Monday, March 24, 2008
No matter what your opinions are regarding the war in Iraq, please don't forget about those giving their lives to protect our freedoms. While I believe the war is a misguided use of American resources in terms of both money and manpower, I still pray and think about the men and women serving our country in that part of the world. Four thousand killed in five years!
US | March 25, 2008
U.S. Death Toll in Iraq War Hits 4,000
By LIZETTE ALVAREZand ANDREW W. LEHREN
The milestone was reached late Sunday, five years since the war began in March 2003.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Tabe Trucks
We're working our way towards having a fully functioning website. Have all the content ready, now working at putting it up for the masses to see.
www.tabetrucks.com
www.tabetrucks.com
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Happy Birthday Mr. Rogers
Today would have been Mr. Rogers 80th birthday and so in honor of him, I am wearing a sweater.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
antiwar protests
5th year anniversary of the iraq war and san francisco is a hot bed of activity. a block from where I work there is a sit down protest in the middle of the road.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
don't go shopping when you're hungry
I'll be eating in for the rest of the week as I spent all my food budget last night. I think I bought two of everything.
SFGate: S.F.'s tap water best in tests, chemists say
Just another reason to come visit me in San Francisco :)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/03/11/BAH9VHE23.DTL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 (SF Chronicle)
S.F.'s tap water best in tests, chemists say
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
Chemists who tested drinking water from 20 utilities nationwide said they
did not detect any contaminants at all at San Francisco's tap, despite
news reports to the contrary.
"We didn't detect anything whatsoever," said Shane Snyder, research
manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority who helped coordinate a
study by the research arm of the nation's water utilities.
The American Waterworks Association Research Foundation tested 20 of the
nation's water systems, including San Francisco's for 60 compounds found
in medicines, household cleaners and cosmetics.
"You guys have the best water that we tested. Period," Snyder said of San
Francisco's drinking water. "I don't think we've ever tested drinking
water that didn't have any of our target compounds in it."
In a story about test results of the nation's drinking water quality, the
Associated Press reported Sunday that much of the supply contains traces
of pharmaceuticals, solvents and other contaminants.
Among its findings, the news agency said San Francisco's water contained a
sex hormone. The sex hormone was supposedly estradiol, a hormone found in
vertebrate animals - mammals, reptiles, birds and fish.
In fact, no such compounds turned up in San Francisco's water samples,
Snyder said.
The mistake apparently resulted from confusion over the waterworks
foundation's laboratory test results conveyed by the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission to the Associated Press. The news service said it was
looking into the matter.
Snyder said the misunderstanding apparently occurred because of the
results of an additional tissue test that showed barely detectable levels
of estrogenicity, or activity by estrogen-like chemicals at parts per
quadrillion, Snyder said. The estrogenicity levels in that test were even
lower than in the highly pristine water being used by the researchers for
quality control, Snyder said.
National reports of San Francisco's sex-hormone water hit the San
Francisco PUC hard.
The city claims bragging rights over pure Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water
surrounded by nearly 500 square miles of Yosemite Valley wilderness.
While other cities in the United States - and around the world - have to
drink treated water sometimes tainted with wastewater, San Francisco, the
East Bay Municipal Utilities District and other big Bay Area water
purveyors generally take their water from streams above effluent
discharges. They protect against animal and human encroachment.
It's unclear whether any other water purveyors in the Bay Area
participated in the waterworks research foundation's testing of surface
and drinking water. The results are kept secret, and only the utilities
can reveal them, as San Francisco has chosen to do. Some utilities sought
the water testing in 2006 to find out if they had these emerging
chemicals.
Tony Winnicker, a spokesman for the San Francisco PUC, said the utilities
need to know which chemicals are going to be a problem.
San Francisco's utility serves 2.4 million customers in the city and in
Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
E-mail Jane Kay at jkay@sfchronicle.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/03/11/BAH9VHE23.DTL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 (SF Chronicle)
S.F.'s tap water best in tests, chemists say
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
Chemists who tested drinking water from 20 utilities nationwide said they
did not detect any contaminants at all at San Francisco's tap, despite
news reports to the contrary.
"We didn't detect anything whatsoever," said Shane Snyder, research
manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority who helped coordinate a
study by the research arm of the nation's water utilities.
The American Waterworks Association Research Foundation tested 20 of the
nation's water systems, including San Francisco's for 60 compounds found
in medicines, household cleaners and cosmetics.
"You guys have the best water that we tested. Period," Snyder said of San
Francisco's drinking water. "I don't think we've ever tested drinking
water that didn't have any of our target compounds in it."
In a story about test results of the nation's drinking water quality, the
Associated Press reported Sunday that much of the supply contains traces
of pharmaceuticals, solvents and other contaminants.
Among its findings, the news agency said San Francisco's water contained a
sex hormone. The sex hormone was supposedly estradiol, a hormone found in
vertebrate animals - mammals, reptiles, birds and fish.
In fact, no such compounds turned up in San Francisco's water samples,
Snyder said.
The mistake apparently resulted from confusion over the waterworks
foundation's laboratory test results conveyed by the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission to the Associated Press. The news service said it was
looking into the matter.
Snyder said the misunderstanding apparently occurred because of the
results of an additional tissue test that showed barely detectable levels
of estrogenicity, or activity by estrogen-like chemicals at parts per
quadrillion, Snyder said. The estrogenicity levels in that test were even
lower than in the highly pristine water being used by the researchers for
quality control, Snyder said.
National reports of San Francisco's sex-hormone water hit the San
Francisco PUC hard.
The city claims bragging rights over pure Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water
surrounded by nearly 500 square miles of Yosemite Valley wilderness.
While other cities in the United States - and around the world - have to
drink treated water sometimes tainted with wastewater, San Francisco, the
East Bay Municipal Utilities District and other big Bay Area water
purveyors generally take their water from streams above effluent
discharges. They protect against animal and human encroachment.
It's unclear whether any other water purveyors in the Bay Area
participated in the waterworks research foundation's testing of surface
and drinking water. The results are kept secret, and only the utilities
can reveal them, as San Francisco has chosen to do. Some utilities sought
the water testing in 2006 to find out if they had these emerging
chemicals.
Tony Winnicker, a spokesman for the San Francisco PUC, said the utilities
need to know which chemicals are going to be a problem.
San Francisco's utility serves 2.4 million customers in the city and in
Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
E-mail Jane Kay at jkay@sfchronicle.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle
--
John Hayato Branderhorst
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
I can't believe it's been a month since my last entry. I deleted some things but I decided to look at my schedule over the past month and start my post from there. So let's see, February started out with a couple birthday parties and a half marathon. The weather was awful and my health gradually fell to a point where I had a fever and stomach problems that limited my social life to work and sleep with sleep taking over a few days. I'm in full training mode but over the past month I've definitely tapered my running as I don't want to injure myself before the big race and also other commitments have hindered some training days. Tabe Trucks, the mobile ramen venture that myself and 3 other guys are working on is coming along nicely, but we are hitting a period where progress needs to made every week if we are to make a May launch. School has taken a backseat to my fulltime job, the ramen venture, and training for Boston but I'm hoping to finish all the work by April 1. This may be wishful thinking as my workload won't be decreasing anytime soon. Spent a couple days in Big Sur with some buddies from college and it was some needed R&R for me. Drew flew in from Boston so Tim, Dave, and myself decided to go camping and hiking. Since the weather was crap, we ended up staying in a hotel which I readily welcomed as camping isn't my thing. I will be in LA for a day and a half for a JETAASC networking event and a play about Okinawa this coming weekend. But for now I must bid good bye as I have a robot documentary event to go to at the Japanese Consulate. Should be home by 9 tonight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
