Merely a Gesture

A lot of sticky messiness for $9.73.

The holiday festivities were pau (some Hawaiian words just stick with you throughout your life). I took the plastic bottles to the recycling center. For a couple of hours' worth of sorting, transporting, waiting, and dealing with sticky messiness the compensation was $9.73. I probably won't bother next time and just put the bottles in the blue container that Recology picks up every week.

I felt sorry for the sole worker at the site. He had to deal with long post-New Year lines and overflowing bins; he told me that the truck was very late. I gave him $2. No, the amount made no difference to him or to me. Amidst the vermin-attracting grime it was merely a gesture toward civic society. © 2014 Stephen Yuen

Steamed with Good Intentions

(Image from Culicurious)

We've been increasing the mix of brown rice over white rice in our diet because of the former's high fiber content. We've also been eating more rice of whatever color because of the suspicion that the gluten found in wheat is a contributor to a family member's digestive difficulties. It now turns out that the cure is potentially worse than the disease.

In September the Food and Drug Administration released the results of a study that analyzed the arsenic content of rice. Rice--especially brown rice--contains significantly more arsenic than wheat and other cereals. These findings confirm the results in a 2012 Consumer Reports study [bold added]:

No federal limit exists for arsenic in most foods, but the standard for drinking water is 10 parts per billion (ppb). Keep in mind: That level is twice the 5 ppb that the EPA originally proposed and that New Jersey actually established. Using the 5-ppb standard in our study, we found that a single serving of some rices could give an average adult almost one and a half times the inorganic arsenic he or she would get from a whole day’s consumption of water, about 1 liter.

The reason? "Rice absorbs arsenic from soil or water much more effectively than most plants."

Disappointing....brown rice seemed to be a "good" carbohydrate, or at least one that was not as harmful as others. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Too Much of a Good Thing

Time's recent cover story is about another example of how pendulums can swing too far [bold added]:

We have too many wild animals--from swine to swans. Thirty million strong and growing, the population of white-tailed deer in the U.S. is larger today than it was when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, according to National Wildlife Research Center scientist Kurt VerCauteren. They gobble up crops and vegetable gardens, dart into traffic and spread tick-borne diseases. Then there are the wild hogs. From a little herd imported to feed explorer Hernando de Soto's 16th century expedition, some 5 million feral pigs are rooting through city parks and private lawns in 48 of the 50 states...

And beavers. Nearly wiped out in the 19th century, they're back with a vengeance. In the Seattle suburb of Redmond, beavers are felling ornamental trees not far from Microsoft headquarters to build dams in the drainage culverts. Bald eagles are back too; one has been feasting on pet dogs near Saginaw, Mich. Raccoons bedevil the tony North Shore suburbs of Chicago. The world's largest Burmese pythons are no longer found in Burma; they are flourishing in South Florida. Wild turkeys swagger through Staten Island, N.Y. The yip of coyotes competes with the blare of taxi horns in New York City and Washington, while a fox has lately been in residence on the White House grounds. At least one mountain lion has had its photo snapped while hanging out in the Hollywood Hills.

It was easy to love the idea of wild animals....until the real animals foul gardens, damage property, or even endanger human lives. 40 years ago it was comparatively easy to ban certain activities in the name of animal protection; those bans have borne fruit, and not all are sweet.

Deer at the park last January.

Rescued from the Shredder

A paean to the automobile shredding machine:

The shredder stands as the singularly most important piece of recycling equipment ever developed. It is, among other things, the best and really only solution to managing the biggest source of consumer waste in the world today: the roughly 14 million American automobiles that are junked annually.

The blue '67 Bug was destined for the shredder, but after the following video's graphic depiction I just couldn't bring myself to consign it to this fate.

Fred's Garage (now run by his sons) in Redwood City has given
new life to VW Bugs, Buses, and Karmann Ghias

Roughing It

Canopy

A younger version of your humble observer would have just donned his hiking shoes and started walking. Now he puts on the SPF50 sunscreen and sprays on the mosquito repellent. A GPS-enabled smartphone loaded with podcasts and fitness apps is another essential for the 21st-century incarnation of roughing it.

He threw caution to the winds and left behind his water bottle. John Muir would have been proud. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

At the Top of the Academy

Everyone we know does something for (not to) the environment in varying degrees, but the Living Roof at the California Academy of Sciences does seem a little, er, over the top.

The living roof

keeps the building's interior an average of 10 degrees cooler than a standard roof would.

The plants are drought-resistant and live off trapped rainwater, not the City water supply. Lightweight construction materials kept the weight down to about twice a normal load.

Living roofs may be fine for European cities and San Francisco, but definitely not in our suburban community, which approves colors such as "granite gray" but not "slate" for roof construction. Going green is fine....for grass and trees only. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Tomales Bay

The Hog Island picnic area.

Inspired by our visit to the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, we took a day trip to Tomales Bay, only a few miles from Drakes. We sampled oysters from the Hog Island Oyster Farm and the Tomales Bay Oyster Company. Being city folk, we preferred the former because one can buy the oysters already shucked for no-muss no-fuss picnicking by the bay. Though the two Tomales Bay ranches are technically competitors of their Drakes Bay counterpart, we saw many signs protesting its impending closing.

Everyone suspects that the near-religious fervor to return the Bay and much of California to a state of nature will not be slaked by the closure of one operation, so the oyster farms are hanging together lest they hang separately.

Here's hoping that we can accomplish both: let's keep the farms running, and let's keep the bay(s) beautiful.

Welcome Change

I've been able to go to the mountains only a few times this year. No longer a neophyte hiker, I still find the experience to be invigorating. Coming across shady glens, deer, and waterfalls can be delightful, and the sunshine, country air, and stillness are a welcome change from the office.

There are unpleasant surprises--for example, rattlesnakes, wasps, falls, and heat exhaustion--that can be avoided with preparation and watchfulness. (Confession: not always has your humble correspondent been prepared and watchful.)

A good pair of shoes, mosquito repellent, sunglasses, a hat, and a water bottle are all one needs to get started. All those, of course, and time. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Migratory Nuisances

The gulls swoop in as the crowds leave.

We have previously commented about the sea gulls scavenging for leftovers at the end of Giants games. The birds are increasing in number and are arriving earlier in the evening [bold added]:

A national television audience witnessed a massive swarm in March during the World Baseball Classic semifinal between the Netherlands and the Dominican Republic, and similar invasions have occurred throughout the year. Hundreds of gulls sometimes land on the field during play. They also defecate on fans and create cleanup headaches for staff.

The Giants are at a loss for effective, reasonably priced solutions:

Federal law prohibits shooting the birds, and hiring a falconer to scare them away would cost $8,000 a game, said Jorge Costa, the Giants' manager of operations. The Giants are also concerned a falcon could gruesomely kill a sea gull in front of families and a television audience, Costa said.

Well, why not? The kiddies should learn that the circle of life isn't like a petting zoo. TV ratings might even go up if a hawk or falcon gives an un-cute seagull its comeuppance; after all, crowds gathered at ancient stadia to witness a little blood and guts.

Need more justification for aggressive action against sea gulls?

In an alarming trend that has scientists scrambling for answers, the bay's population of California Gulls -- squawking, flapping white-and-gray birds that most people associate with the beach -- has exploded from 24 birds in 1980 to more than 53,000 today. In the last two years alone, their numbers soared 41 percent, making the Bay Area home to the second-largest population of California Gulls in the world, behind only Utah's Great Salt Lake.

Nobody knows how to stop the population boom. And the problems are mounting: The gulls are increasingly colliding with airplanes, even causing several aborted takeoffs and landings at Bay Area airports. They're swarming landfills, divebombing schools and neighborhoods and gobbling up shorebirds that public agencies have worked for years to bring back from near extinction.

Current government policy promotes gull population expansion, not contraction:

Some people might think of gulls as flying rats. But along with condors, trumpeter swans and other beloved birds, they are protected under one of America's oldest environmental laws: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. That's because gulls live in the winter on the Pacific Coast and migrate inland every spring to lay eggs. The law makes it illegal to kill any California Gull or destroy its eggs without a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

I know what you're thinking, dear reader, but it's too bad that sea gulls don't taste good. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Keeping The Feelings Going

Every week we sort garbage into three carts.

Duke professor Michael Munger examines the economics and logic of recycling. He concludes that mandatory recycling, which has spread to more and more communities including ours, is not economically justified even if we make allowances for a) the higher "true" cost of landfill sans recycling and b) the under-recognized value of some recyclables (e.g. aluminum cans).

For many people recycling has become a moral, even religious, imperative immune to analysis. And so it is that we have "a long line of cars, engines idling, waited to pull up to the recycling facility" and some communities encouraging the use of the dishwasher to clean plastics and cans before they are dumped in the blue containers.

Much of our motivation to recycle stems from a desire to feel good about ourselves, and now it appears that we are willing to pay an ever higher price to keep those feelings going. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Sorry, Bambi

Rancho San Antonio Park, Los Altos

Our impressions about nature are shaped at an early age. For city dwellers who have no connection or experience with hunting, it's hard to shake the idyllic image of Bambi. Wild animals are friendly, anthropomorphized beings, and the placid creatures that are seen in zoos do nothing to contradict that childhood conception.

We whose daily existence is lived far from the forest, i.e, urbanites and suburbanites, dream of Walden though few would actually live there.

Cougar near San Jose (SJMN photo)

The deer that are encountered in suburban parks know from experience that they have nothing to fear from humans. However, other animals that have begun to appear near human habitation are not so friendly.

The mountain lion (cougar):

Chris Wilmers, a mountain lion expert at UC Santa Cruz, has radio-collared 33 lions since 2008 between Big Basin Redwoods State Park and Mount Madonna County Park near Gilroy. He estimated that 50 to 100 lions live in the Santa Cruz Mountains.....The lion photographed weighs more than 100 pounds. Wilmers said it is a male from 4- to 10-years-old, and it looks healthy.

The feral pig:

Twenty-five years ago, spotty wild pig pockets were found in fewer than 20 different states. Now, they’re in 47 states [including California], with Florida, Texas, and a few others approaching crisis levels.

Wild pigs destroy the landscape and breed incessantly. Most alarmingly, they're very intelligent.

Pigs have been known to scope out traps for days before sending in the group's lowest ranking members to test for danger. And if a trap isn't built just right, the pigs will find a way out, either by climbing over each other or squeezing under the fencing.....feral pigs are quite elusive. Rarely seen during the day, they have learned to avoid being taken down by rifles or suckered into traps. [snip]

pigs have learned to break the floats in stock tanks to keep water flowing for their mud baths.

A single cat can take down a pig, but the latter have the smarts and the numbers. Despite what stock market experts say, the triumph of the pigs looks inevitable. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

On Earth Day

....run your toes through the muck, breathe in the musk of decomposition, wallow in the rich soup of life.

Or perhaps you just want to look at pretty pictures of trees and flowers? To paraphrase noted philosopher C Brown: "I love the earth, it's dirt I can't stand."

Bags Be Gone

Tomorrow, Earth Day, is when plastic bags will disappear from checkout stands in Foster City and eleven other San Mateo County cities. Plastic bags, IMHO, are a marvelous invention: cheap, waterproof, lightweight, and strong. However, the argument that bags exact too-high-a-cost from the environment prevailed in council chambers, and beginning tomorrow we'll have to bring our own reusable containers or pay ten cents for each paper bag.

As compliant citizens we are careful to deposit all trash in their proper receptacles, but strict enforcement of litter laws wasn't good enough for antiplastic puritans. We'll now have to live with the higher probability of food-borne diseases from dirty recyclable bags and the inconvenience of spilt groceries, but at least we'll have the psychic benefit of pleasing the great goddess Gaia. SM County resident Rob Chapman complains:

What doesn't make sense is that there numerous eco friendly companies making biodegradable and/or compostable plastic bags that pose no harm to the environment. Yet, San Mateo Country has banned those as well, with no explanation. Furthermore, stores are required to charge 10 cents for bio-degradable recycled paper bags. This fee doesn't go to taxes. It doesn't go to any environmental program. It goes directly to the stores. Furthermore, for those of us that rely on public transit, attempting to carry 4 or 5 paper bags of groceries on a bus and then carry those same bags from the bus stop to our home is a major issue. What if it's raining. Are we supposed to carry a bunch of re-usable bags everywhere we go just in case we decide to go shopping. The above mentioned bio-degradable plastic bags, which as I mention have also been banned without explanation, would eliminate this problem, as they are just as strong and sturdy as the current (now banned) plastic bags. The bag ban is flawed and was approved by those who don't have to deal with its repercussions.

Sorry, Rob, to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs, which in your case will be all over the sidewalk.

The Mice Get Trampled

The imminent closing of the Drakes Bay Oyster farm has attracted more national attention. Influential supporters and opponents are being marshaled on each side of the issue, and now there's an article in the NY Times.

Under the [Republican energy] bill, the Energy Production and Project Delivery Act of 2013, permits for the nearly 2,000-mile Keystone XL pipeline would be expedited, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska would be opened for gas and oil development, more offshore drilling would be allowed – and the oyster farm’s operating permit would be extended for at least 10 years.

Adding the 21-employee oyster farm, with $1.5 million in annual revenue, to the battles over the multi-billion dollar Keystone pipeline and Arctic drilling does the oyster farm no favors.

Pro-environment politicians and activists who were willing to be flexible in the case of Drakes Bay may now be forced to oppose it because of the other, bigger matters at stake. In a battle of the pachyderms the mice get trampled. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Visit to Drakes Bay

It was time to pay a visit to the oyster farm.

In December Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar decided not to renew the lease of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company at Point Reyes National Park. Shutting down the century-old operation in March would have cost 30 jobs and reduced California's annual oyster production by about a third. The decision sparked protest even in the environment-friendly Bay Area.

A federal judge granted a reprieve until May 15th for Drakes Bay to make its case. Whether the company will be successful is highly problematic because of its limited ability to wage a protracted legal fight with the Federal Government.

When we arrived in mid-afternoon, the workers were still harvesting oysters and sorting them by hand. We watched the activity, then adjourned to the sales counter where manager and owner Ginny Lunny-Cummings apprised us of the court battle. Legal help is expensive, even with much of the work being done pro bono.

We made a small donation to the cause, then bought a quart of freshly shucked oysters. We slurped the cold, sweet morsels at the picnic tables and brought some home, packed with ice in the cooler. They won't taste as good tomorrow, but we'll still be grateful for them. Soon, if the Administration has its way, there won't be any to taste at all. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Trash to Treasure

Biofuels have become so tarnished in the public eye--they're uneconomical without government subsidies, using food (corn) for fuel defies common sense, biomass burning doesn't reduce CO2 emissions significantly anyway--that we are pleasantly surprised to hear any good news coming from that sector. And there is good news, albeit modest, from Brazil.

Photo from the Economist

In Brazil inedible rice husks, a waste byproduct of milling, are burned to generate electricity. All well and good, but the ash still must be disposed of. Pirelli, the tire maker, discovered that there was treasure in the trash:

Grasses contain tiny pieces of silica, called phytoliths (illustrated above), whose job is to discourage herbivores, both vertebrate and insect. Pirelli’s engineers realised that these defensive weapons are the ideal size to add to tyres in order to control hysteresis loss, and that a ready supply of them is available in the husks left over from the milling of rice.

What is hysteresis loss?

As the tyres bounce they convert kinetic energy into heat, thus wasting it. Hysteresis loss, as this is known, can be reduced by mixing a tyre’s rubber with powdered material that has strong chemical bonds in it.

The upshot is that the phytoliths from the rice ash will make "tyres" and cars more fuel-efficient.

In the opinion of your humble observer, it is just such smaller-scale projects that will lead to the success of the green-energy movement, not the showy failures that are rushed into production before the technology and markets are ready for them. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Pedestrian Topic

It's a truism of environmentalism that the automobile has blighted America's landscape. San Francisco, home to the Critical Mass bicycle movement, has struck another blow against the car by encouraging the creation of parklets throughout the City.

Parklets replace curbside parking spaces with benches, artwork, and greenery. They add to the pedestrian-friendly ambience of San Francisco at the cost of higher through-traffic congestion and less parking-meter revenue. (Perhaps the City making up for lost revenue is one reason why suffering car owners now have to feed the meter on Sundays.)

Individuals and businesses pay for construction of parklets, which must get permits like any other construction project. And if all the T's aren't crossed, remedies can be expensive, as one parklet creator has learned.

Parklets are in vogue partly because the wealthy City can afford them. Let's hope that times never become so difficult that San Francisco has to think about taking them down.  © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Wilderness Worship

Environmentalists have successfully lobbied the Federal Government to shut down a legal, 40+-year-old business that employs 30 people. Excerpts from the Mercury News:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Thursday the Drakes Bay Oyster Co.'s operating permit will expire at Point Reyes National Seashore on Friday, returning Drakes Estero to wilderness.

[Owner Kevin] Lunny said he is not sure what will happen to the company's 30 employees and the on-site housing where about half of them live.

Also uncertain is the fate of some 8 million to 10 million oysters that are currently in the water, growing in various stages of development.

The oysters would have a market value of about 50 cents each, but the last of them will not be ready to harvest for another two years, Lunny said.

The oyster company — which made about $1.5 million annually — will have to remove its personal property from the lands and waters within 90 days. Salazar has asked the National Park Service to help the employees who are affected by the decision, including assisting with relocation, employment opportunities and training. Drakes Estero has been in commercial oyster production for nearly 100 years.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune lauded the decision. "We're thrilled that after three decades this amazing piece of Point Reyes National Seashore will finally receive the protections it deserves," he said. "Once the oyster factory operations are removed, as originally promised ... this estuary will quickly regain its wilderness characteristics and become a safe haven for marine mammals, birds and other sea life."

Let's give the environmentalists their due. Drakes Estero will probably look more beautiful without the oyster business (Reuters photo below).

Economic arguments--the loss of 30 jobs, not to mention the permanent reduction in the supply of locally grown oysters valued in the millions of dollars--could not overcome the worship of the wilderness that now holds sway over much of environmentalism and now the Interior Department. From Wikipedia, a worshipful definition:

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure."

If a little wilderness is good, then it follows that more wilderness is better. That's why initiatives like draining the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir that provides water to millions of Californians gain a respectful hearing.

By the way, the measure to dismantle the Hetch Hetchy was rejected by 77% of San Francisco voters. The wilderness religionists are vocal, but they're not in the majority...yet. © 2012 Stephen Yuen

Why Your Internet is Slow

Aging Routers

A big part of the problem, experts and industry executives say, is that most Americans have older routers whose maximum theoretical speed is 54 mbps. Those provide "real world" speeds far below the fastest wired broadband speeds offered.

Too Many Users

Jim Waddle, a 47-year-old molecular biologist in Dallas, ran into trouble with his AT&T Internet once his family—including a wife and three kids—grew to have five computers, five iPhones, three iPads, an Apple TV and two high-definition TVs.

On a typical evening, he could be engaged in remote sessions from his labs while his wife accessed medical records, his son did online gaming, and his other two children watched iTunes shows off the Apple TV or clips off YouTube. "The connection was dropped all the time; it was driving me crazy," Mr. Waddle said. He fixed the problem by buying about $400 of Apple Inc. devices that enhance the in-home wireless connection.

Photo from Slugyard

Nesting Birds

The same [cellphone] towers Sprint is rigging with high-speed wireless technology to compete with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. are a favorite nesting spot for ospreys. The big fish-eating raptors favor high perches with a clear approach—exactly what network engineers look for when putting up cellular sites.

Construction at 700 Sprint sites has been delayed. The birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. It's surprising that Internet companies didn't do a better job of lobbying Woodrow Wilson....