Bluoz

Sierra Nevada Range, San Francisco Bay photographed from the International Space Station 18:27 GMT July 3, 2012. via fragileoasis

Biking the South Fork of the American River Trail, hunting for meteorites in Coloma, and visiting Sutter's Mill and Placerville

With the slowly evolving quality of public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, a big question I always have is 'how far can you go without a car', either on a day trip or short weekend camping or maybe a little more, with only a bicycle

It is possible now to get to Folsom or Placerville from San Francisco without a car in four hours. This has been described a few years ago in the Bay Guardian and now there's updates.

You can take Amtrak with a bicycle from Oakland or Richmond BART to Sacramento in under 2 hours on the Capitol Corridor for 37 dollars. From there you have two choices close by in downtown Sacramento. You can take the Folsom 507 train to Folsom which has bike racks on the train (unlike Muni) or there is a commuter bus from Sacramento to Placerville on weekdays, or you can transfer at Folsom and use the Iron Point Connector to travel all the way to Pollock Pines which is at 4000 feet up in the Sierras. All of this is on El Dorado Transit You can also bike along the American River from Sacramento to Folsom. There is a bike trail the whole way

But what I did was take the train to Folsom and biked all the way up to Folsom Lake via Salmon Falls road to the Salmon Falls Bridge. The newly opened South Fork American River Trail which is the heart of gold panning country along that river and where gold was discovered in 1849. This is also the same area where parts of the Sutter's Mill meteorite exploded and landed

The South Fork of the American River get's the 1989 Marin Pine Mountain steel frame San Francisco bike messenger trash bike treatment. The same trash bike that was stolen and recovered in South of Market



Continue reading "biking for meteorites in the gold country and..." »

Dear East Coasters:

About that earthquake you had yesterday.



It's lunch. A clip from LA Story 1991, Lionsgate



this clip is recognized as owned by Lionsgate films, and is authorized to remain intact here

these photos are from yesterday by San Francisco Gal

The street looks like a canyon with side canyons where the driveways have been plowed. and if they have not been plowed, people won't be able to get in without a lot of hard work.

Boreal Ski Lodge - it's in there somewhere

referenced by NORML action alert and TPI news and the Salem, OR news


Continue reading "Schwarzenegger decriminalizes marijuana" »

from Fisheries.org and Klamath Restoration

P R E S S R E L E A S E

Karuk Tribe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : June 14, 2010

Sacramento, CA – Today federal and state officials coordinating the environmental review of the pending Klamath Restoration Agreements announced the Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Report and notice of public scoping meetings. This signals the beginning of the scientific and legal reviews mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act.

For the past several decades a crippling cycle of crisis has gripped the Klamath Basin. A series of fish kills, irrigation shut-offs, and bans on commercial salmon has resulting in a rotating crisis for Basin communties that has often led to finger pointing between neighbors. However, in recent years a large number of affected parties successfully negotiated a pair of Settlement Agreements aimed at resolving many Klamath River conflicts. The Klamath Agreements were signed February 18, 2010 by Governors Schwarzenegger and Kulongoski, Secretary of Interior Salazaar, leaders of the Karuk, Yurok, and Klamath Tribes, and a host of local irrigation districts, governments and conservation organizations.

this video made by the City of Redding in it's pitch to get Google fiber made the grand prize for the top five worst videos

reduced whey cheez food product




Can San Francisco make one cheezier?

dated July 6, 2009, regarding cuts to the University of California

full letter (PDF)

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
The three hundred signers of this letter write to you as members of the US
National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute
of Medicine, and as professors at the University of California to express our deep concern
about the latest round of proposed cuts to the UC budget. Current proposals being
weighed by your office and the Legislature call for a 19% reduction from 2007-8 levels
in state support for UC, producing an $800 million shortfall in the UC budget for the
2009-10 fiscal year. This will lead to increases in student fees, reductions in pay or
furloughs for faculty and staff, and cuts in virtually all University services. These cuts
will be devastating to every part of the University’s mission, but as scientists and
engineers we are particularly concerned about their effects on the future of science and
technology in California. While we recognize that our state faces an unprecedented
financial crisis, the proposed cuts come on top of a decades-long trend of declining state
support for the University of California. The situation has reached a breaking point.
Further cuts of the magnitude being contemplated in the latest round of
budget proposals are likely to destroy UC’s status as the leading public university in
the United States. This would undermine prospects for economic recovery and
damage California’s competitiveness for decades.

in honor of the formerly great state of California

All hands abandon ship!

No Sign of Deal to Close Deficit (Businessweek)

just a few days away two days away. The tenderloin might turn into a ghost town, and it might be like when Jerry Garcia died in 1995 and all the deadheads went back to their home state of realityland and got a job

Roughly $3 billion worth of IOUs will be issued in July unless a compromise on closing the deficit is reached quickly. They will be sent to state contractors, college students, welfare recipients, low-income seniors, the disabled and others who depend on or deliver social services.

Dear Mr. Secretary,

First of all, let me commend you for your leadership to enact emergency economic stabilization legislation. This credit crisis has the power to grind the U.S. economy to a halt if swift and decisive action is not taken immediately. The federal rescue package is not a bailout of Wall Street tycoons - it is a lifeboat for millions of Americans whose life savings, businesses, retirement plans and jobs are at stake. I have communicated this message to the entire California Congressional delegation and will continue to press for passage of an emergency rescue plan.

Like many other states, California is feeling the enormous effects of this crisis on our economy. California's economy is dynamic and resilient, but also uniquely sensitive to national and international economic conditions and fluctuations in the financial markets. The credit crisis has frozen investment and commerce, forcing businesses and families to stop purchasing goods and services. This has resulted in tens of thousands of lost jobs and billions of dollars in lost tax revenue to the state.

Most immediately, California and a number of other state and local governments are experiencing the lack of liquidity in the credit markets firsthand. Many states and local governments have been unable to secure financing for bond offerings and for routine cash flow used to make critical payments to schools, local governments and law enforcement. While some states may be able to absorb a delay or obtain high-interest financing through private banks, California is so large that our short-term cash flow needs exceed the entire budget of some states. We expect to issue $7 billion in Revenue Anticipation Notes for short term cash flow purposes in a matter of days.

Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis that restores confidence and liquidity to the credit markets, California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the Federal Treasury for short-term financing.

The economic fallout from this national credit crisis continues to drain state tax coffers, making it even more difficult to weather the continuation of frozen credit markets for any length of time. I will continue to do all I can to encourage passage of the emergency rescue plan.

Sincerely,

Arnold Schwarzenegger

from yesterday in Los Angeles at the Judge Judy Studios

from just just a few hours ago, July 10th, 2008. What a difference a few hours make. The smoke plume is covering almost the entire northern state of California now. Click image for original

view over the Sacramento valley. Taken today, July 10th over the Sacramento Valley. Click photos for originals



view over the top of the fires