisham Maternity Unit. It would seem this government has money to throw around when it suits them but they couldn't bail out SLHT instead of destroying it. With all the money they are spending on the enforced reconfiguration it would have paid off the current debt. Lansley promised to bail us out and then reneged on his promise - they have no consciences and lie through their back teeth.
How about when the DoH promised to cover the PRUH's excessive PFI payments when it was built ... and which party reneged on that promise? Starts with 'L' and ends in 'abour'.
Comments are closed on this article.


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A Gig Harbor man was charged Monday in a weekend crash that seriously injured two of his friends.
Randy Rajkovich, 23, faces two counts of vehicular assault and one count of failure to remain at an injury accident. He was ordered jailed in lieu of $35,000 bail.
Rajkovich was driving a 2001 Dodge Stratus westbound on state Route 302 when he left the roadway and smashed into a tree, according to the Washington State Patrol.
Troopers said he had been drinking before the accident and fled the scene, leaving one of his friends unconscious in the backseat.
A 24-year-old man in the car is in critical condition with a fractured skull, broken ribs and a bleeding brain. A 25-year-old man in the car suffered a broken back.
Rajkovich called his mother after the accident. She then directed troopers to her son, who showed signs of being intoxicated and being hit in the face with an airbag, according to charging papers.
He allegedly told troopers he had been speeding and lost control of the car going around a bend.


text:
Fourteen-year-old Abby Harwood always dreamed of being a high school cheerleader. Her dream came true Friday night.
After 'temporary' paralysis lasts years, neighbors rally for mother
Natalie Crofts | posted Aug 22nd - 7:50pm
Lori Brady's paralysis was sudden and unexpected. Now neighbors trying to raise money for a van so she can drive her kids to activities.
Cheerleaders embrace girl with special needs on team
Natalie Crofts | posted Aug 22nd - 12:35pm
Olivia has dressed up as a cheerleader for almost every Halloween, but Friday she will be donning a real uniform at a football game as a member of her school cheer squad.
Video: Despite rain, lightning, officer helps stranded man
Lindsey Fry, NBC News | posted Aug 22nd - 8:30am
A Florida police officer went above and beyond the call of duty to help a man in a wheelchair stranded in a pounding rain storm, and it was all caught on a dashboard camera.
For one girl, the ice bucket challenge takes on a whole new meaning
Sam Penrod | posted Aug 21st - 9:03pm
Snow College rallied around a sophomore recently diagnosed with ALS.
Starbucks pay-it-forward lasts 11 hours
Alyssa Banks | posted Aug 21st - 6:04pm
A Starbucks in Florida kept a pay-it-forward going for 11 hours on Wednesday.
Teen with rare growth-inducing tumor recovers after surgery
Faith Heaton Jolley | posted Aug 21st - 9:59am
After a 6 feet 6 inches tall, 16-year-old had surgery to remove a rare tumor, a Hurricane community planned a benefit raffle and concert to help with medical costs.
Stranger surprises sick 7-year-old with therapy horse
Tracie Snowder | posted Aug 21st - 9:16am
A mom reached out to strangers to ask for pictures of horses to cheer her ailing daughter and was overwhelmed by the outpouring of gifts from all over the world, including her very own horse.
Bountiful businessman receives unbelievable gift from stranger
Alex Cabrero | posted Aug 21st - 7:55am
A Bountiful man trying to make a living was surprised by the gift from a stranger to help him with his work.
Couple reunited after birth of first child, lengthy immigration process
Natalie Crofts | posted Aug 20th - 8:18pm
Two months after the birth of their first child, a Utah woman was reunited with her husband following a complicated immigration process.
Woman uses texts to convince thief to return van
Faith Heaton Jolley | posted Aug 20th - 7:01pm
A Missouri woman began texting an alleged thief and had her van returned to her.
12-year-old calls 911, saves toddler from choking death
Faith Heaton Jolley | posted Aug 20th - 6:38pm
The quick-thinking and calmness of a 12-year-old girl saved her 2-year-old brother.
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Was the cyclist who killed a pedestrian reckless?
San Francisco's bicycling community is bracing for a backlash following the second recent case of a cyclist hitting and killing a pedestrian, particularly given a callous online posting by someone claiming to be the cyclist, whose 71-year-old victim this week died of injuries sustained a week ago at the intersection of Castro and Market streets.
The case was a hot topic at last night's monthly Carfree Happy Hour, a gathering of cyclists, transportation professionals, and alternative transportation activists, many of whom had unearthed new information about a case they're all grappling with. And the consensus opinion was that the cyclist seemed reckless and may deserve to face criminal charges.
Yet activists also sought to place this case in context, noting that an average of almost three pedestrians are hit by cars everyday in San Francisco, even though that rarely makes headlines. There were 220 pedestrians killed in San Francisco from 2000-2009, the vast majority hit by cars whose drivers rarely faced criminal charges. In fact, the same week that Sustchi Hui was killed there was another pedestrian killed by a motorist and another one by a Muni bus.
But that doesn't lessen the importance of this latest bike-vs.-pedestrian fatality, which is sure to make news precisely because it's so rare, and because it comes just weeks after 23-year-old Randolph Ang pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter for running a red light at Embarcadero and Folsom Street in July 2001, hitting a 68-year-old woman who later died from her head injury.
San Francisco Police Department won't identify the cyclist in the latest incident unless he's charged with a crime, and its investigation is still ongoing, said SFPD spokesperson Albie Esperanza. "It's a tragic accident," he told us, noting that the cyclist was cooperating with the investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the District Attorney's Office will decide whether to bring criminal charges against the cyclist.
Someone who identified himself as Chris Bucchere posted a note on the Mission Cycling Google group on the afternoon of the incident, March 29, describing an accident that apparently took place at the same time and place. And the description that Bucchere gave of the accident is not likely to garner much public sympathy for him (We contacted Bucchere by e-mail and telephone, we're waiting to hear back for him, and we can't independently confirm the authenticity of the message or its contents).
"I wrecked on the way home today from the bi-weekly Headlands Raid today. Short story: I'm fine. The pedestrian I clobbered? Not so much," the message began.
The post then goes on to describe the incident, which matches the details of other reported accounts of the fatal crash: "Around 8 am I was descending Divisidero Street southbound and about to cross Market Street. The light turned yellow as I was approaching the intersection, but I was already way too committed to stop. The light turned red as I was cruising through the middle of the intersection and then, almost instantly, the southern crosswalk on Market and Castro filled up with people coming from both directions. The intersection very long and the width of Castro Street at that point is very short, so, in a nutshell, blammo."
Another member of the Carfree Happy Hour group who is a regular competitive cyclist said that Bucchere was a member of the website strava.com, which tracks minute-by-minute data of cyclists for training purposes. And this source said he was able to use the site to determine that Bucchere was traveling through the intersection – which is at the bottom of a steep hill – at approximately 35 mph at the time of the collision.
Bucchere's message continued: "The quote/unquote 'scene of the crime' was that intersection right by the landmark Castro Theatre – it leads from a really busy MUNI station to that little plaza where The Naked Guy always hangs out. It was commuter hour and it was crowded as all getup. I couldn't see a line through the crowd and I couldn't stop, so I laid it down and just plowed through the crowded crosswalk in the least-populated place I could find.
"I don't remember the next five minutes but when I came to, I was in a neck brace being loaded into an ambulance. I remember seeing a RIVER of blood on the asphalt, but it wasn't mine. Apparently I hit a 71-year old male pedestrian and he ended up in the ICU with pretty serious head injuries. I really hope he ends up OK.
"They asked me a bunch of stupid easy questions that I couldn't answer, so they kept me for a few hours for observation, gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my way.
"Anyway, other than a stiff neck, a sore jaw/TMJ, a few bruises and some raspberries, I'm totally fine. I got discharged from the hospital during the lunch hour. The guy I hit was not as fortunate. I really hope he makes it.
"The cops took my bike. Hopefully they'll give it back.
"In closing, I want to dedicate this story to my late helmet. She died in heroic fashion today as my head slammed into the tarmac. Like the Secret Service would do for a president, she took some serious pavement today, cracking through-and-through in five places and getting completely mauled by the ragged asphalt. May she die knowing that because she committed the ultimate sacrifice, her rider can live on and ride on. Can I get an amen?
"The moral of this little story is: WYFH"
Several members of the newsgroup took issue with the lesson Bucchere claims to have learned : WYFH, or "Wear Your Fucking Helmet." One poster wrote, "I'm not sure that's the moral of the story," to which several others agreed. Another poster wrote: "What were you thinking ? As a 15 year sf resident and a 10 year cyclist and a pedestrian at that intersection every weekday .. I'm kind of embarrassed to wear my mc kit anywhere nearby now. I truly hope you've learned your lesson but I'd have to say this is not the end of the story for you, and yes you should get yourself a lawyer."
Recent studies have shown that San Francisco is a dangerous city for pedestrians, but not as dangerous as many other cities on a per capita basis given our density and high pedestrian populations. A study released in January by the Alliance for Biking & Walking concludes San Francisco has the third highest biking and walking levels among major US cities, but ranks eighth in bicycle and pedestrian fatality rates.
A 2011 study by the group Transportation for America, "Dangerous by Design," analyzed factors associated with pedestrian deaths – some of which seem to be at play in this case – and concluded, "Especially when combined with unsafe street and road design, vehicle speed presents a deadly threat to pedestrians."
Amen! I totally agree with you. I think cycling is a great transportation alternative, but the cyclists in this town are straight-up reckless. Every time I cross the street having the right-of-way, I come across a cyclist who cuts me off, nicks me, crashes into me, or ignores that I'm even in the crosswalk. They want cars to treat them like they are cars themselves (sharing the road, etc.) but don't want to obey the basic rules of the road! They ignore the fact that pedestrians always have the right-of-way, ignore that stop signs actually mean "stop", and that red lights mean that there *will* be a flow of traffic (car, bus, bike and foot) crossing their paths. Sorry, as much as cyclists deny that the guy who hit the pedestrian on Castro isn't like them - that he's an exception - it's a weak argument. Their presumptuous behavior gives them away.
It's not about lowering a carbon footprint, it's about someone not wanting to be inconvenienced and have to use brakes a stop at red lights.
The "I couldn't stop." bullshit means inadequate operating equipment, or an errant operator. I' bet on the latter.
It's not about lowering a carbon footprint, it's about someone not wanting to be inconvenienced and have to use brakes a stop at red lights.
The "I couldn't stop." bullshit means inadequate operating equipment, or an errant operator. I' bet on the latter.
God help one of these boneheads, if they run over, cut off, or flip off one of the well known group of leather wearing harley riding folks in the bay area
You do realize that the way to reduce this behavior is actually to avoid marginalizing it, right?
Stockholm and Copenhagen maybe don't have these issues, but it's also because the cities have given them safety protection (like designated bikeways and bike traffic lights), clear laws (that aren't always the same as cars), and a supportive biking infrastructure.
All of those 3 seem to be termed "bike mafia trying to take over San Francisco," when in fact mainstreaming biking is precisely how you reduce the issues you've described.
When a minority community feels isolated or threatened, dissonance occurs, and generally leads to negative consequences.
There are many cyclists who follow the rules, share the road, and are generally polite and courteous. Then there are the elitists that give the negative image that becomes associated with all cyclists. There are many drivers who follow the rules, share the road and are generally polite and courteous. Then there are the road ragers, to which I sometimes belong. I find the lack of attention and awareness of drivers ultimately frustrating as they place the responsibility of saftey and concern onto another, just like elitist cyclists. The number of gears you have doesn't determine the quality of your person, if you choose not to employ mechanical advantages, that is your decision.
The point is that we are all people and we should all follow all rules. The fact that more pedestrians are hit by cars than bicycles, does not excuse the cyclist. The ability to escape does not remove your responsibility as a person and a citizen. When I drive, I expect the other cars on the road to behave in a certain way, as required by law. I expect the same of cyclists, this is HOW we share the road.
It is so rare to see a cyclist wait at a red light or stop at a stop sign that I generally notice it. Pretty much every other time I see them stop/slow down then go when the coast is clear, generally when the light is still red. Rolling stops at stop signs are actually rare- I generally just see them slow down to check the intersection.
If I have the right of way and end up forcing the cyclist to come to a full stop and wait his/her turn, I get the nasty look or the finger.
Funny, I'm a daily bike commuter as well as a driver in the city. I yield right of way to all pedestrians, and to cars that are already at the intersection. I also see most of my fellow cyclists do the same thing, every day. I commute through the busiest parts of the city, all the time. I'm guilty of the occasional "rolling stop" at stop signs when the intersection is empty, but that's about it.
While I see some cyclists behave badly, this "majority" of law breakers you people are on here ranting about, in my experience, does not exist.
Likewise when I'm in my car driving through the hotbeds of cycling hooliganism, as you'd like people to believe, when I'm at a stop and ready to proceed cyclists almost always stop and yield right of way. Every once in a while it doesn't pan out that way.
Bad behavers are out there, by they are the minority.
Self-serving rubbish. 98% of cyclists don't respect road rules, not even close. This chap Bucherre is you, he is 98% of you at least.
Amen. Couldn't say it better. I don't care if bicyclists do whatever they want at stop signs and stop lights as long as they don't interfere with a car's or pedestrian's right of way. I am guessing something like 90-99% of all bike traffic rule-breaking doesn't involve anyone getting pissed off or confused. If a stop sign intersection is empty of traffic and pedestrians (and a biker can see that quite easily), there is no reason the biker should be expected to stop - it's not as easy for them to just hit the gas, you know.
Yet, so many people are clamoring for bikers to obey all traffic rules just like cars do! I wouldn't want bikers to do that around me when I'm driving - it would just confuse me. I would rather they be the small fish that swim next to the large whales and worry about their own safety while I worry about mine. In return, I promise to ALWAYS signal my intent and not be so sharky about my parking habits.
Also, why is it that we never hear of the reverse of this story? I mean, if bikers hit pedestrians all the time, wouldn't it be, you know, beneficial to the "arrogant biker" situation to give media coverage to gruesome aftermaths of a bicyclist's failure to follow traffic rules? And the subsequent acquittal of the motor vehicle operator?
"Yet activists also sought to place this case in context, noting that an average of almost three pedestrians are hit by cars everyday in San Francisco, even though that rarely makes headlines."
The context being, "we are entitled"
Someone is dead and we don't want the cops to crack down on our bad actors.
I've ridden in the city since 1990, the entitled bike riders are amazing. Every time I see one of these life style choice bike riders I cringe because I don't want the cops to start handing out tickets for petty things because of these "extreme" riders.
The SFBC, the critical massholes and the whining Steve Jones types are shit for bikes in this city.
Go away hipsters and carpet baggers.
If he entered the intersection legally at the speed limit in a yellow, then he had the right to complete his transit through the intersection. Pedestrians are not supposed to legally enter the crosswalk until all traffic legally in the intersection has cleared.
He had two choices: either slow down and risk being hit by an auto on Market Street or speed up and try to make it past the crosswalk as is his legal right before the peds began to cross.
This situation happens all the time at 4th/Stockton and Market, where the intersection on Market is so long and the strong winds from the west slow cyclists down that you can enter the intersection heading west from the east on the green and pass the west crosswalk on the red. I've often got to thread the needle by biking on the yellow center stripe on Market to avoid pedestrians who do not look both ways before they cross when the light turns green.
Every single day many times a day I have to take evasive action, often dangerous in its own right, to avoid illegal and deadly behavior by motorists. In order to stay alive and in one piece, I've got to look around and always be aware of my surroundings, road surface conditions, autos buses and other bikes so that I always have an escape route. Pedestrians need to be doing the same thing in the Big Dangerous City. That is not just a good idea, it is, in fact, the law.
Either bicycles are vehicular traffic and we are entitled to all rights and responsibilities of an auto or we are not and we get to ride on the sidewalk when we want to. Cars are noisy and visible and peds rarely enter the crosswalk until a car that has entered the intersection on yellow passes. Cyclists are silent and small, a tiny bell pinging would not have been sufficient in this case.
That peds do not do what every 4 year old is taught--look both ways before crossing the street--means peds need some education as well. But that will not stop the piling onto cyclists, our advocates are in over their heads in promoting our interests, apparently have the Stockholm Syndrome and are becoming the pedestrian coalition. Already, motorists are emboldened and treating cyclists even crappier.
If he was riding a fixed gear bike without brakes, he's toast.
Marcos the defender of wife batterers and bicyclists that kill pedestrians knowingly.
I guess this is what they call a slippery slope? You guys are sliding down at mach speed.
First the near constant droning of coverage over Mirkarimi discussing every single angle of the situation besides anything that involves personal culpability of Mirkarimi.
Now we have the question of a bike rider who killed a pedestrian who blogged about it (confirmed in the chronicle and by the DA) - was he being reckless? Was he being CAREFUL?
This preceding post by Marcos is disgusting. Imaginary dangers : " either slow down and risk being hit by an auto on Market Street" are read into the story in order to manufacture some sympathy for the asshole who ran down a pedestrian and signed off his blog post about it with a tribute to his helmet.
And the other posters whose sole line of defense is citing how frequently cars kill pedestrians.
Yep, I support wives beating up and battering assholes like you.
Because its fun to make fun of domestic violence in order to make a point on the web.
Classy guy you are.
If you are on a bike pay attention to the world around you.
If you are coming up to an intersection on your bike and you are not sure you can make the light, slow down.
Why are you making excuses for this guy?
You are basically trying to justify the death of the pedestrian. First if he was in fact going 35 MPH at the bottom of the hill- that would seem to indicate that he was speeding- coming down the hill where the light is. By going to fast to stop for said yellow light and entering the VERY large intersection which he knew would take him time to cross he effectively caused the accident. Cyclists are people too and they make mistakes and it sounds like this guy did. The bike mafia would come across better if they were to admit it that cyclists are not always perfect.
That hill is moderately steep by SF standards. Most bikes don't go faster than 25mph. You've got to have certain sized wheels that are in good condition to go faster than that. And you need time to get up to that speed which on a bike means distance.
The limiting factor is not so much any of those factors as it is crappy condition of the pavement. At speeds over 25mph, any imperfection in the pavement can send you flying. After losing a chunk of shoulder flesh due to crappy pavement on the 8th Street bike land at Mission, I swapped out my 700c wheels for 26", as is possible with disc brakes, both to slow down max speed as well as to provide for a sturdier ride that can handle crappy pavement.
That said, I can still keep up with traffic at speed on Oak from Stanyan to Steiner, center striping it through the Divisadero signal and actually beating auto traffic at its own game. I can't get going faster than 23mph on that straight away.
that you can enter it safely. So if you find that you are in a position where you have to hit a pedestrian to avoid being hit by a car, then you are guilty of showing poor judgment in entering that junction at that time and speed, and in those road conditions.
Your attempt to blame cars for that pedestrians tragic death is typical of the arrogance of bike activists.
Nonsense, the law is unambiguous that pedestrians must allow the intersection to clear before leaving the curb.
I just biked from the Mission to the FD. Four times I had to take evasive action to save life and limb. Once I even had to wait for a cyclist to pass through the intersection on the yellow. Did I lollygag through the intersection oblivious? Of course not, I looked both ways before proceeding.
Did any of the motorists look both ways before cutting me off when I was cycling legally? Of course not.
Bicyclists are traffic and traffic is allowed to enter the intersection on the yellow. End of story, unless he was riding a fixie with no brakes, he did not commit a crime. Cars do this all the time and pedestrians accommodate them. Pedestrians must learn to accommodate bicycles making legal traffic movements as well. They do otherwise at their own risk and peril, not to mention putting legal cyclists at risk of injury or death.
Go away before a law abiding cyclist drops a bicycle on you.
he/she can respond to a change. The car in front may slam on his brakes, a vehicle may swerve in your path or a dog or child may run out into the road. You drive accordingly, so must ride a bike accordingly as well.
Don't enter a junction unless your exit is clear.
The real problem here is that, absent formal testing, cyclists quite simply do not understand the rules of the road. Marcos, you are clearly living proof of this as you are talking nonsense here.
Right, autos know to only drive at safe speeds, that is why none of them ever hit, injure and kill pedestrians and cyclists. Do you read this crap before you hit 'submit?'
The junction WAS most likely clear on the yellow, it did not congest until the cyclist was legally in the intersection and the peds got the walk signal. They entered the crosswalk before the intersection had cleared just like they do on 4th and Market every day.
cyclists who blow through red lights at excessive speeds, can then not adjust to changing events, and end up killing someone.
I'm sorry, marcos, but I'm not going to join you on the limb you climbed out on in defending this cyclist. If his description and the strava data are true, his actions are indefensibly wrong. For one thing, if he was really doing 35 mph then he was probably entering the intersection on a red and not yellow light, as he claims. But even it was yellow, his actions were wrong and his description made me cringe. What responsible cyclist would, by his own account, plunge at full speed into a crowd of crossing pedestrians and hope to catch a narrow opening? I certainly wouldn't, and I'm not the most law-abiding of cyclists out there. I'm willing to wait before rushing to judgment, but if these facts are borne out then we should condemn this bevavior instead of condoning it.
berating Marcos on his blinkered, self-serving pro-bike agenda.
Steven, I was just at 17th and Castro yesterday for the ACTUP 25th celebration and was checking out the hill in question. The crest is at States Street not 16th, which means there are 250 or so feet of < 10% slope involved. I asked one of the cops who was there if it would be easy for a bike to get to 35mph in that distance, he eyeballed it with me and it was not a slam dunk for him either.
It is questionable whether a GPS device could take sufficient samples in 250' at any speed to ascertain a velocity. To take GPS samples at that rate, they are power expensive, on a ride to and from Marin would have long since exhausted a smart phone battery before he got to Castro and Market. Muni vehicles, for instance, generally report their positions every 90 seconds via GPS. I've programmed the iPhone for applications like this and watched power consumption levels through benchmarks.
Had he run a red light as you assert, then there would have been motorists on Market Street entering the intersection legally as cross traffic and the pedestrians would have likely been the least of his problems. If the peds could not have seen the cyclist, then it follows that the motorists on Market would not have either and there would have been contention there before the cross walk which does not appear to be the case.
Harm reduction is a valid approach given a slate of crappy options, in situations like this decisions must be made in split seconds. I gave the case of the drunkard on Union Street who was crossing against the red light and who doubled back on me and essentially broadsided my bike. I would never use my bike to intentionally hurt someone, but successfully held myself back from using my U Lock to teach him a lesson so that he might avoid future stupidity.
Once when I was biking east on 16th at Dolores when the sun was low in the sky one afternoon, a befuddled geezer in a gargantuan caddy turned from 16th south onto Dolores and cut me off as I was entering the intersection. There is no speed to practically bicycle where one can avoid such a situation where someone else acts stupidly. I was biking at speed down the slight slope, say 20mph and found myself with two choices: be front ended by him and wind up seriously injured or do what they tell you not to do in traffic safety school: bear to the left, possibly into oncoming traffic, and then bear quickly right to side swipe his caddy so that the force of impact is spread across a wider area. I chose the latter, I was not injured, my bike took off the decorative trim on that side of his caddy and suffered no damage itself, and the befuddled geezer was oblivious to what transpired and drove off confused. The decision process took less than a second, there are no chances to second guess yourself in these cases.
Yeah, Steven, sometimes life deals you a crappy hand and you've got to make the most of it which sucks. The easy answer is: look both ways before crossing. Once I tried to cross without looking and almost got hit by a car as a kid. I protested to my mom that I had the ROW. She told me that it doesn't matter if you have the ROW if you're dead. This is what human beings learn as tots. Perhaps it does not make sense to follow those who are oblivious to their surroundings with ear buds blasting music when it comes to putting yourself in harm's way.
I love how this thread has become an ersatz biography for the life of Marc Salomon.
Tell us more Marc! Tell us about your childhood! As I'm sure you'd agree, I simply cant be the only one who is on the egde of their seat waiting for the next installment.
He'd trade any and all progress on key issues for 15 minutes on Oprah.
Who is Oprah?
Far be it for any first-hand experiences to get in the way of a yet another politicized lynching by reference to misconduct of others.
Perhaps I was fortunate to have parents that taught me enough to not get killed when navigating the myriad dangers of the Big City.
Continue to live in a special world where whatever victims are deemed WORTHY are given all sorts of contorted consideration and whoever is deemed UNWORTHY is given no quarter and demonized.
I am amazed that since Mr. Hui was a WORTHY victim that the mob is not demanding that his parents be posthumously indicted for child endangerment for not teaching him to look both ways before crossing.
Anymore than a cell phone is. A cell phone is constantly switching BSTs and transmitting its position as it does so. It can do so for days without draining all of its power. Even if you switch your phone to "pull" and are constantly bringing down your email etc... your device will still last for longer than 12 hours. A GPS unit is no different and indeed is much less data intensive than an iPhone pulling down tons of megabytes - GPS is simply transmitting using the same technology.
Please stop using this excuse - it's patently false.
Marcos- So what you are saying is that the pedestrians were fair game. You are disgusting. Try this "logic" on me when I'm in a cross walk and I will closeline you.
Yes, when I am on my bike and I think that a pedestrian is an anonymous troll on a chat board named 'Guest,' I point at the ped and speed up. Works like a charm every time.
A vehicle had just made a left turn from Italy Avenue onto Mission Street when it struck the 41-year-old woman, who had apparently stepped out from in between two parked cars in an area outside of the crosswalk, according to police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza.
Why was this car driver unable to respond to this change?
No, that is not the law. A person riding a contraption that can cause serious injury or death to another person has a heightened duty of responsibility. Even if you have the right of way, it does not lawfully give you the right to take it if doing so will result in your injuring someone. For example, if I have a green light and I am driving a car, and a pedestrian who has a stop pedestrian signal ignores it and runs out in the street, it is ILLEGAL for me to proceed and risk hitting the person, even though I have the right of way. Now, if I don't see the pedestrian, and I was paying attention and not reasonably expecting someone to ignore the crosswalk sign and jump in front of me, then I would not be in the wrong.
So, if you are saying that if he was abiding all rules of the law and he did NOT see the pedestrian and had no way to stop when he did, then yes, he would not be negligent. But, his posted account suggests he was riding at an unsafe speed, knew he was approaching an intersection where people would be crossing and chose not to slow down. He will soon have plenty of time to think about his decisions as he sits in a jail cell.
This article is about the needless death of a pedestrian at the hands of a reckless cyclist.
It is NOT about what streets you use to commute, how fast you can go, the rims on your bike, etc.
What is wrong with you?
wrong than when he is trying to rationalize vehicular homicide and wife beating.
There was neither "wife beating" nor "vehicular homicide" involved in either of these cases.
convicted of DV-related crimes AND to a cyclist killing a pedestrian.
It's starting to show a pattern.
You are correct, I should just jump on the bandwagon and do whatever the Chronicle tells me to.
This is about pedestrian carelessness and not looking both ways before entering a crosswalk. Contention for scarce streetscape resources happens everywhere all the time. Most people know what to do in order to stay healthy, uninjured and alive, and that is to obey the law.
Folks break the law all the time. You are saying that autos get a pass and that pedestrians get a pass. But the rules must be applied strictly to cyclists.
I'm giving you examples of what cyclists must do in order to stay safe, to stay alive. We're not asking of peds and motorists anything we're not willing to do ourselves. I just did that four times this morning. Had I not, you all would have blamed me for not biking defensively as I lay injured or dying.
does not give a cyclist immunity from plowing into him or her.
Pedestrians always have priority over other road users. You can't kill a pedestrian and get away with it just because technically he shouldn't be there.
You should ALWAYS ride your bike anticipating events that might happen and, if you cannot, then you are riding too fast.
He drunkenly admitted that he was at fault, you are wrong.
Since he was drunk, there was no question, you are wrong.
If pedestrians always had priority over road users, then there would be no such violation as jaywalking.
the wrong way down a one way street, as they do, I am free to mow him down with impunity?
By your logic, pedestrians can do no wrong, and everyone else should just stay put because you never know when something might happen. I call bullshit.
Great to hear you are not asking of anyone anything you would not willingly do yourself. I can therefor assume you would support a bicycle licensing requirement where all bikes to be operated on city streets are inspected and held to safety standards, license tags are displayed prominently in order to aid in enforcement and cyclists applying for a license for their bike are required to show proof of liability insurance as well as passing both written and observed road tests to ensure they are aware of relevant traffic laws and safety standards. That's what every driver has to do. I'm glad to see an SF cycling advocate supporting such a program that could impact public safety in a responsible way
That is what you meant, right?
Of course not. The legal system worked for the case at Embarcadero and Folsom where the cyclist was legally at fault and I trust that it will work in this case where the pedestrians left the curbside illegally before the intersection was clear of legal traffic.
More burdensome government regulation is the last thing we need here.
But only when he is the one facing regulation, of course.
Laws are for others, right?
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As you build your list of sources for a course project or assignment, Reference is the part of the Collection often searched first. These are electronic and print sources that provide background information, e.g. encyclopedias, and specific points of information, e.g. data handbooks, dictionaries, biographical sources, and atlases. Reference books are located on the Library second floor.
The Library of Congress classification number (or "call number" for short) is the alphanumeric system used for shelf location of books and reference books. Some books will be classed in TD, some in GB and elsewhere. Reference books have REF preceding the call number, located near the Research & Information Desk on the second floor, where reference librarians will assist you. Books that circulate from the Library have Library Book before the call number. Library Book A-H is third floor, J-Z is fourth floor. An electronic source will have Internet Resource before the call number and be accessed by computer.
Library sources for the subjects of water and hydrology follow on the next pages. They are divided into five categories: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, Handbooks and Atlases, Databases, Government Documents, and Websites.
One of the best places to check definitions of terms and to start background reading is Access Science, which will be described under the Databases category. The reference sources below are often specific to one area and are called subject dictionaries or subject encyclopedias. These sources have abundant graphics to illustrate points of information. Background reading in a subject encyclopedia will focus your research and provide specifics to pursue. The last title on this list is an electronic book of encyclopedic arrangement, so type the title in Library Catalog, click on the title, then access via the "click here" icon.
REF GB 855 .A46 1985 Dictionary of Water Chemistry.
REF GB 655 .E53 1998X Encyclopedia of Hydrology and Water Resources.
REF GC 9 .E57 2001 Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences.
REF GB 655 .N38 2003 Encyclopedia of Water.
REF GB 655 .G56 1998 Glossary of Hydrology.
REF TD 365 .G56 1995x Glossary of the Great Lakes: a Minnesota Perspective.
REF TD 426 .M66 2000 Groundwater Chemicals Desk Reference.
REF QC 851 .W6445 International Glossary of Hydrology.
REF TD 345 .W39 2005 Water Encyclopedia.
Internet Resource REF GB 655 .W38 2003eb Water: Science and Issues.
In topical order rather than encyclopedic (alphabetical) order, handbooks vary in content. Some are manuals of methods and other text; some are numerical: charts, diagrams, and tables of data; some are a combination of the two. In library research, this category of information source often is used after the introduction to the subject by dictionaries and encyclopedias. Numerical data and lab methods in handbooks are useful for short assignments and term papers. They have a long history since the Renaissance, when the need was to publish basic information on a subject in one book that fit into a saddlebag for easy travel. An atlas can be centered on water bodies as well as on landforms.
REF TD 345 .S65 2002 Freshwater Issues: a Reference Handbook.
REF G 1107 .G7 G7 1995 Great Lakes: an Environmental Atlas and Resource Book.
REF TD 403 .M66 1995X Groundwater, a Primer.
REF GB 662.5 .M35 1993 Handbook of Hydrology.
REF TD 388 .V53 2001 Handbook of Water Use and Conservation.
REF QC 861.3 .P67 2003 Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Atmospheric Chemistry, Hydrology, and Societal Impacts.
REF GB 1001.72 .M32 S770 1995X Hydrogeological Maps: a Guide and a Standard Legend.
REF TD 367 .R8613 1999 Laboratory Manual for the Examination of Water, Waste Water, and Soil.
REF GB 1215 .P29 1994 Rivers of the United States.
REF TD 351 .V36 1990 Water Encyclopedia. [a compendium of data tables, not an encyclopedia]
REF TD 223 .M53 1992 Water Quality and Availability: a Reference Handbook.
On the Library homepage, if you click on Databases, the entire list is retrieved, including two assortment databases, Academic Search Premier and Academic OneFile, that offer subject access to periodical articles on all academic subjects. A selection of some periodicals on water and hydrology is part of these two databases. In exchange for wide academic coverage, depth of coverage is limited. For depth of coverage in specific subjects, other databases from geography, geological sciences, environmental studies, etc. are included below. Over half of the articles in Academic Search Premier (ASP) and Academic OneFile (AOF) are full-text. They are starting points to build a list of articles.
Access Science is the electronic version of McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Similar to ASP and AOF, Access Science has encyclopedia articles (marked with an E), as well as dictionary definitions (marked with a D), research updates (marked with a R), and biographies (marked with a B). New articles are regularly added.
For a news approach to water and hydrology, NewsStand is a full-text database for over 250 newspapers. Dissertations & Theses retrieves abstracts (paragraph summaries) and partial full-text for doctoral dissertations. Annual Reviews is a full-text database that retrieves articles from a group of periodicals that are published once per year. WorldCat is a citations database for the tens of millions of books, media, and other publications catalogued in libraries around the world.
The databases mentioned so far retrieve periodical article citations and/or full-text from either an assortment of periodicals or from mainly one type of source, e.g. annuals or newspapers. On the Library homepage, if you click on Databases by Subject, the entire list of Databases is divided into its academic subjects. For water and hydrology, the primary Databases by Subject to retrieve are:
Environmental Studies Geography Geological Sciences
There may be research topics that need to utilize the databases in Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physics, and Urban and Regional Studies. But the three above connect to databases that cover a wide range of topics comprehensively and with scholarly content.
Focus on the following databases for comprehensive coverage in the three academic subjects mentioned above. You will retrieve citations and abstracts of articles. Note the FindIt icon next to the citations in your answer set. FindIt will link to full-text for that citation, if available in any of our databases. If not, arrow down on the FindIt screen to Library Catalog and click on it. FindIt then searches Library Catalog to see if it is in print form on the periodical shelves (2000-present on the third floor, pre-2000 in the Annex, connected to the second floor).
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management Geobase GeoRef Water Resources Abstracts
Many periodicals, plus proceedings, reports, maps, and theses, are indexed by these databases, so many publishers are covered. Yet there is a different type of database, typically from one or a limited number of publishers, but offering full-text of their periodicals. Use the following electronic journal and e-book databases to continue your research.
ENVIROnetBASE JSTOR Nature.com NetLibrary Project Muse Science ScienceDirect SpringerLink Wiley InterScience ENGnetBASE CHEMLIBnetBASE
Since all databases use boolean operators, if your topic has multiple keywords (nouns, concepts), use the advanced search feature in each database (some are already in that mode as default) and type one keyword per box. The boolean operator "AND" should be in place to intersect terms so the result has all keywords.
An important form of information in water and hydrology is government documents. UMD Library has been a depository for Minnesota (state) documents since 1979 and United States (federal) documents since 1985. Whereas documents were in print, media (e.g. CDs) and microfiche for decades, the advent of electronic sources, i.e. databases and websites, has expanded the time coverage of our documents collection. UMD Library receives approximately forty percent of federal government documents that are available to the depository system. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are two important producers of federal documents on water and hydrology topics.
On the Library homepage, Library Catalog in Advanced Search mode, where you can limit to government documents, will access our federal collection. Use Databases by Subject, then click on Government and Law, to access the indexes for Minnesota and U.S. government documents, which are:
Minnesota Northstar GPO Access (Catalog of U.S. Government Publications is a general index in it)
Library Catalog will provide citations to U.S. government documents in a variety of formats: print (library second floor), CD (library first floor media desk), microfiche (library third floor), and websites (full-text links by clicking on URLs with the word purl in the internet address). GPO Access also has full-text links. It is a group of many government databases in alphabetical order.
GeoRef is an important Database in addition to Minnesota Northstar and GPO Access. Of the many government document series that it indexes, one important series is Water-Resources Investigations. UMD Library has an extensive collection of these water and hydrology site studies. In print form on the Library second floor, their government documents number begins I 19.42/4: with numbers continuing to the right of the colon that indicate the specific site study. GeoRef indexes these documents, with the text, maps, diagrams, and charts of many of them also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/
The USGS is moving its publications to electronic format and two websites in particular should be tracked for this progress and for description of the several water and hydrology series produced.
USGS Water Resources of the United States publications
The homepage for USGS Water Resources of the United States and two examples of important links:
USGS Water Data for the Nation
USGS Ground Water Information Pages
Two important US EPA websites are:
EPA Ground Water & Drinking Water
EPA Drinking Water Academy Electronic Workshop
There are many national and local water research organizations, often part of educational institutions. Listed below are a representative group of their websites. The first three are quite famous.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Water Science & Technology Board (National Academy of Sciences)
University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute
University of Minnesota Department of Soil, Water, and Climate
Institute of Water Research (Michigan State University)
State of Washington Water Research Center
Water Resources Research Center (University of Massachusetts)
National Drinking Water Clearinghouse (West Virginia University)
University Council on Water Resources (Southern Illinois University)
Water Resources Research Center (University of Arizona)
Water in the City (Franklin Institute, Philadelphia)
Water Pollution and Society (U. of Michigan)
Water Resources Center Archives (U. of California-Berkeley Library)
Updated March 2008 by Tom Zogg
Maintained by Pam Enrici


text: Swearing age-old oath, Obama steps into second term By DAVID ESPO Monday, January 21th, 2013 Text size: A A A Tweet Back To Story President Obama takes the oath of office at the official swearing-in ceremony in the Blue Room of the White House Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. Administering the oath is Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts (not shown). Holding the Bible is first lady Michele Obama. (AP Photo/ The New York Times, Doug Mills, Pool)


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Brandt: Te'o's draft stock could plummet further
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Leaky in the Potter Park, Part 1!Events
Again, PotterCast and Leaky were in the new Harry Potter park today and have a ton to share - here's part one of the excursion. Enjoy!
Again, PotterCast and Leaky were in the new Harry Potter park today and have a ton to share - here's part one of the excursion. Enjoy!
I am so jealous
It's look awsome
I will probably be maxing out the credit cards here. Want one of everything and some to take home to special friends that can not afford to make the trip. OMG am soooooooo excited it looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really want to go now after seeing the video.
OMG!!! YOU GUYS ARE THERE!!! YOU ARE ACTUALLY THERE!!!! HOW EXCITING!!! i cant wait to go!!!
I was following you guys allday yesterday!! my hand was glued to my phone so i wouldnt miss a tweet!!!
Oh man, I wish I could have been there! Only a month and a half! And my friend Gwynogg'srabbit was at the pottercast and she said it was the best time!
I liked the response to the fact that Honeydukes was out of chocolate frogs…"Son of a motherless goat!"
I have to save money for LeakyCon! And so do you all "i won't go" people1 LeakyCon is a year away so we still have time!
Lol Melissa has been there before right…? I guess it takes a few times to realize that you're there.
Also, i loved how there were people wearing Gryffindor/Hufflepuff scarfs /ties!
Awesome :) Hope to go in the next few years
This is like so awesome!
i got so excited i nearly barfed… I'm going there this summmer!!! and i really realllly wish we had a Leaky Day where the only people allowed in were members of the leaky cauldron:) and we'd all be able to get there too! on broomsticks or some muggle contraption…
Lucky, lucky, lucky!
cant wait to go
If the park is not opening to the public until June 19th. Who are all those people there?
I liked the interview with an employee in the end! So nice! :)


text:
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Scifi Author Needs Answer to Question
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Jan14-13, 06:50 PM
!Hi. I am currently writing a short story and need a few questions answered.
1. How could a spacecraft travelling at 10% the speed of light be slowed down?
2. Is such a high velocity practical for a spacecraft staying within the same solar system? My story is set within a colonized solar system. Suppose a spacecraft were to launch from earth to a colony near Saturn. Is a craft this fast a problem?
I write "soft" scifi (which focuses primarily on character-driven plot, as opposed to "hard" scifi, which often integrates real science as a major component of the storytelling), so it doesn't have to be a well thought out reply. It's only a brief scene in the beginning, but the last thing I want to do is throw a scientifically-mimded reader off!
Thanks for reading my post.
Jan14-13, 07:16 PM
b. Hit something. (If by slow down you mean "turned into a world-ending nuke".)
Jan14-13, 07:17 PM
Welcome to physics forums, Kam. I think there's a Sci-fi thread in this forum, probalby best to post there.
Jan15-13, 04:51 AM
Scifi Author Needs Answer to Question
Use a "Casimir Dark Boundary Drive". This system modifies a "Drive Plate" so that there is a nano-scale gap between it and the "Dark Energy Field" that pervades the Galaxy. This produces thrust via a repulsive Casimir Effect. You could also include enhanced thrust via amplification of Dark Energy negative acceleration described by the Einstein-Korobov String Rotation theorem (no such thing, AFAIA, but SF is full of invented theories so no worries there). You haven't got just deceleration to worry about, there is manoeuvring as well, but fortunately, you can place Drive Plates at various points around the vessel. However, you appear to have another problem in that to achieve 0.1 c at around the (Earth-Saturn) half-way point then I estimate you'll need to be pulling around 58 g for a total duration of ~ 42 hrs, which means you'll need "inertial compensators" to avoid squashing the crew (standard SF equipment, so you're OK there - none in reality yet) unless you keep it slightly more real and restrict acceleration to around 1 g, which gives a top speed of around 0.0125 c and about 14 days travel time. (Get somebody to check the figures ... I'm fond of missing out the odd power of 10 here and there.)
... that was just a top-of-the-head idea and was immediately followed by my recalling the last part of Ecclesiastes 1:9 (Нет ничего нового под солнцем or je pa' ghaH ghobe' chu' Doch bIng the pemHov in the original Klingon) and, sure enough, there are Casimir drives out there according to Google - although the ones I glanced at appear to use the Casimir effect for warp drives not standard inertial in-system drives ... you may be in luck for using a side-effect of the drive for inertial compensation as well!
Jan15-13, 06:28 AM
If its soft science fiction just use a technobabble explanation like nemo has above, it's nonsense but its not the focus so it doesn't matter. However bare in mind what Drakkith said about how long it would take to get to said speed, I think at 1G acceleration it would take around a month to get to 0.1c and in that time you would cover about 45 trillion kilometres, around 6500 times the distance between Pluto and the sun. If you want to lower that distance you'll have to up the acceleration but to get to anything useful (I.e. less than solar system sizes) you're probably going to have to up it to hundreds/thousands of G.
As with all SF, very hard or very soft, you should explore the full ramifications of your speculative plot devices to make sure they are consistent and don't break the story. Anything above 20gs for a significant amount of time is deadly to a human so you're going to need to throw in a workaround for that acceleration like inertial negation or crew uploaded to computers.
Other things you're going to have to consider is Jon's Law/Burnside's Advice. The technology to propel spacecraft at significant fractions of the speed of light means that doomsday devices are now common place. Consider that a 1000 tonne spacecraft (just over twice the mass of the international space station) travelling at 0.1c has a kinetic energy of 4.5e20 joules which is 2000 times more powerful than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever built. Crank it up a bit and instead of a ship bolt one of these SuperDrives to a 100m3 block of ice and you've got a weapon more powerful than the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. The implications here are problematic, let in super propulsion to your setting and suddenly every spacecraft is a potential weapon of mass destruction. That poses serious problems for any science fiction setting with mass civilian space travel.
Lastly the problem of energy rears its head: if your 1000 tonne ship can gain 4.5e20 joules of kinetic energy where did that energy come from? Assuming an impossible near perfect energy to momentum device you'd have to plug in at least those 4.5e20 joules which is the mass-energy equivalent of 100 tonnes. Now your hypothetical reactor is a weapon of ultra mass destruction as well...
You could just ignore all this and focus and hope that readers won't pick up on it but in my experience science fiction readers are quite voracious in how they pick apart settings. That doesn't mean don't do it by all means but it might be good to carefully put in place reasonable limitations to the plot devices you use.
Jan19-13, 07:31 AM
1. You can take a "ripped from the headlines" approach and assume that the White-Juday warp-field interferometer experiment is a success and a fully functional White-Juday-Alcubierre warp field generator was eventually built into most starships, allowing for quick travel between locations without even worrying about acceleration issues. The original paper has good descriptions of theoretical future trips. Since it is soft SF, you can assume that all the other issues are fixed as well without explanation.
2. There aren't many issues with using the warp bubble at subluminal "velocities", since the travelers experience the same proper time and distance inside the bubble as the original reference frame before the bubble was initiated. They don't even experience acceleration.
Jan19-13, 07:46 PM
The Casimir Effect itself is "Present Day" theory and includes repulsive as well as attractive forces.
Dark Energy is currently thought to represent ~73% of the total mass-energy in the Universe and also falls into the "Present Day" category.
Nano-scale technology is real and in use.
The speculative element of the drive is the existence of device that allows the Casimir effect to take place at some boundary between our normal mass-energy dimension and the dark energy field. Many SF stories explicitly name the underlying future theories that allow the technology / effect they are using; the "Einstein-Korobov String Rotation" theorem is such a story device and hints at both general relativity and string theory, with the drive name perhaps implying a Domain Wall involvement.
As also mentioned, the Casimir effect is also a mechanism that has been looked at in relation to wormholes (eg, http://arxiv.org/pdf/hep-th/0510232v2.pdf ). See this paper from NASA's Eagleworks ... http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20110023492 which links to http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/ca...2011024705.pdf for some other, less speculative, ways of using quantum vacuum effects (the paper specifically mentions Earth-Saturn transit times of 70 days).
Consequently, using the criteria and examples given below, I estimate that the Casimir Dark Boundary Drive falls into the Plausibly Hard category.
The other thing to bear in mind that a story is not limited to being totally hard or soft; for example, the plot may hinge upon quite realistic biology but not be too fussed about how people get between planets or stars (everybody knows about warp drives so no need to explain (Murray Leinster springs to mind, or many of Niven's Known Space stories and the Banks' Culture). The Medium category is where a lot of my favourite stories lie. A device need not be overly plausible under current technology if it captures the imagination and makes one think "what if ..?"
Feb16-13, 04:21 PM
The same way you speeded it up to 0.1c in the first place.
For any plausible high-speed* propulsion system you need to allow the same time to decelerate at the end of the journey as to accelerate at the beginning.
If you want to get there as fast as possible (and have enough energy available) you would accelerate for the first half of the journey, then turn around the spacecraft around so the thrusters face forwards and decelerate for the second half of the journey.
* By high speed I mean that the spacecraft is travelling much faster than the speeds of the planets it is travelling between. This would not be true for example for a minimum energy transfer from Earth to Mars. In that case you would accelerate at the start to get into the transfer orbit, coast until you reach the orbit of Mars, then accelerate again to match your speed with Mars.
Feb16-13, 04:54 PM
Feb20-13, 10:18 AM
A bit of personal taste-
If the propulsion system is a key plot element you must worry about.
If it isn't you just need to say they travelled. Elaborate "travelled" as much as you
like but it isn't any interest in a story not about space flight so keep it brief.
Call it warp drive - then move on. We all know what warp drive is - and isn't.
I really hate all these huge tombs of irrelevant fatuous waffle that appear to abound these days. (starting a few years ago maybe) - I stopped buying so many books because of them. I now select paperbacks on the basis of author name and thickness.
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Eczema During Pregnancy
Itchy? Red? Sore? That's eczema — and here's what you can do about it.
What causes eczema during pregnancy: The most common variety, atopic eczema, is hereditary and probably triggered by exposure to environmental allergens that are harmless to others (aren't you the lucky one?). Chances are if you've got atopic eczema, you (or someone in your family) probably suffer from asthma, hay fever, and/or food allergies as well. Other types of eczema (such as contact dermatitis) are caused by irritants such as chemicals, detergents, yeast, and metals (your rings — if they still fit — might start bugging you).
If you have eczema, it's likely your raging pregnancy hormones are making the situation better…or worse. No one's sure exactly why some women experience flare-ups during pregnancy, while other lucky ladies go into remission.
What you can do about eczema during pregnancy:
- Certain topical steroids are considered safe during pregnancy but must be used in small quantities under strict medical supervision.
- Antihistamines may help you cope with itchiness — but again, be sure to check with your practitioner first.
- Coal tar has been used for years for its soothing effect on inflamed skin. Today, coal tar comes in numerous preparations, many of which are available over the counter. Check with your practitioner before you use any of these products. And alert your partner (and dry cleaner): While effective and free of side effects, coal tar smells pretty bad and stains everything it touches.
What solutions are off-limits: Pregnant (or breastfeeding) eczema sufferers should know these facts about the following common medications.
- Cyclosporine has long been used on severe cases that don't respond to other treatment, but current research indicates that it may be associated with an increased rate of premature birth. The bottom line: It's a no-no now.
- Some topical and systemic antibiotics may not be safe for use during pregnancy, so check with your practitioner first.
- Protopic and Elidel are a new type of topical prescription medication known as TIMs, or topical immunomodulators, which reduce inflammation. The good news is that since they don't contain steroids, TIMS don't cause thinning of the skin (which leads to sores and bleeding). The bad news: They're still off-limits during pregnancy because they can suppress the immune system. No luck with the oral forms of TIMS either — they cross the placenta and show up in breast milk.
- Nonprescription remedies such as herbal or Chinese medicine should definitely be discussed with your practitioner in advance.
What preventive steps you can take: Limit contact with potential irritants such as laundry detergents, household cleaners, soaps, bubble bath, perfumes, cosmetics, wool, pet dander, juices from meats and fruits, plants, and jewelry. Avoid personal-care products that contain alcohol, don't spend too much time in the water (showers, baths, swimming pools), and don't wash your hands too often (but definitely wash them as needed — pregnancy and germs don't mix!). Finally, try not to get too hot or sweaty — which are two of the most common eczema triggers. Easier said than done when you're already one hot mama? You'll find a tip for staying cool below.
More smart strategies:
- Moisturize early and often to lock in the skin's own moisture and prevent dryness and cracking. (Avoid fragranced products, which may aggravate your already sensitive skin and your heightened sense of smell.)
- Beware of sudden changes in temperature and humidity. (A sudden temperature spike can make you sweaty. A drop in humidity can dry out your skin and lead to a flare-up. ) In other words, no steam rooms, saunas, or Bikram yoga, all of which are off-limits for expectant moms anyway.
- Use a cold compress — not your fingernails — to curb the itch. Scratching makes the condition worse and can puncture the skin, allowing bacteria to enter and cause an infection (which is especially dangerous during pregnancy).
- Keep nails short and rounded to decrease the likelihood that when you do inevitably scratch, you won't puncture the skin. If you tend to scratch in your sleep, try wearing a pair of cotton gloves to bed.
- Stay cool by wearing loose, cotton clothes and avoiding synthetic fabrics, wool, or any material that feels rough to the touch. (Your partner's oversize T-shirt is a great choice for your sensitive skin and your growing belly!) Avoid overheating by favoring that layered look — and peeling off layers as you start to warm up.
- Use only fragrance-free, neutral pH detergents, and double-rinse your laundry to help prevent flare-ups. Another tip: Wash new clothes before wearing to remove excess dyes and fabric finishers, and cut out any tags or labels that rub against the skin.
- Stay calm. Stress is a common eczema trigger, so try to avoid situations that make you tense. When you feel anxiety creeping in, focus on how incredible your baby will be or how delicious he or she will smell.
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