Sunday, December 13, 2009
One of the delightful things about living in Oakland is that if you get tired and want a rest as you walk or bike around the city, there’s bound to be a sofa nearby on which one can take a quick nap, left there by a helpful fellow citizen. I pity those poor folks who […]
I wrote about the increasing hunger crisis in the United States back in May, when Breadline USA came out. Difficulty putting food on the table is not a problem faced only by the poorest of the poor: many working people now rely on food stamps, food banks, soup kitchens in order to fill the gap […]
Friday, November 27, 2009
I certainly won’t defend people who neglect to pick up after their dogs (in addition to contributing to filth in our city, they give the rest of us dog owners a bad name), but I’m not sure this is the most effective response: (I blocked out the author’s name and phone number in the image.) […]
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
I went up to Berkeley on Tuesday to remind myself of how the other half lives, and as I rode through the UC campus, I was reminded of something that came up in the comments on one of my earlier posts: college campuses are among the few places where pedestrians, bicyclists and low-speed motorized vehicles […]
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Some people’s thoughts bend toward the numinous when they see a crude outline of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a cloud, or in a piece of gum stuck to the sidewalk. Others of us worship differently, and feel the presence of grace when we come across a crude outline of a bicyclist indicating the imminent […]
Phil Bronstein has a silly post on his SFGate.com blog in which he points out that the New York Times article on Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts uses the same anecdote in the lede that a San Francisco Chronicle article used two months ago, about Batts initially declining to apply for the Oakland job, then […]
Last night’s sunset over Lake Merritt was a doozy. I even got off my bike (well, out of the pedals, at least) to take some photos. I didn’t record any musical accompaniment, so you’ll have to imagine the convivial sounds floating across the water from Lake Chalet restaurant on the opposite shore (if you look […]
“Dad, I’ve just figured how to lick our whole problem. Instead of running a road through the jungle, we’ll build an aerial highway above the treetop level!” Both Mr. Swift and Mr. Newton were astonished. “I’m afraid that I don’t follow you, son.” Tom went on enthusiastically, “By running the highway above the trees, we […]
Monday, September 28, 2009
Nothing to be said; a few things to be seen.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Some commenters on the last photo I posted were speculating that I have an affinity for the color blue, or that perhaps my camera or the local scenery produced particularly good blues (I assume that the speculation was based primarily on some earlier pictures I’ve taken such as this one and this one and this […]