Bluoz

some people in sausalito take their views very seriously

2nd and Main street, Sausalito

This is part of what makes living in SF worth it and it's less than 30 minutes from downtown SF via Bart and bike. Part of the Oakland Estuary and the great Bay Trail, this is at the junction of Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline and San Leandro creek between the Oakland airport and the Oakland Coliseum.

It's not very well known and much less crowded than any of the San Francisco parks. Right now some of the western bird migrations are happening from Alaska, joining native shoreline birds

These are native Black-necked Stilt mingling with Alaskan Black Turnstone that just migrated here for the winter a few weeks ago



Continue reading "Black-Necked Stilt and Alaskan Black Turnstone..." »

update on the famous Sausalito Art car, now with more foliage!



Continue reading "Sausalito Art Car 2012" »

time lapse of the Chevron refinery fire as seen from Telegraph Hill via Dee Em

Nice day to bike up Montara Mountain

full flickr set

Tramates versicolor, aka Turkey Tail mushrooms found on the Iron Horse trail near Alamo, California (below). Turkey Tail can also easily be grown in any Bay Area back yard with plug spawn and even transplanted from the wild

These mushrooms are world renowned for their beneficial health properties and are the subject of ongoing cancer research (PDF)

Interview with Paul Stamets in Huffington Post about a recent lecture on medicinal mushrooms at TedMed which is already sold out this year

Stamets talks about how Turkey Tail mushrooms helped cure his 84 year old mother of breast cancer at the end of this video (TedMed 2011)



On the Iron Horse Trail near Alamo recently

very likely the first ever video of San Mateo's very first nesting pair of bald eagles in 100 years, taken earlier today. This is on San Francisco Water Department property and the closest these eagles have nested to San Francisco in our generation. Another nesting pair has been reported at Kent Lake in Marin county and more info on Bay Area eagles at Hawkman blog. And another nesting pair at Calaveras Reservoir in Santa Clara county (updated at SFCitizen)

Tom Stienstra posted some directions and SF Citizen also posted about it. You can also watch a live webcam of a bald eagle nest with chicks in Ohio

the best photo so far is at the Penninsula Audubon Society



flickr set









the actual view...it's on the other side of the lake, on the other side of that eucalytus grove



this photo is with a Canon EOS DSLR at 80mm (different source)



this photo is with a 20xcanon sx20 bridge camera of the same eucalyptus grove at a different angle. This is the only place at water level you can see it and it's on Sawyer Camp Trail



you need a bigger lens than this to get close (500mm) or a camera rigged to a spotting scope for digascoping which is likely how the Audubon got a nice clear shot



we got lucky as there was a juvenile bald eagle flying around Crystal Springs unrelated to the nesting pair -just passing through



bonus! Some young deer at Crystal Springs along Sawyer Camp Trail

handed to the demonstrators tonight

Wild Turkey just north of Novato, December Dec 30, 2010

full set

what the view looks like from Strawberry

the poetry house in Fairfax









and this house was kinda weird



and deer in a driveway

the annual San Francisco Mycological Society fungus fair will be held this weekend December 4-5, UC Berkeley Lawrence Hall of Science

http://www.mssf.org/fungus-fairs/index.html

In the San Francisco Bay Area, when the first rains tease up the chanterelles and porcini, fungus lovers head to the Fungus Fair: A Celebration of Wild Mushrooms. The Fair provides information on the uses and abuses of fungi, with displays and exhibits on ecology, toxicology, and cultivation. Arrays of identification tables display locally collected mushrooms. Campsite gourmands learn how to serve up the safe and scrumptious species through identification tutorials, cooking demonstrations, and sales of recipe books, soups, snacks, and fresh edibles. Watch renowned Bay Area chefs prepare dishes like matsutakes & roasted cauliflower in coriander cream or sautéed caramel candy cap pears and dentelles.

# Date: December 4-5, 2010
# Time: 10am to 5pm
# Schedule of events
# Location: Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, CA

Alexander Shulgin the Berkeley born 'Godfather of Ecstasy has been hospitalized with a stroke

[Tuesday (11/16)] “on the way to the hospital for a scheduled test, Sasha had a stroke. He has been struggling for six months with an ulcer on his left foot that won’t heal, hoping to avoid amputation. Sasha & Ann have been in serious financial trouble for some years, and the coming medical bills will be a burden they can’t bear alone… For non-tax-deductible contributions: Paypal $ to [annandsashashulgin@comcast.net] or snailmail: Sasha Shulgin, c/o Transform Press, PO Box 13675, Berkeley CA 94712. For tax-deductible online donations to support the completion of Shulgin publishing projects that are underway: http://www.erowid.org/donations/project_shulgin.php ”

some local Contra Costa county background

the Erowid donation page where they are seeking help organizing, scanning and digitizing Shulgin's work

About The Shulgin Collection
After several years of consideration and preparation, the first two of Alexander Shulgin's lab books have been scanned and put online. The lab books contain detailed experience reports about a wide variety of substances, as well as notes on chemical processes, formulas, sketches, and hand-drawn graphs.

When funding appeared for the project, the Shulgins' trusted assistants, gregM and Tania, began the labor-intensive process of redacting the names of individuals whose privacy should be protected. As the project evolves, more printed materials from Sasha and Ann's files will be scanned and posted online. Additional funding is needed.

Erowid is seeking volunteers to transcribe the texts into our Experience Vaults and edit the images to provide more contrast and make them more readable. If you would like to help with this project, please volunteer at Erowid.org/volunteer.

Funds are also needed to pay for an assistant to help with the completion of The Shulgin Index, Sasha's current book project, which will provide information related to psychedelic compounds in a manner similar to The Merck Index. Please consider making a contribution to the Shulgin Collection project!

news also posted here

http://forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com/2010/11/alexander-shulgin-85-hospitalized-with.html

1995 Los Angeles Times article on the controversy surrounding Shulgin

http://www.biopsychiatry.com/interview/

Guardian UK article from 3 days ago about inventors and their regrets

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/13/inventors-idea-regret

This poster was made just three weeks ago by a Woodside, California resident who's dog died recently from eating poisonous mushrooms on their front lawn

the poster was added to this doggy board

http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-health-issues-questions/153219-mushroom-warning.html

the URL in the poster refers to the North American Mycological Society which produces their own warning posters

http://www.namyco.org/toxicology/index.html



this warning poster is also available at the San Francisco Mycological Society

http://www.mykoweb.com/misc/warning.html

Pelicans lounging on the bay waterfront in Marin