This amusing story could also be labeled LANGUAGE PROBLEMS.

Another beautiful day in San Francisco although a little bit on the warm side (mid-seventies I think)...too warm for some...but I found the day delightful anyway. It is ironic however that only last week I hauled my electric blanket out of the closet and put away a fan. Now I need the fan and not the electric blanket. We shouldn't compain however as those in the southern part of the state are dealing with one of the worst wild fires in memory with about 2000 structures burned so far and at this time there is not end in sight. Now 500,000 people have had to evacuate and 7000 firefighters are on the fire lines and just heard that the wind is expected to increase later tonight. We certainly could wake up to even more bad news in the morning. At least this time Homeland Security got it right and did not repeat the fiasco of New Orleans.

This was a lazy day for me although a walk downtown was refreshing. After that and lunch at One Market Plaza I returned home, or almost, and tried to sit in Huntington Park and read a book but I was so sleepy at that point that I could hardly keep my eyes open. As as a result I gave up on that and went home, layed down, and went to sleep rather quickly. I guess the warm weather was effecting me. There is a slight cooling trend in the forecast but nothing drastic for the next few days anyway.

We have a ridiculous city election coming up soon in which Mayor Newsom has no significant challengers. So why bother to vote?!?!? As for the rest of the short ballot, it is all rubbish.

I have heard that "Hoover sucks". Now, apparently Sioux City, Iowa does too.

I am really getting a little tired of Comcast and their service failures. About a year or two ago we lost Internet service on several days. Now, twice during the past week, there has been no e-mail service for outbound messages via the smtp server. They need to fix their problems or reduce my monthly rate and then, while on the service call, they have the nerve to offer me telephone service (land line) to replace the VERY RELIABLE service I have through AT&T. Grrr.....

What is the matter with companies that allow personal information to be stored on easily stolen lap top computers? That information should be on fully encrypted main frame computer systems but now some idiot at Home Depot has lost valuable personal information due to a stolen lap top computer.

Well, I guess there is more to worry about in this life such as the increasingly rapid melting of the polar ice cap. Once gone, not only will ocean levels be higher but sunlight will not be reflected back into space which will result in warmer oceans and this could alter oceans currents. That would have drastic effect on the world's weather patterns.

Then here in the Bay Area, the very dangerous Hayward fault which causes significant earthquakes about every 140 years is now one year or less away from that 140 year mark. During the past year it has been very active with a lot of small quakes in the Oakland/Piedmont area, the one area not significantly effected by the 1868 quake which occurred on the southern end of the fault.

Then we have the world political climate deteriorating at a worrysome level with Iran, China, and Russia warning friends and enemies about various matters.

U.S. politics is becoming chaotic with each state trying to hold their 2008 presidential primaries before the other states. That is ridiculous. This is the United States and we elect one president, not fifty, so why can't all states hold their primaries on the same day as they hold the general election on the same day?

For those who complain about the weather on earth, perhaps they should consider the weather on Titan, one of Saturn's moons where you will need an umbrella at all times and a very big one at that. :-D

I sure am glad to see an American Army Officer laying it on the line with his assessment of the disaster in Iraq.

This was omitted from yesterday's blog. The problems of the San Francisco Municipal Railway have been much in the news recently especially concerning late buses and trains. Yes, there are quite possibly internal administrative problems but the problem of slow buses is another matter. As anyone who drives knows, you can not make much headway if you have to stop at every corner for a red light. Well, the Muni, in a number of cases, has bus stops at every corner. In fact, in my neighborhood there are at least two instances where the #27 bus makes two stops in the SAME block. That is ridiculous! Another problem is heavy traffic downtown. There are too many vehicles on the streets for anything to move efficiently. Even in the early 20th Century the officials in New York City recognized that problem and began building subway lines all over the place. In fact, in 1931 there was a proposal, prepared in San Francisco by City Engineer M. M. O'Shaughnessy for several rapid transit lines in the city: 1 - Market Street, 2 - O'Farrell-Geary, 3 - McAllister, 4 - Mission-Capp, 5 - Van Ness-Potrero, 6 Kearny-Third St. - 7 - Sunset Route, and 8 - Seventeenth St. Route. With some modifications, there was also the Ridgway-Brahdy rapid transit report of 1935 for rail subway and elevated routes. These are illustrated in Anthony Perles' excellent book "The People's Railway". So who dropped the ball in this every important matter? Now we are paying the penalty of not following through and building some of those lines. Ironically, the Third Street route has now been built, or at least part of it. Phase two must be completed to Chinatown and then phase three on out to the Fisherman's Wharf area must be implemented as well. Since building subways in the 21st Century is such an expensive task we need to find some other way to lessen downtown traffic and should consider banning private autos and trucks from certain streets during the commute hours. If Market Street east of Van Ness Avenue, for instance were car free from 7 AM to 9 AM and 4:30 to 6:30 PM Monday through Friday this would go a long way towards speeding up Muni buses. The same applies to Sacramento and Clay Streets east of Powell Streets. Unfortunately Van Ness Avneue is part of U.S. 101 so that can not be touched but SOMETHING needs to be done. How about our own version of Boston's "Big Dig"???? :-( Well, then, maybe not, but San Francisco officials need to bite the bullet and take some sort of action on this matter.

Recently a friend asked why he had not seen any letters to the editor from me recently. I hope this answers the question.

Since moving to San Francisco about thirty years ago, I have written a number of letters to the editor of the Chronicle and have had a fairly good success rate at having them printed. Things change however and now I spend most of my time raving and ranting via this blog page or more recently, by posting comments in the comments section of www.sfgate.com under articles of interest. If there is really something that moves me in the news I will send a letter to one of the local newspapers but I am finding that my success rate has dropped to nearly zero recently. Is my writing getting worse or are the editorial staffs aware of this blog page and reluctant to give me another venue for my opinions? Who knows. It doesn't really matter to me anyway. I will send e-mails to members of the Board of Stuporvisors if I am really ticked off by their actions but even there I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall.

As for the bottled water v. tap water controversy, I have found that using a filtering system such as Brita solves both problems. I don't have the expense of continually buying bottled water and the Brita filters take care of any pests that might have inadvertently gotten into the system.

Now, about Halloween in the Castro. When I moved to this city most of the (non-leather) gay bars were located on Polk Street and that was where the Halloween celebration was held. At first it was friendly and manageable but eventually it turned into a rowdy mob. There were just scores of young people roaming up and down the street (none in costume either) and there was a lot of vandalism in its final years in the late seventies. It was eventually canceled as there was too much damage to local merchants' shops and by that time gay bars has started the migration to Castro Street anyway. So history repeats itself in the Castro. My own idea would be to hold several large parties indoors at venues such as the Civic Auditorium and the Convention Center where people could be controlled. There would be an admission charge based on age and whether one was in costume or not and security would be plentiful so outsiders could not just wander in to cause trouble.

Then we have the problem of homeless shelters in this city...not enough beds and dangerous conditions. Well, folks, we can trace this back to the time of Governor Reagan when he decided to close many of the state's mental institutions because they were not doing their job. He did not even try to correct the problems but instead threw out the baby with the dirty bath water. Then, as president he made thing even worse by cutting public health funds. Now most of these people wandering the streets are still the crazies of this world and they are the ones causing the dangerous conditions in these shelters. They do not want to live by anyones rules except their own. These people should not be sleeping in dorm like conditions which is what these shelters provide. They need to be locked up in secure single occupancy rooms. There are people who would like to get back on their feet and live a normal life but they can't due to the reasons I mentioned above.

Well, I see that the U.S. Marines want out of Iraq and desire to help out in Afghanistan. Ha, fat chance that will happen with the Bush burning in the White House.

Agh...another gin & tonic bartender...

What is it with some people who have no respect for their neighbors and who play their stereo system so friggin loud that it could "wake the dead"? The s.o.b. in apartment 202 next to me is one such turd. I have tried talking with him in the past but his attitude is that he can do what he wants if it is not late at night. Well, I will give him that. That would definitely be worse but still, if he needs his junk music (??) that loud, why the hell can't he use earphones so no one else would be bombarded by his "boom box" aided and abetted by the wall which helps to amplify the bass. I know if I were manager that guy would be evicted for violation of his lease and their IS a paragraph concerning noise and other sounds which can effect other tenants. I reminded him of that one time and he denied having such a lease or paragraph concerning the situation. He really is a nut asI hear him screaming at times as if someone were torturing him, or, maybe he indulges in some sort of S&M games and cannot stand the pain.

The other problem is that the younger generation generally does not give a shit about others. They are very ill mannered and can only think of themselves. Their parents failed if they even tried. I am not ready for an old folks home but my god, can't people respect their neighbors.

OK, I have had my rant for today. Fortunately I will be going out in about another hour and will be able to get away from the booming bass for a couple of hours. Right now it is giving me a headache.